10 latest experiences http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha en-us From 2004-2006 I did interviews for a book about a famous rock musican. One of my favorite perks of the job was the strange work related trips I would get to take. I was planning a trip to the west coast from New York City (where I lived at the time) anyway. Days before leaving I made an interview contact who lived in California and we decided to continue the interview in person. Pioneer Town, United States jesikha Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:09:05 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1243 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1243 I woke up with a fever and a long car ride ahead of me. I piled into the car with two acquaintances and lots of bags to head north to San Francisco from the Pioneer Town/Joshua Tree area. In a daze in the back seat I watched as the mysterious desert landscape rolled by. "It's like purple mountains majesty and shit," my traveling companion breathed. Yep. Fell back asleep. I woke up to my car mates arguing about where we were. Always a bad sign on a road trip. As we barreled down route 66 the driver worried we would end up in Arizona. Then we saw this place: California, United States jesikha Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:00:09 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1242 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1242 This year I experienced Christmas mid-western style. My boyfriend's mother has been trying to convince the family to attend the Music Box theatre's Christmas special for years. I love old theatres, so she finally got her wish this year. We drove from Racine, Wisconsin to Chicago to see White Christmas on the big screen. Before the movie began Santa led a sing along. Chicago, United States jesikha Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:30:27 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1231 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1231 Growing up in Philadelphia, the soft pretzel was a staple of my diet as a school kid. Every week we would pay a subscription fee and juice boxes and fresh soft pretzels would be delivered to our class room daily at recess time. The days of pretzels, hop scotch and dodgeball are long gone, but my love of the philly soft pretzel is as strong as ever. I moved away from Philadelphia at age 17 and missed out on some key Philadelphia adult night life milestones: drinking at Smokey Joe's or the Tritone, the Silk City Diner and drunken stops by pretzel factories in the middle of the night. The pretzel factory on Washington Avenue is a Philadelphian legend that I've been trying to hit up for the past three years. I met up with some high school friends, also in town for the holidays, for drinks at Standard Tap in Northern Liberties last night. Afterwards I FINALLY got to join the ranks of the late night pretzel eaters. We all piled into the car and stood in line with drunken teena... Philadelphia, United States jesikha Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:05:06 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1230 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1230 Believe it or not, Philadelphia is a city of parks. When I returned from Germany, my mom loaded some sandwiches from Philadelphia's favorite convenience store Wawa and her unruly new dog into the car and we set off for an afternoon of nature in the city. Valley Green is one of my favorite spots in Fairmount Park. Unlike Central Park in New York City, Fairmount Park is a discontinuous series of parks that covers much of Philadelphia. It includes concert venues, playing fields, hiking and horseback riding trails. Valley Green is a great spot for a non-Philadelphia native to get a taste of Fairmount Park. The Valley Green Inn serves tea and brunch. Philadelphia, United States jesikha Sun, 23 Dec 2007 17:48:33 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1223 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1223 I approached my recent trip to New York with some trepidation. I had been living in Berlin and was not thrilled to be coming back to the United States. All of my apprehension melted away once I stepped off of the plane into JFK airport. My voice adjusted ten decibels, communication became brusquer and more abrasive. Even though I hadn't lived in New York City for two years it still felt like a homecoming. Luckily, we were staying in Williamsburg, a neighborhood where I lived for seven years. Our first jetlagged stop was to pick up keys to our apartment from an old friend. She took us down to the new river front park where we played guitars and secreted sips of the beers we were hiding from the police man. (Of course, Paul and I gripped about missing the lack of open container laws in Germany) Williamsburg has changed drastically since I lived there. There are more and more high rise buildings and wealthy people moving in. Some of the same businesses remain, but many of them clos... Brooklyn, Ny, United States jesikha Sat, 22 Dec 2007 01:52:14 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1215 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1215 I largely avoid the man-church of east coast Sunday football culture by living on the west coast and Europe. However, a football game was exactly what I needed on a recent unexpected, emergency trip to see my family in Philadelphia. My stepfather and I bundled up and braved the sleet and freezing cold to head to the Lincoln field in Philadelphia. I’ve been to a number of American sporting events, but nothing prepared me for the mania of winter football fanatics. Undeterred by the snow, a gang of drinking, smoking, foul and loud mouthed fans converged on the parking lot blaring classic rock and drinking copious amounts of beer before noon. It was amazing. Philadelphia’s relationship to the Eagles is analogous to the Simpsons’/Springfield’s relationship to their team “The Isotopes”; beloved and cheered until they mess up. Then everyone has an opinion. My stepfather and I guzzled beers and pretzels and laughed at the football maniacs around us. Fat old men were angril... Philadelphia, United States jesikha Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:52:20 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1212 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1212 I’ll admit it, My birthday is my favorite holiday. My boyfriend took that to heart this year and planned a day of surprises for me. He snuck out before I was fully awake and arrived back at the apartment an hour later. I was told only to bring comfortable shoes, a bathing suit and a sweater. Other than knowing that swimming may be involved I had no idea where we were going. We drove over the Golden Gate bridge and then north on Route 1 until turning off into he unmarked hippie town of Bolinas. Bodega Bay, United States jesikha Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:47:21 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1203 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1203 Imagine this: Big Sur, United States jesikha Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:53:34 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1202 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1202 A friend invited me to accompany him to St. Thomas while he helped his friend/landlord in NYC renovate a property he purchased in Charlotte Amalie. We arrived on a blazing hot afternoon and walked directly to Brewer’s beach from the airport. We left our luggage on the sand and jumped directly in the water. After a quick dip we lugged our stuff down the sand to an outdoor airport hotel bar and ordered a shrimp salad and beers while we dried off and contacted our hosts. We hopped on a dollar taxi, a pick up truck with benches in the back, paid our driver a and drove the two miles or so to where we were staying. Vincent, our host, gave us the grand tour upon our arrival. He purchased a huge, crumbling house in the middle of town. It was a beautiful 7 bedroom, terraced house with an outdoor courtyard. This was my home base for three weeks or reading, beach bumming and exploring St. Thomas as a quasi-local. I quickly discovered that the only way to effectively negotiate St. Thoma... Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands jesikha Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:30:58 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/jesikha/experience/1042 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1042