8/21 - Corvallis

Left Eugene and headed to Corvallis. It was a short drive and we had tons of time to kill. Parked and checked out the venue we were going to play later (Cloud 9) also checked out a farmer's market. Walked to a Hawaiian restaurant to get some food. It was OK. Found a Starbucks for wi-fi. Coffee is only .50 cents if you bring your own cup!

Still had time to kill. Got some Iodine for my finger because the color and pain level really started to scare me. Hannah and I split to go see Toy Story 3 while Jeff roamed along the waterfront with his bag of Granola. I was surprised at how sad that movie was!

Again, the stress of being away from home was affecting morale, and it took some convincing to get all band members on board with playing the show (instead of driving straight home). It's a good thing we did. The other bands were good, the band Tirade was AMAZING. We played a good set once again and got great feedback once again! Sold some stuff. Nice people all around. Some really dedicated underage kids sat outside in the cold to watch the show from the window! That was awesome, those kids are awesome.

Headed home. Soooooo tired.

Broke even.

8/20 - Eugene

Drove to Eugene. Left my toothbrush in Medford. Had time to kill so we got pizza at the Pizza Research Institute. Yummm. For some of the stress of being away from home and loved ones was starting to take it's toll. Let's leave it at that.

The weather was beautiful. I needed new shoes. Found some AWESOME super hi top converse knock offs that were black with red laces used (but barely) for NINE BUCKS. They fit like a glove. Or, uh, shoe.

Anyway. Had time to kill before our show at Black Forrest, and across the street was a tattoo parlor. Sooo.... we went in and Hannah got a tattoo. (Tear drop on crook of finger.)

Then we played a good set. My finger still hurts every night, FYI. Like a LOT. It looks kinda bluish under the nail now. Got good reactions (to the set, not the finger). We could have sold more shirts but we are down to the bottom of the barrel and didn't have the right sizes/colors. The venue was cool.

Eugene Pyrate Punx hooked us up with spaghetti dinner and a place to stay for the night. It was a vegan punk house that was partying HARD when we arrived. To get some space Hannah and I walked to the 7-11 to get peanut butter cups. When we got back everyone was asleep, so we did the same.

8/19 - Medford

^Playing at Johnny B's in Medford

Well so far this day is cursed.

Kevin from Soft Touch made us waffles for breakfast (which was awesome, NOT cursed), then we headed North towards Medford. On the way, Hannah was driving and got pulled over for speeding. Ticketed with no warning. The speed changes 3 times in a short stretch and we were keeping pace with traffic. And the cop was being a jerk.

Getting into Oregon and seeing TREES and SHADE was awesome though. I took off running down a trail at a rest stop for a few minutes, but returned because I didn't tell anyone I was going to leave. :)

Then my phone started telling me I had a bunch of emails. I thought.. AWESOME people MISS ME! But no, it was people telling me my email account got hacked and I was sending out spam emails to everyone in my contacts list. Embarassing. Had to call my dad and ask him to reset my password. Damn unsecured internet on the road! Right now Jeff is driving and we are about 1/2 hour away from Medford. More later.


OK it is LATER:

The place we played (Johnny B's) was REALLY COOL. Like, WTF is this doing in MEDFORD?! It was a really classic sorta rockabilly/diner style bar. The owner (Johnny) was really cool and nice. Unfortunately there were not very many people there, and we were the only band. Tough, but we still played a good set. Stayed with a guy from the couchsurfing site, he was really nice and had couchsurfers from all over the world stay there nearly every day.

8/18 - Chico

Left leigh's house after showers and washing laundry. Drove to Chico. The drive was longer than I had anticipated so we actually got to the venue late. The other band had already started playing (Social Concern - an all girl punk rock garagelike band) and we felt bad we were so late. The café was cool except it was empty pretty much. Show was basically a bust. (IE: cost more to get there than what we made) but the lady working there was really nice, actually everyone was super nice, there just weren't many people. They gave us all the money they could.

Then we contacted the band we met in Long Beach/LA/Lomita and went to their show. The cool thing about Chico is everything is pretty much less than a mile away. Everybody bikes and parties, and rent is cheap. We were just in time to see Crimewave and Soft Touch, the two bands we met on the 15th. They both played good sets and it was fun. After the show our band went to this awesome 24 hr diner down the street, "Jack's" and got greasy diner food for cheap. Then we called up the other bands who were partying at a house in Chico and we met up with them for a couple more hours. Mostly just to hang out. Then we stayed at the drummer of Soft Touch's house.

SF

^Tuesday 8/17

Woke up to the sun and beautiful surroundings needing coffee and a shower really bad. FYI my finger is still FUCKED UP and hurts. By now I have decided it is either dislocated or broken and I want to set up a doctor appointment for when I get home. That's the one think I am looking forward to when I get home. Oh, and Portland drinking water. This LA shit makes me gag no matter how hard I try to drink it.

I took the driving shift to San Francisco. Ugh toll bridges. Ugh parking meters! Went into "Out of the Closet: the most fabulous vintage shop in the world" to look for new shoes (mine are effed…. Need to be thrown away). No luck. San Francisco looks fun, I'd like to bring my bike down there sometime and check it out more. The venue was cool. We played our show and got a lot of positive feedback, sold some merch. Made some contacts. Drove to Leigh's place in Oakland to crash.

Waterparking and camping

8/16
Woke up after a decent amount of sleep and NOT being kept up late. :) Cullen made us breakfast again. We packed everything up and headed off to Hurricane Harbor in Six flags (WATERPARK!!). Parking and locker rental was SPENDY but the day was still fun. Tried the funnel cake finally. Pretty good. Wave pool was awesome. It was like drowning but not. Waterslides get water in unpleasant places if you don't cross your legs. Hannah and Jeff learned this.

After Waterparking we said goodbye and booked it to a campsite. I forget the name of the national forest, but we found a sweeeet campsite. Built a fire, cooked ramen and chili and a bell pepper over the fire. Then there may have been tequila shots. Passed out in the tent. It was a blast!

Long Beach

^Jeff Manter (Drums)

^Emily Galash (Guitar)

^Hannah Armstrong (Bass)

8/15
Again Cullen made us breakfast. Hashbrowns and eggs. And coffee. We woke up super late again. Eventually made our way down to Santa Monica to check out the beach and pier. The ocean was warm but smelly! Went back to Cullen's, then down to the Long Beach area to play a show at Ricky Genes. Totally weird bar, but met a touring band from Seattle there and they were super cool. Exchanged info with them. Jeff was DD, but the bar wasn't hooking up the drinks until later when the bartender gal decided to make Hannah and I a few specialty drinks. (Her call: tootsie roll shot and then a gummy bear shot). We played a really good set, sold some stuff, and got TONS of compliments on our sound. No money from the bar, merch only. Stayed at Cullen's.

Los Angeles/Hollywood

8/14

Today was a bit frustrating. Woke up late. Realized we left the drum rug at the venue. Played with Cullen's iPhone - cat piano and t-pain autotune. Cullen made us awesome breakfast. Finally got around to driving back to Pasadena to get the rug. Traffic took FOREVER. Came back home and it was dark. Decided to walk to Hollywood BLVD to be tourists and check it out since Cullen's house is so close (1.5 miles away).

Ate at the Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood (because we're rockstars).

^Hannah's dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe

^Billy Zoom's Guitar at the HRC (From X)

Pasadena

8/13
Woke up around 8am. NOT enough sleep at all. Stopped at a Subway for a breakfast sandwich and got the worst service any of us had ever received. The sandwiches were good though. Then hit the road to Pasadena.

We expected the drive to be longer than it was, so we got into town around 4:30pm with lots of time to kill. Located a Pinkberry, a bathroom, an H & M, Thai Food, an art store (bough a pen to write on our drum head), and the venue. The venue was hiding in the middle of weird alleyway streets. Hard to find if you don't know where it is. Met up with Chris who put the show on. Set up, soundchecked. Drank free beer. Played a really good show. Sold a little merch, but got tons of compliments. People bought us drinks. (Except Hannah who was DD.)

Oh, also discovered that our hi-hat cymbals got swiped last night at the Phoenix. Big bummer. We need to borrow cymbals or buy new ones. Made money from the door. Got tacos and quesadillas from the food cart across the street. Drove to Cullen's house, stayed up till 4 or 5 AM. Really fucking tired. Passed out.

Petaluma

^Sound check at the Phoenix Theater

8/12
Packed up and went to Jeff's mom's for a last chance at internet and brunch. Drove to the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma (where bands like AFI, Blink 182, Primus, and a lot of other bands got their start). The place looks drenched in history. Every inch is covered in bright spraypaint art. Punk fucking rock. There's a couple skate ramps in the main audience area, a balcony, and big stage. The sound was great and crystal clear. My finger hurt so bad I wasn't sure If I could play, but the combination of meds and nerves got me through it. Sold a LOT of merch, signed autographs, got a lot of positive feedback from strangers. That means a lot to us! We were invited to come back to Petaluma and play the Phoenix again, and I am pretty sure we will. Thanks Petaluma! We were thrilled to be part of your history.

Drove to my cousin Rachel's house to crash. Got Taco Bell on the way because we hadn't eaten in 12 hours. Did not get enough sleep.

^Merch table @ the Phoenix Theater

^Outside the Phoenix Theater

^Bathroom the Phoenix Theater

^Emily in upstairs hall at the Phoenix Theater

^Hannah outside the Phoenix Theater

^The Phoenix Theater

^On stage @ the Phoenix Theater

^On stage @ the Phoenix Theater

^Hannah @ the Phoenix Theater

Napa day 2

August 11 - NAPA, CA - DAY OFF #2

Yeah, yeah, another day off. We were supposed to play in LA, but realized that was going to be 800 miles out of our way (we have to drive back to Petaluma the next day, then back down to LA the day after). Also, our show got moved, and my finger still hurts and is swollen and purple, so we figured it would be wise to let it rest and save our gas money. Although we didn't want to be "that band" and cancel the show, we knew it was for the best.

Started the day off with In and Out Burger for breakfast. Not the best idea. Then went to Starbucks to use free wifi. Decided to go hiking for the rest of the day on Westwood hill. The day was fun, we fed flowers to goats, challenged cows who were hanging out on the path, and climbed twisty trees. Came home in time to go to Jeff's mom's place for a feast! Mannnn oh man that was a lot of food… and good food! We all ate so much it hurt. Ended the evening at Jeff's good friend Margot's place where we just hung out while they caught up. Good times. Now it is time to sleep once again.

^Found a "Bleding" tree on the walk home

Rollercoasters

August 10 - Napa, CA - DAY OFF

First day off- Good because my finger needs as much rest as I can give it! Woke up around 11am. Jeff's dad took us to breakfast at a delicious dive diner. Breakfast burritos and huevos rancheros all the way! Then while Jeff and pa went to San Fransisco for some bonding time, Hannah and I took on the coasters at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. We rode all the big coasters, saw some animals including sting rays, and ate the worst fries ever. Had a total blast. Came home, watched a beautiful sunset, ate leftovers from breakfast. Now it is 9:25pm and we are deciding what we want to do with ourselves for the night! No internet yet, but Hannah is playing the sims 3 next to me. Bahhh Simglish.

LATER-

The rest of the night we just hung out as a band. We went to an old friend of Jeff's, then we went to Safeway. Not to eventful. Crashed.

Californiaaaaaaaa

August 9 - Day 1 - Sacramento, CA


I smashed my finger (left index - the worst one possible for playing guitar) DAYS before leaving for tour. BIG BUMMER. IT HURTS LIKE THE DEVIL. The plan is: Ice, Advil, Ibuprofen, Ice, Alcohol. For cleaning of course.

Woke up at 7am, picked up Hannah (Bass) and Jeff (touring drummer). Headed out of Portland towards Sacramento/Woodland. Hannah drove the whole way, a 9.5 hour drive. Played at the Stag. Everyone was super friendly. My finger hurt a ton but I played through it. We were the only band on the bill but the bar was half full and our set went over fairly well. Sold some shirts and cdS, made some gas money from the bar. Broke even on gas! Bartender got us anything we wanted. A guy named Josh bought us a round of "starburst" shots (mandrin vodka, peach schnapps, and red bull.) Left for Napa (where Jeff's dad lives) to stay for the night, which was about an hour away.

Hannah and I passed the fuck out. Jeff (who grew up in Napa) was out till 5am catching up with old friends.

-Emily