Adventuring In The Arches
F E B R U A R Y
Life is short, time flies by with age. Follow your passion and hold onto your youth. The month of February has came by quick and treated me great while it was here. I've had the opportunity to visit Wyoming and Utah, explored amazing parks in Colorado, and even did a standup comedy set (perhaps more to come in the future of PP).
February's first weekend started off with Kim and I visiting Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado. Only a few hours away from our house and a little less than $20 to spend the day soaking up inside of hot springs was worth every penny. It was freezing outside, mountains and snow surrounded every spring we laid our bodies in. The relaxing sensation of the water was amazing. Deer approached the pools where we were laying was rad. Although I'm not a big fan of the city of Denver due to the lack of diversity and culture. The state of Colorado in general makes up for it with being surrounded by nature and wild animals.
CHEYENNE, WYOMING
With Valentine's Day approaching, we decided the second weekend we would visit Cheyenne, Wyoming. Considering Kim and I both are from the East Coast, it felt important to visit nearby cities to our current one. We gathered our friends Courtney and Cynthia and originally decided to pack out things and camp out in Medicine Bow for the night. Less than two hours later we made it to Cheyenne. Surprisingly the city carried a lot of charm to it. There is plenty of classic Native American culture and cowboy memorabilia through the city. We walked around the town to discover beautiful murals, a historic movie theater, and a vintage record shop. It was a pleasant beginning to our trip. We ate at a spot calledThree Two Doors Down. The food was delicious and the service has a very southern hospitality vibe to it. Although Wyoming is mid-west America.
After our meal, we started driving towards the camp site. The winds became dangerously strong as we left the city. That immediately deterred all of us. Shortly afterwards, the decision was made to go back to Denver. The turn around commenced as we trekked back to The Mile High City, we made a pit stop through Fort Collins since it was on the way home. We walked around the historic town which gave me the notion that Denver should of taken tips of the layout of FC. It has a very local business/local community atmosphere. During our walk through the town, we stumbled upon New Belgium Brewery. The four of us walked in and got some drinks. Inside we went along the self guided tour of the brewery. It was marvelous time hanging with good friends and great drinks. Bailey was even able to tag along during this entire day. After our drinks, we closed out and made our way back to Denver to call it a weekend.
ACHES NATIONAL PARK
President's Day was given as a paid holiday at my work. That being said, it a long weekend that we were going to make the best of it. Kim and I initially decided we were going to drive to Grand Canyon! As cool of a trip as that would of been, we decided we need more time to do such a fantastic adventure. We then decided to camp out in Arches National Park, Utah. That was definitely more reasonable considering it's only 5 hours away from our apartment. Although, before this trip would begin. I discovered a locals house show party thing happening that Friday night. Kim and I were the oldest people there ranging from 27-28. As everyone else was 21 and a little older. We brought some beers, knew no one at the party, and started conversing with party goers. Everyone was nice and the music was pretty good. After a swell night, we started making our way for the exit as for we have a big trip coming in the morning. While we were walking towards the door we discovered "@". It was a guy sitting on a coach smoking out of a bong. Although, he was already messed up he was adding more to the high. He was wearing JNCO jeans, a red hoodie that said "No Fear" on it in flame lettering. He had bleach blonde hair, but shaved the top of his head bald. He turned to this girl and said "My name is at, I'm trying to legally change my name to the @ symbol." I walked out dying of laughter, till I went to sleep.
The next morning, we packed our car and adventured to Utah. We arrived at the welcome center and walked up a hill behind the building and took pictures of making it across state line. As we continued our drive, the scenery showed more mountains and red rocks in our paths. We finally arrived at Arches National Park, it was beautiful! We drove around some of the NPS for an hour, but then it started getting dark so we trudged back to the car. Moab is a nearby town to Arches so we went there to navigate food for dinner. We discovered a Chinese café, that was extremely well priced and had delicious food. After dinner, we made our way to Willow Spring campgrounds and thought about setting up a tent, but it was too cold. So, we choose to sleep in our car seats for the night instead. It was an achy slumber, but we made it work. Once the sun rose, we got out and stretched and made our way back to Arches National Park. Admission was free due to it being President's Day weekend (although we have a yearly NPS pass). We drove around, hiked, and explored the extravagant sights! It is definitely one of the best explorations I've journeyed through. The shapes of the boulders, the colors of the rocks, and the hikes on the cliffs were astonishing. We spent practically the entire day exploring the park. We started our hike to infamous delicate arch. The hike is over 30 minutes long to make it to the historic spot. After a long footslog we made it! Walking around the edges of cliffs to get to this windy spot was terrifyingly exciting. The view was gorgeous and the journey was worth it. After a few pictures and chilling out there we made our way back down to the car to start heading home.
It was already getting late once we decided to start driving back. After 3 hours of driving, the conditions of the roads started getting bad. We got off at a rest stop in Glenwood Springs to try to plan what we were going to do next. It appeared our only option was to find a motel and crash there. Especially considering we didn't get much rest the night before, it made sense to sleep in a bed tonight. We sat in a Qdoba's parking lot and signed onto their wifi as we searched where to stay. I discovered Gleenwood Springs Hostel, we went to go check it out. Unfortunately the hostel didn't accept dogs. I mentioned to the owner I worked at a hostel for years, she was intrigued by compassion for hosteling and gave us a tour of the building. It was dreamy, how cultured of a hostel it was. I absolutely loved, but after conversing with her for a little while we knew we needed to still find somewhere to stay. So, she recommended us Silver Spruce Motel being our next cheapest option. We went there, got a bed and crashed out for the night. It was a well deserved sleep, the next morning we woke up and discovered mountains literally surrounding our motel. We couldn't see it that well the night before because of the darkness. It was fantastic view of a neat town. Since we had nothing planned for the day we had all the time we needed to venture around the town.
Glenwood Springs is a great town. I would love to live there for a couple of months. It has mountains, a river going through the town, and lots of local business. We ate at a place called May Palace Chinese. The amount of food we were given for the small price of our meals was a complete steal! It was a perfect day. We took pictures around Hanging Lake and No Name. The journey continued as we drove the mountainous highways of Colorado till we finally arrived home. It was an spectacular adventure of a long weekend.
!News!:
*Next month in March, Kim and I are driving to Florida to visit her family for Spring Break. The plan is to AirBNB our apartment while we're gone to hopefully cover a portion of rent while we're vacationing.
*I bought tickets to go back to Baltimore April 4th-11th for Light City weekend. I'm looking forward to visiting family and watching friends perform at the second annual festival.
*I plan on quitting my job soon and will be paying off the remainder of my lease in my current apartment to start working on my music, comedy, book, and self.
M U S I C:
Black Kids has recently released their second album "ROOKIE". I gave it one listen, I think it's good. Not as good as their first album. It's missing a lot of key hits. I appreciate their back as a band and would be excited to see them live. There is a few songs off the album that stuck out for me such as "IFFY, Natural Born Kissers, & Obligatory Drugs". Hoping they tour the album, I'll be there during one of their stops.
Thieves Like Us released their new album Thieves Like Us in January and I think it's a masterpiece. I saw them in 2012 at Comet Ping Pong. It was a excellent show and have been waiting for new material since. It finally arrived and it has a gothic, funky, 80's style to it. A few songs that stuck out to me were "Jennifer, Broken Mirror, & E Problems". I highly recommend this to anyone that wants to experience a unique sound such as they have to offer.
Real Estate released the deets for their upcoming album "In My Mind". Debuting their first single off of it "Darling". I was immediately blown away by the song. It really has a psychedelic vibe to it that I admire. Shortly after their official details of the song. They announced a tour which I gifted Kim and I myself Real Estate tickets as a Valentine's Day gift that we certainly are looking forward to.
The Shaky Experience - Ghosting music video has arrived! I took clips from random moments with hanging with friends in 2016 and curated a master piece for our smash hit single. As far as any news TSE is concerned. I am definitely in the early stages of constructing tunes. Nothing will be officially recorded till at least August 2017, and the release of the album might not happen till at least 2018. Although, the five year anniversary of our first album "Greatest Hits" is 4/20/17. The celebration of this is going to be in the form of 13 TSE songs I recorded solo, 1 being a brand new song that will be on our upcoming album called "Vanilla Whatever".
Pelvis Presley tunes are still in the cards for a Record Store Day release of my first solo full length debut album. I'm still getting my feet in the door, searching for a venue or DIY spot to have the release. Of course, I will be performing the new material once I move back to Baltimore eventually till then hold tight and enjoy my stuff on Soundcloud.
Computer Magic/Chad Valley I got to see these two perform at Lost Lake Lounge this month. Both musicians put on stellar shows. I've been a fan of CM since she was selected to be on The Strokes tribute album Stroked back in 2011. She covered "Take It Or Leave It". I personally have been a fan since. This was my first time hearing of CV. He really impressed with great sounds, a rad stage set up, and a unique style.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me twitter.com/jameslanee
Life is short, time flies by with age. Follow your passion and hold onto your youth. The month of February has came by quick and treated me great while it was here. I've had the opportunity to visit Wyoming and Utah, explored amazing parks in Colorado, and even did a standup comedy set (perhaps more to come in the future of PP).
February's first weekend started off with Kim and I visiting Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado. Only a few hours away from our house and a little less than $20 to spend the day soaking up inside of hot springs was worth every penny. It was freezing outside, mountains and snow surrounded every spring we laid our bodies in. The relaxing sensation of the water was amazing. Deer approached the pools where we were laying was rad. Although I'm not a big fan of the city of Denver due to the lack of diversity and culture. The state of Colorado in general makes up for it with being surrounded by nature and wild animals.
CHEYENNE, WYOMING
With Valentine's Day approaching, we decided the second weekend we would visit Cheyenne, Wyoming. Considering Kim and I both are from the East Coast, it felt important to visit nearby cities to our current one. We gathered our friends Courtney and Cynthia and originally decided to pack out things and camp out in Medicine Bow for the night. Less than two hours later we made it to Cheyenne. Surprisingly the city carried a lot of charm to it. There is plenty of classic Native American culture and cowboy memorabilia through the city. We walked around the town to discover beautiful murals, a historic movie theater, and a vintage record shop. It was a pleasant beginning to our trip. We ate at a spot called

ACHES NATIONAL PARK
President's Day was given as a paid holiday at my work. That being said, it a long weekend that we were going to make the best of it. Kim and I initially decided we were going to drive to Grand Canyon! As cool of a trip as that would of been, we decided we need more time to do such a fantastic adventure. We then decided to camp out in Arches National Park, Utah. That was definitely more reasonable considering it's only 5 hours away from our apartment. Although, before this trip would begin. I discovered a locals house show party thing happening that Friday night. Kim and I were the oldest people there ranging from 27-28. As everyone else was 21 and a little older. We brought some beers, knew no one at the party, and started conversing with party goers. Everyone was nice and the music was pretty good. After a swell night, we started making our way for the exit as for we have a big trip coming in the morning. While we were walking towards the door we discovered "@". It was a guy sitting on a coach smoking out of a bong. Although, he was already messed up he was adding more to the high. He was wearing JNCO jeans, a red hoodie that said "No Fear" on it in flame lettering. He had bleach blonde hair, but shaved the top of his head bald. He turned to this girl and said "My name is at, I'm trying to legally change my name to the @ symbol." I walked out dying of laughter, till I went to sleep.
The next morning, we packed our car and adventured to Utah. We arrived at the welcome center and walked up a hill behind the building and took pictures of making it across state line. As we continued our drive, the scenery showed more mountains and red rocks in our paths. We finally arrived at Arches National Park, it was beautiful! We drove around some of the NPS for an hour, but then it started getting dark so we trudged back to the car. Moab is a nearby town to Arches so we went there to navigate food for dinner. We discovered a Chinese café, that was extremely well priced and had delicious food. After dinner, we made our way to Willow Spring campgrounds and thought about setting up a tent, but it was too cold. So, we choose to sleep in our car seats for the night instead. It was an achy slumber, but we made it work. Once the sun rose, we got out and stretched and made our way back to Arches National Park. Admission was free due to it being President's Day weekend (although we have a yearly NPS pass). We drove around, hiked, and explored the extravagant sights! It is definitely one of the best explorations I've journeyed through. The shapes of the boulders, the colors of the rocks, and the hikes on the cliffs were astonishing. We spent practically the entire day exploring the park. We started our hike to infamous delicate arch. The hike is over 30 minutes long to make it to the historic spot. After a long footslog we made it! Walking around the edges of cliffs to get to this windy spot was terrifyingly exciting. The view was gorgeous and the journey was worth it. After a few pictures and chilling out there we made our way back down to the car to start heading home.


!News!:
*Next month in March, Kim and I are driving to Florida to visit her family for Spring Break. The plan is to AirBNB our apartment while we're gone to hopefully cover a portion of rent while we're vacationing.
*I bought tickets to go back to Baltimore April 4th-11th for Light City weekend. I'm looking forward to visiting family and watching friends perform at the second annual festival.
*I plan on quitting my job soon and will be paying off the remainder of my lease in my current apartment to start working on my music, comedy, book, and self.
M U S I C:
Black Kids has recently released their second album "ROOKIE". I gave it one listen, I think it's good. Not as good as their first album. It's missing a lot of key hits. I appreciate their back as a band and would be excited to see them live. There is a few songs off the album that stuck out for me such as "IFFY, Natural Born Kissers, & Obligatory Drugs". Hoping they tour the album, I'll be there during one of their stops.
Thieves Like Us released their new album Thieves Like Us in January and I think it's a masterpiece. I saw them in 2012 at Comet Ping Pong. It was a excellent show and have been waiting for new material since. It finally arrived and it has a gothic, funky, 80's style to it. A few songs that stuck out to me were "Jennifer, Broken Mirror, & E Problems". I highly recommend this to anyone that wants to experience a unique sound such as they have to offer.
Real Estate released the deets for their upcoming album "In My Mind". Debuting their first single off of it "Darling". I was immediately blown away by the song. It really has a psychedelic vibe to it that I admire. Shortly after their official details of the song. They announced a tour which I gifted Kim and I myself Real Estate tickets as a Valentine's Day gift that we certainly are looking forward to.
The Shaky Experience - Ghosting music video has arrived! I took clips from random moments with hanging with friends in 2016 and curated a master piece for our smash hit single. As far as any news TSE is concerned. I am definitely in the early stages of constructing tunes. Nothing will be officially recorded till at least August 2017, and the release of the album might not happen till at least 2018. Although, the five year anniversary of our first album "Greatest Hits" is 4/20/17. The celebration of this is going to be in the form of 13 TSE songs I recorded solo, 1 being a brand new song that will be on our upcoming album called "Vanilla Whatever".
Pelvis Presley tunes are still in the cards for a Record Store Day release of my first solo full length debut album. I'm still getting my feet in the door, searching for a venue or DIY spot to have the release. Of course, I will be performing the new material once I move back to Baltimore eventually till then hold tight and enjoy my stuff on Soundcloud.
Computer Magic/Chad Valley I got to see these two perform at Lost Lake Lounge this month. Both musicians put on stellar shows. I've been a fan of CM since she was selected to be on The Strokes tribute album Stroked back in 2011. She covered "Take It Or Leave It". I personally have been a fan since. This was my first time hearing of CV. He really impressed with great sounds, a rad stage set up, and a unique style.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me twitter.com/jameslanee
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