In April, I performed in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Nevada for the first time. My friend, Steve Sabo, and I took my trusty Honda Civic all the way to the Pacific Coast to bring the haha to the masses (and by masses, I mean seventy-four people per show).
The drives were fairly brutal (being a Midwesterner, I forgot that even though states border each other, towns within them can still be at least ten hours away from each other), but the shows were a lot of fun, and I got the chance to see a lot of famous sites that were on my bucket list.
We started with a gig in Janesville, Wisconsin, and then we had a few days to make our way to Montana. So we decided to take our time and do some touristy things.
First up: the world's only corn palace. That's right - screw the Galápagos Islands or Egypt, my dream in life is to visit a building made entirely out of corn! Okay, so that's not actually true, but when Steve and I saw that the corn palace was on our way, we figured stopping there was a must.
Look at the excitement on his face!
A view from the inside:
Aw, Steve gave birth to a corn baby.
Of course, we couldn't help ourselves, and we insisted on making way too many corny puns during the entire time we were there (for example, apologizing to the tour guide for following her too closely and "stalking" her).
After leaving the corn palace (AKA the world's largest bird feeder), we headed to Wall Drug. For years, I had seen Wall Drug bumper stickers, and I had no idea what or where it was. Well, I soon found out.
It's definitely a cheesy tourist trap, but I was most impressed that they served veggie burgers and sold JASON personal care products (a great vegan brand). Not that many stores carry JASON, and I was lucky enough to score a bottle of body wash for $2.00.
Steve and I also scored rides on a variety of inanimate objects including a barrel and a jackalope (For the record, jackalopes are not real, despite several employees trying to convince me otherwise).
After Wall Drug, we headed to Mount Rushmore. It was so foggy on the day we went! When we first arrived in the park, we saw this:
I then stopped by the bathroom, and by the time I exited, this is what we saw:
Luckily, the weather cleared up again.
I'm not super keen on celebrating men who advocated for slave-ownership, but I will say that the craftsmanship of the site is quite incredible, and I definitely recommend stopping by if you're in South Dakota.
Our first gig after leaving the Midwest was in Lewiston, Idaho at the Red Lion Hotel. I didn't take any pictures from the show, but I did get some proof that I was actually in Idaho.
Oh, and I got this picture from a bathroom right near the state border. What a classy place! Welcome to Idaho!
After Lewiston, we performed in Butte, Montana at the Mine Shaft Lounge.
And then we made our way to Billings. I must say, Montana is quite beautiful, and the shows were a blast! At the Billings show, we ended up heading to the bar with the MC, Lukas Seely, and some other local comics and audience members.
They're into big beer in Montana, which makes it my favorite state of the trip!
After our shows in Lewiston, Butte and Billings, we had the weekend off, which we decided to spend in Missoula. I had heard great things about Missoula, and I was not disappointed. It reminded me a lot of Ann Arbor in that most of the people look like they're prepared to simultaneously research their dissertation and go on a five-mile kayak ride.
We walked around downtown a bit, and decided to eat at the Old Post, which was fantastic. I was very impressed by how vegan-friendly it was, and I had a yummy hummus wrap for dinner.
The following day, Steve and I actually went hiking.
And it was his idea. Can you believe it?
A view from the hike.
You can definitely tell why Montana is known as 'Big Sky Country.'
Me on our hike.
During our hike, it quickly became apparent how out of shape we are. This became glaringly obvious when we were passed on the trail by a four-year-old wearing pajamas.
After spending the weekend in Montana, we headed to Portland, Oregon, where I went to the vegan strip mall (as soon as I exited the car, I swear I could hear angels singing) and the vegan strip club (yep, there is such a thing). If you haven't been, I recommend trying both. And if you can't make it to Portland, some of the stores, like
Herbivore and
Food Fight, have websites. It truly is like a little slice of paradise out there.
Our drive to the Oregon coast was absolutely beautiful! Plus, the vegan rice crispy treat I purchased at Food Fight and noshed on during the drive was most delicious!
Once we got to the coast, we performed at the Mill Casino. I was surprised as we did two shows on a Wednesday (which is quite rare), but both shows were fairly full, and the audience members were great laughers! Plus, the best part was, I got a $100 tip after the first show!
After Oregon, we piled back into the car and headed for our next gig (located at Winners Casino in Winnemucca, Nevada).
Unfortunately, Winners did not live up to its name as I didn't win a cent. But, the show was fun, and we got to meet audience members with t-shirts like this:
In case you're completely dense like I was, that's red neck, white trash, blue collar. It took me a minute to fully grasp his shirt, and during the show, I just kept asking him why he was wearing a t-shirt that said "neck trash."
The drive back to the good ol' Midwest was a long one indeed. We made a brief stop in Utah to watch the UFC fights (where, sadly, my favorite vegetarian fighter, Jake Shields, lost to Georges St-Pierre) and make fun of all the Affliction-clad dudes at the bar. Steve was a total trooper and drove the entire way home, which is not easy when you're going through terrain like this:
Once we made it back to Toledo (where Steve lives), my brakes were pretty much shot, so I had to get a $400.00 brake job. The good news is, it was originally going to be around $500.00, but I sweet talked my way into a deal.
I'm so glad I had the chance to go out west, but I definitely needed, like, fifty-three naps when I returned home.
