Rob is now officially sitting on top of the hill at the ripe old age of 25, sorry to say, but life just goes downhill from here.  Just kidding. So how does one celebrate a 25th birthday in Istanbul with no money?  Easy… pretend like you have it and worry about it after.  As soon as we had any sort of excuse to blow cash we did.  Let’s break it down:

Ice cream (we had about 5 cones each yesterday) = 15 TL

XL pizza from Upper Crust (with bacon) = 30.50 TL

Chocolate Cake from a fancy bakery in Taksim = 19 TL

Beers at an overly priced bar = 20 TL

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Themed shots at Rock Bar (where they played Kung Fu Fighting) = 25 TL

Gozleme (Turkish Pancakes) = 7.50 TL

Transportation = 15 TL (approx.)

Total Damage = 132 TL (once again this is just an approximation as I’m quite confident I’ve forgotten something).  This could’ve bought us groceries for nearly 2 weeks.

Happy Birthday Rob!

 

Brian, Matt, Jed and I were all born during the auspicious year of 1984– a year of plenty. We took our first steps as Joe Kittinger made his daring hot-air balloon voyage across the Atlantic. We spoke our first words as Doug Flutie threw the game-winning 48-yard Hail Mary pass to Gerard Phelan to defeat the University of Miami Hurricanes 45-41. Just three days after the dawn of this brave new year, Jed Mitchell was born. Although today marks the 25th anniversary of that special day, you can still occasionally find him nursing a bottle. Last night was just such an occasion.

With the whole team assembled in Tokyo, at the beginning of Season 2, we decided to celebrate one of our most valuable team members with an orgy of grilled meat and beer known as “Yaki Niku”– all you can eat, all you can drink. There is no greater sound to our impoverished souls than the promise of never-ending grilled meats, but the greatest part of all was, of course, the company. Together, we roasted meats ranging from scallops to “beef face”, and performed a series of rhyming toasts to each episode (“To Episode 1, when it was done, we knew we had won, and our lives would be fun”). We drowned the night with merriment, absorbing the neon glow of exotic downtown Tokyo, filled with laughter and hope for 2009, the 25th –and best– year of our lives.

Happy birthday Jed, from your colleagues and friends at Jet Set Zero.

Mount Rainier, the mountain behemoth towering over Washington. On a
clear day, it can be seen from Portland, OR and Victoria, British
Columbia. It still takes my breath away when I see if over the trees on
the horizon.
July 23, my birthday, we drove down to camp at the foot of this beast.

Chapters of this adventure:

Birthday Lunch:
We
went buck wild on the Wendy’s dollar menu, which, unlike the Golden
Arches in downtown Seattle was still alive and kicking up our
cholesterol levels with deep-fried delicious unhealthiness.

Frosty + French Fries = Makeshift Birthday Cake

Around the Campfire:
Strips of marinated beef, wrapped around
green onions, skewered and put over the fire to cook. A birthday cake
worthy of gluttonous gods: 4 layers of fudge brownies, slathered in
chocolate frosting and adorned with festive sprinkles. It took us at
least 2 days to eat it all…and finally, beer.
Just how much beer did we bring on this camping trip?

5 gallons of Pale Ale, on tap = camping in style!

The Fox:
On a leisurely drive through Paradise Valley, we spotted
a small fox trotting in the snowfield on our right. It was a beautiful
animal, curious and unafraid as we stopped to watch him. It was such a
magical moment – it’s a shame we don’t carry HD recording equipment
everywhere we go…

Mysterious Snow Fox

And finally, the mountainous mountain…

Here’s to you Rainier!

Check out the rest of our photos, geotagged and mapped out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetsetzero/sets/72157606429177387/map

- Matt