Entries about travel

It came as a great delight to arrive in Colorado. The large mountain peaks and grassy fields welcomed us. It was a huge contrast to the constant corn and soybean fields of Kansas!

Fully loaded with information from the Colorado tourist centre, we headed into Denver to find some accommodation and get settled in. To our surprise, every single youth hostel we tried calling and visiting was completely booked out. The spontaneous approach had a hit wall. With our tails between our legs, we headed up the mountain to Conifer, which had a camping ground with some availability.

As it was getting quite late, we had arrived at the campground after hours. We were greeted by a caretaker who warned us about bears in the area, and to not leave any trace of food in our campsite.
With the aid of our vehicle headlights, we set up our campsite and called it a day.

A couple of hours into our shuteye, we were rudely reminded of the high altitude surroundings. Nobody has told us how bloody cold it gets at 9000ft! Unequipped with thermal clothing we lay shivering in our +10 degree sleeping bags, which kept us warm through the European summer. After a cold, interrupted nights sleep; we awoke and darted for the car to warm ourselves up. Doing this, we interrupted a deer that was eating close by. Welcome to the beautiful Colorado!

Our mission for the next day was to get ourselves accommodation indoors, preferably in Denver as we had tickets to see Feed Me perform with his renowned “Teeth” stage.
We landed some decent accommodation and headed to the Ogden Theatre. Here we saw Feed Me perform in front of packed out venue that reassembled the Palace Theatre in Melbourne. He really didn’t disappoint, putting on an amazing visual and sound display that have everybody in awe.

For the first time on our journey, the Camen brothers split and went their own ways. Daniel heading off to New York to meet Adrian, our brother from another mother, where they would attend Electric Zoo and celebrate Adrian’s 25th Birthday.
Luke remained in Denver and had sourced a local bush doof (Freeman Music Festival) to attend whilst the other two caused havoc in NYC.

After watching numerous films, music videos and photography, New York has always been a lifelong goal for Adrian to visit.
Jet lagged and only having two days to explore New York before attending Electric Zoo, meant Adrian needed to jam pack his time.

In those two days he managed to see most of the landmarks ranging from the Wall Street, World Trade Memorial, Chelsea and its high line, Little Italy, China Town, Empire State Building, Time Square and Central Park. He was also able to secure a cheap Helicopter ride and see New York from a difference perspective.

After the two days exploring New York, it was time for Daniel and Adrian to combine forces and enjoy Electric Zoo.

Electric Zoo, a large electronic music festival set in Randall’s Park, hosted some of the worlds best electronic dj’s.
http://www.electriczoofestival.com

It was a combination of long queues, lightly clothed women, Candy Beads, a problematic cashless system and incredible music spread over a three-day period. Although the festival was cut short on the final day due to severe weather, the boys were still able to watch 11 of their favourite artists and attend 2 underground, unofficial after parties.

Using an I-phone app, Luke found a little local festival in Boulder to check out on his own whilst the boys were in New York. Completely out of his comfort zone, he was welcomed to a large farm property, which also acted as yoga retreat.
The property really came alive, with local Colorado residents docking their best raver attire and enjoying a three-day bush doof amongst natural surroundings. Although the festival appeared small, the organisers managed to secure Jantsen, a locally produced International Dubstep artist and also attract Dj Dara (Drum and Bass) from San Diego to perform for the hyper crowd.

Luke was fortunate enough to meet some great friends from the festival who took him under their festival wings. If those woods could talk, they’d have a thousand stories to tell from that weekend.
Magical moments really do occur out of ones comfort zone

Having completed a jam-packed weekend of music and good times, it was time for the three musketeers to reunite at the Denver Airport to commence their third journey together in 4 years. To the Rocky Mountains we go. ☺

The world’s general view on Detroit is bleak, it’s seen as a city riddled with crime and unemployment, which came about from the automotive industry crashing some time ago. A city that had a proud population of over 5 million people now stands at approximately 650,000.
Taking this on board, we took it on ourselves to check it out and make up our own view of a city that has recently become bankrupt.

As a result of the financial crisis, a lot of business have either gone bust or packed up and moved elsewhere, leaving old historic buildings abandoned and left to rot. This allowed us the opportunity to do some urban exploring and get a feel for what this city once was.

To celebrate Daniels 25th birthday we ventured up to Rochester Hills for the Mad Decent Block party and enjoy some of our favourite DJ’s.
As the Detroit public transport system is scarce, it meant we could only take the one daily bus there, arriving 6 hours early for the party. This certainly worked out in our favour as we stumbled across the worlds biggest car cruise – “Woodward Dream Cruise” which saw more than a million people observe over 30,000 Muscle cars cruise down an 11 mile circuit. We were in heaven! ☺

http://www.woodwarddreamcruise.com/

So now arriving over an hour late for the party, we were greeted with an eye full of Detroit beauties, a lack of clothing, portable beer stands and filthy electronic beats that were enjoyed by the Molly crazed crowd. Bliss…
Our aussie accents made us a lot of friends, one in particular was a beer stand worker who was kind enough to drive us back to Downtown Detroit, avoiding a sleepless night until the 8am bus arrived. On our drive back we passed the infamous “8 Mile Road” ironically on the same night Eminem was playing in Detroit.

http://www.maddecentblockparty.com/

We woke the next morning to the sounds of Rotary, V8 and turbocharged drift cars taking over city streets in a legalised event – Again catching us by total surprise. ☺ This place seriously caters for all our needs!
So we scoffed down breakfast, jumped on some push bikes and watched some crazy American drifters display their skills in front of the famous abandoned train depot.

http://omgdrift.com/midwest-dopeness-midwest-drift-union-2014-round-4-streets-of-detroit/

Having access to push bikes gave us the freedom to explore the diverse street scape and local neighbourhoods of Downtown Detroit. We were able to check out the Heidelberg Project, A non for profit communal area that converts abandoned household goods, toys and furniture into decorative art that has changed the whole demographic of the area and has now become a tourist hotspot rather than an area you would once avoid.

http://www.heidelberg.org/

Detroit has, and will continue through tough times. Serious potential is shining through with investing business beginning to come back and a community presence that is banding together to make this city great. We feel Detroit is very similar to Berlin (Post Berlin Wall) that is just on the brink of becoming magical.

For all those planning a U.S holiday, see past the negative press and give this city a go. You’ll be greeted by such friendly people that are willing to give up their own time to help out where needed, or even to share a simple hello, alternative restaurants and bars, a big sports culture, beautiful architecture and a great American Muscle Car community. After all, it is known as the motor city.

Along the lines of Fedde Le Grand – “Put your hands up for Detroit, (We) love this city” ☺

Abandoned Detroit Train Depot.


Abandoned Book Tower - Tallest abandoned structure in America


Woodward Dream Cruise


Mad Decent Block Party - Rochester Hills MI


Nissan S15 - One of the many drift cars

Heidelberg Project