Day 2: After One Night...

The Ashton boys are running it. Still.

So I'm sitting here with a wiener dog, Bear Grylls on tv, and 5 other fine fellas (Jake is off reuniting with the hometown girls...). We've had a fantastic day basically based around 3 things: driving, eating good home-cooked food, and, of course, March Madness.

After sleeping at Nick's lovely home last night in Beaverton, we woke up around 9:30ish, had breakfast, watched March Madness games until after lunch, then left for Jake's house in Salem. As everyone should do when traveling anywhere near Portland, we made a necessary stop at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland...soooooo gooood! I had an apple fritter the size of a frisbee...no big deal.

Needless to say, but March Madness will be a major theme on this trip...especially early on. Today was day 1 of the tournament...16 first round games today. From 9 am to 9 pm, we collectively watched nearly every game today...there was a lot of yelling, screaming, and tears. At least for me anyway. Our tournament brackets are definitely a source of much conversation and agony...

After a short jaunt to Salem (about 45 minutes), we arrived at Jake's house. The Howell family is fantastic and they have been excellent hosts. Needing a break from the basketball chaos of the day, we drove into historic downtown, met up with some of Jake's hometown buddies and participated in usual antics: mooch off of coffee shops wi-fi, explore/sneak into a ferry boat dock, and set off industrial building alarms. Nothing huge.

Now, we're sitting here, ending our night. Caleb, Nick, and I hit up the hot tub and kept things steamy.....so yeahhh....Van Ness kept us updated on the last few games of the day and everyone else was off long-boarding it up. Apparently, Charlie biffed but lived to tell the tale.

Bear Grylls just cooked a rat, ate it's brain, then cliff jumped (with the camera man)...love this show. Anyway, Van Ness is ending his night with none other than, yep you guessed it, a little Robot Unicorn Attack. Sounds like a good idea to me. New high score tonight...I'm feelin it.

One word to define tomorrow...

California.

Later peeps.

-- Brennon