Brandon Explores

A blog for my Chicago adventures.

Falling in love with Chicago all over again.

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After my trip on my motorcycle across a big chuck of the country I was really quite relieved when I saw the city skyline in the distance while approaching on my motorcycle. With that said it seems from the moment I got back I have been non-stop doing and seeing things and it has all helped create a new found love for Chicago once again. This city is pretty awesome and has so many things to do and I have been playing the tourist role again for about a week and it has been really nice.

I feel it is always a good thing to remind yourself of where you live and find all the beauty in its location. Having my motorcycle in the city has presented a whole new set of challenges but also a whole new perspective of the city. Being able to travel where I want  at a much quicker rate has changed my life here. It has been nothing but pleasant.

Anyways with all these things I have taken some pretty cool pictures of the city and saw some new views of the skyline that took my breathe away. Looks like I will be in Chicago for another year and then at that point we will see what presents itself and where I will end up next. in the mean time enjoy the photos and videos I attached to the post.

 

Motorcycle Trip | Destination

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All in all I had a great adventure and miss it already! Being back at work isn't bad by any means but I sure do miss the open road! Must start planning for my next adventure! In the mean time here are some photos that I would like to share!

Motorcycle Trip | Chicago Pride

So after all three days of riding my motorcycle from Columbia, SC to Chicago,IL I finally arrived last night at around 7pm way earlier than expected, showered ate and passed out! So today was beautiful and that doesn't happen that often and the Chicago Pride festival was happening so we decide to ride our bikes down to hang and see the parade! What a way to be put back in the city. Chicago has so many things going on at once. Anyways was pretty cool and crazy so here is a video of a piece of it. Please excuse the curse word, it was pretty crazy all around and a bit overwhelming hahaha!

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Motorcycle Trip | Cincinnati

So after a really long day of riding through Tennessee and Kentucky I made it to Cincinnati. About to start the final leg all the way home to the windy city. Thought I would share my view form the room I am staying in!

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Zen and the art of my motorcycle trip.

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Soooooooo in the words of my father. "Well world, tomorrow I start my motorcycle trip" from Lexington, SC to Chicago, IL. I will be taking 3 full days to make this adventure worth while and will be posting it all as I progress on this posterous account! Be sure to check back daily for updates and beautiful scenery!

Tomorrow I will be venturing outside of the state of SC and making my way up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I will jump on that on and ride through The Great Smoky Mountains and Hopefully into Knoxville, TN. Then I will be resting for the evening and back at it the next day and on my way to Cincinnati.

I am super excited to get this started and it is something I have always wanted to do. Not going to lie I am a little nervous about the trip. Only depending on my and my moto is kinda crazy, but I think it will all be ok and hopefully a moving experience in all! I'll be posting more pictures of my trip as I go and would love to hear any feedback as I progress towards my end goal, Chicago.

Brandon!

Singing Snowman in the bathroom and how he has single handily put me in the holiday spirit.

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So brian has a wonderful surrounding of family members in his life. So wonderful that from time to time they send these nice gift boxes for him and since I am the roommate I inadvertently get some of the gifts inside that it carries :) ("presents by default"-Brian Thiel) This is wonderful and I say continue with all the love. One of the last boxes that his wonderful family sent over contained a little snowman that you can put into the bathroom. It is a motion sensored device that you place near the toilet so that every time you go to the bathroom he is there and happy to talk to you. Now I know what most of you are thinking... "how weird" and "how annoying".

I thought it would eventually get that way as well. But you see the other night I got up kinda late to .... do ... my business, and as I approached the bathroom I got inside the door and the little dude says "Who's got to go? you got to go, don't mind me I am here to keep you company" I then responded with a quick "why , thank you bathroom snowman!" Then I did my deed with a smile across my face.

Now... why am I telling you about this? This little snowman has single handily brought me into the Christmas spirit, and I am thankful for that. Through all the stress and deadlines I have put on me everyday this little snowman doesn't care and wants to just sing christmas tunes to me while I .... ummm for lack of better words, sing christmas tunes to the toilet. haha

SO I want to take this moment to wish everyone a happy holiday and I hope it is amazing and rules life for every single one of you!

Happy Holidays!

Brandon 

 

 

Fall in Chicago Panoramic Photography

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SO I am currently loving this weather! Its amazing here in Chicago with temps in the 60's and 50' at night, and all the leaves changing and making way for winter I don't see how anybody couldn't just fall in love with this time of year. Halloween is fast approching as well and as most know that is indeed the day of my birth so I will be celebrating with a weekend full of fun and scares! I am in yet another quarter of school with two more to go until graduation, and with this current quarter I am working on a project that is all about exploring the city and all the things it has to offer and documenting it and making it a clean and informative guide to the locations I choose to photograph. With that said I have been on a picture taking rampage and even though I can't show all the pictures I have taken yet I can show the panos that I have taken during the process. Enjoy and if you see anything cool comment about it below.!

12 days till Halloween!

OH and a new design Brandon Explores will be coming up soon! 

Brandon 

 

Wilmette Harbor | The Island north of Chicago : Panoramas

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Above are some Panoramas I toke while on my bike ride, I did this with an awesome iPhone called "Pano" - be sure to check it out and enjoy the pictures! Just click on the picture to view it larger - and be sure to read about my bike ride below. Thanks :)

Wilmette Harbor | The Island north of Chicago.

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There is not a day that goes by here that I am thankful for the decisions that I have made in the past year. I am serious. I miss so many things back home that I could probably write for days about it in a post but as far as the things that I am experiencing and seeing right now in the present time I LOVE. 

It was bright and sunny here on Sunday and I worked all morning long on design stuff. I was very successful in solving a problem I was facing with a certain project and then decided to cook some paper in the oven to age it for a advance type book I am making and that turned out pretty saweet as well so needless to say I was feeling good before I even decided to sit on my bike and "go for a ride". I have started to look at the map now, every time I venture off on my bike. I look for new areas of Chicago and the surrounding areas that I have yet to see or explore. This time I sought out parks and forest stuff along a river. At last!!, there it was a bike route that went right along a river called "North Shore Channel Trail" This trail traveled north along the Chicago River. Along the way you go through like 5 different parks in what is called "The Park District" It was pretty saweeeet. One park was called sculpture park and through out the park there were all kinds of different sculptures just strung along the area. Some were really cool and some were really dumb haha I guess not all art is awesome haha.

So anyways I just kept on going north until I ended up in the Wilmette Harbor. If you live in the Chicago area make it a point to travel to this spot. It was seriously one of the most beautiful things I have been to since I have moved here. It was a little chilly ( this still boggles my mind by the way ... we are well into summer time and it is like 50 outside ) but man it was soooo worth it. The bike ride ended up being about 15 miles there and 15 back but man I would do it again in a heart beat. Seagulls everywhere and just a beautiful area. I have overheard people talking junk about Wilmette before but I dont understand how with things like that in the area haha. Maybe they are talking about the really weird building / church thing that is up there. Seriously there was a cult looking building just hanging out all by its self. That was a little strange but oh well it didn't get in the way of enjoyment haha.

I sat on the rock in the harbor and watched the sun set in the distance. It was so nice to just be away from everything and just sitting and watching nature and the environment do its thing! Its strange because it was really satisfying to be all alone out there. These rocks went wayyyy out into the ocean and it kinda made you feel like you were out in the ocean just hanging out. It made me think about sailing and just cruising the oceans. I doubt I will ever really do something like that but man it would be a fun adventure thats for sure. After hanging out for a bit I realized that I had been to this beach before but the last time I was there it look completely different. The last time I was there the beaches were COVERED in ICE!! like cliffs of ice that you could walk on. Plus I was there at night last time. Regardless it was awesome to see it now looking sunny and awesome!

After hanging for a bit and waiting for the sun to disappear I started the ride back home. I traveled through lincoin park on the way back and through all the other "city areas" on my way back and it was just such a strange thing to go from exposure to nature at its finest to city life in like an hours time. Overall the TRIP was AMAZING! and you can check out some of the stuff I saw in the pictures above! This bike ride really got me pumped up for my summer travel plans. I will be getting on train and going from Chicago to RIverside California and hanging out with my best friends in TFDS and then flying to Columbia for a couple days to get my motorcycle all updated and running good. Then driving that bad boy back to Chciago. Excited about everything going on right now and you should be as well. Make Life what you want it to be. REALLY!! to many people say they want certain things but forfeit that idea when they decide it is not reachable. EVERYTHING is reachable! you may have to work hard to get it but none the less it is possible to get what you want out of life! WORK HARD for it! and make your self happy! give yourself what you deserve! 

Brandon

The stand off with the deer on the Des Plaines trail.

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Sooo lately I have really been in a thoughtful mood and have been really thinking about what direction I wanna go in my life, better yet what I want out of my life in general.

So I decided that I should probably take a day to ride my bike a rediciously long distance and give myself time to think. Here in Chicago there are a ton of bike trails and I decided to check out the "Des Plaines" trail. It is west in the Oak Park area(beautiful area with Frank Loyd Wright houses and etc, check out one of my earlier post about that) so I got on my bike and just started going!

I ended up at a nature preserve where the trail was. I then found out that the trail was not paved :/ but I was determined to go on it anyways considering I have a road bike and not a mountain bike. I was suprised to find out that the trail moves along the edge of a river! I followed it way north and ended up near the Ohare airport! A bit of a distance from where I started.

I sat down to rest near the end of my travel and as I sat there a deer just casually walked up to me from behind. He had came from the woods and was just looking for a snack I assume. He snifted me and looked at me and all the while I am siting here in fear and astonishment.!

Growing up I use to go hunting with my father and would watch men shoot deer left and right and I would even ask to gut the deer at times. (some of the best times hanging with my dad in my life) So for me to see this animal just walk up to me not afraid of anything and just hanging out was a very sureal thing, but soo refreshing to be a part of!

I guess what I am trying to say is that the bike ride was a success and I have a clear idea as of right now on what I wanna do next in my life and well I guess I am going to work towards it I ended up riding 30 plus miles that day and it was so worth it.

Get a bike, ride your bike, love your life.