The drive up was good, and not quite as far as first expected, about 6 hours or so from South Bay. We made a short stop to drive thru a tree, literally. I learned there’s a few trees where you can actually do this; we visited the Chandelier tree (below). Then, a little later up the highway, we saw a Bigfoot crossing sign.

Our hosts were great, and they sure showed us the outdoor classics of Humboldt county (not the marijuana though, sorry to disappoint!). But first, on the night we arrived, my friend took me out for beers with his buddies from work: about ten professors from nearby Humboldt State University. They were definitely not reserved as one might expect, but quite the opposite; fun, goofy, beer-pounding guys. And I guess I live in “Central California”, as the locals there claim that area of the state the true “Northern California”.

The highlight of the visit was probably walking through the giant redwood forest in the Redwood National Park. My kids pretended they were Ewoks, creatures from the Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi. Many of the trees are very very wide, about 300 feet tall, and can be 1,000 years old. We saw numerous large yellow slugs called banana slugs (yuck!)

We spent an afternoon in Arcata, a groovy hippie town which is home to the university. Lots of great coffee, organic food, and free spirits. The farmers market in downtown Arcata was fun, even had a bluegrass band. One ingenious woman sat on the curb with a typewriter and a sign that read “Poem Store“.

We also did some light hiking and walked along a few beaches, and even saw a bunch of seals hanging out on a sand bar. A couple swam pretty close to us, too.

We stayed overnight on the long journey home as we drove south down the coast on Highway 1 (rather than 101 as on the way up). We stopped at a couple of cool little towns, Fort Bragg and Mendocino. We stayed at cabin which was fair, but was totally worth it due to a hot tub overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The four of us took a nice, scenic dip in our underwear!

The next day we drove by some cows, and had a great brunch at fine place called Alexander’s. We crossed the Golden Gate on the way home and, even with as much fun as we had, were glad to be back home in Cupertino.

Transcription

Man1: Acme corporation is finally getting into the social media game.

Man2: Have you thought about how you’re going to engage with individuals and provide value to the community?

Man 1: Hell not. We’re just going to build a bunch of fancy social media web assets and then spend a bunch of money on a big media push. We’re going to be rich.

Man2: What’s social about that?

Man 1: Nothing. But it’s going to look super cool, and we’ll have the mainstream media tell everybody that Acme is now engaged in social media. It’s going to be sweet.

Man2: You’re an idiot. No wonder your Twitter account got suspended.

Part of that fun was the classic ’80s “hairbands”. Or the guys with make-up, some call it glam rock. Yes, looking back, they do look pretty silly. But a lot of the music was great, and that’s what counts!

Judas Priest (Birmingham, England)

Leather all the way, man. Hits such as “Breaking the Law” (Beavis and Butthead’s signature jingle), “Living After Midnight”, and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”. More about Judas Priest on Wikipedia.

Judas Priest. Lookin' bad ass, or not.

Iron Maiden (London, England)

I’d have to say the ugliest ’80s rock band. But with kick ass songs and even famously demonic album covers, these guys were pioneers for several years. Never was huge on the charts in the U.S. (I think “Run to the Hills” may be their most popular tune), but Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast made it to #1 in the UK! More about Iron Maiden on Wikipedia.

Iron Maiden. Very ugly mugs.

Twisted Sister (New York, New York)

Hilarious rockers who made it big (briefly, that is) with entertaining videos for hit singles “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (a #21 hit in the U.S.) and “I Wanna Rock”. More about Twisted Sister on Wikipedia.

Twisted Sister. What is that?!

Motley Crue (Los Angeles, California)

Famous band known for hard drinking, tattoos, and womanizing. Hits included “Shout at the Devil”, “Girls, Girls, Girls”, and “Dr. Feelgood”. I always liked the “Looks That Kill” song and video! (I was about 13 when it came out.) More about Motley Crue on Wikipedia.

Motley Crue. Glam rock studs.

Scorpions (Hanover, Germany)

Second for ugliest behind Iron Maiden, but totally awesome tunes like “Rock You Like a Hurricane”, “No One Like You”, and “Still Loving You”. More about the Scorpions on Wikipedia.

Scorpions. Don't look; just listen.

Def Leppard (Sheffield, England)

I saw these guys in concert around 1985 during the Pyromania tour, by far their best album. Included hits “Photograph”, “Rock of Ages” and “Foolin’”.  In the late ’80s, hits continued with “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Love Bites”. Def Leppard was huge in the U.S., but not nearly as admired in their native UK. More about Def Leppard on Wikipedia.

Def Leppard. Talk about curly hair.

Van Halen (Pasadena, California)

Arguably the most successful rock/metal bands of all time, and the best lead guitarist of all time, Eddie Van Halen. Hits include “Runnin’ with the Devil”, “Aint Talkin bout love”, “Unchained”, “Panama”, “Hot for Teacher“, “Jump”, and many more. Unfortunately, the band started to suck bad when David Lee Roth left and the Sammy Hagar joined (thus becoming “Van Hagar”, ha ha).  More about Van Halen on Wikipedia.

Van Halen. Yikes, this must be an early photo.

Ratt (San Diego, California)

Lesser-known, but solid ’80s rock. Most popular tunes include “Back for More” and “Round and Round” (great video, and with Milton Berle!). More about Ratt on Wikipedia.

Ratt. You may fill in this caption, ha ha.

Related Articles

• Top 10 Hair Band 80′s Rock Albums Of All Time!
• Top 8 Worst Band Names of the ’80s

When I was a kid, we were really into KISS. Funny things I remember are:

• Imitating the song “Hotter Than Hell” in my band of 3 9-year-olds (including putting on makeup and lighting fireworks “on stage”).
• My mom taking away my KISS albums because she heard us swearing with the song lyrics.
• Staring at the crazy album covers and drawing some of them.
• Not know what “Love Gun”  meant.

When KISS Ruled The World Part 1  of 5

Here are the rest of the episodes:

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

This video below is obviously more fitting to me! (In case you didn’t know, I’m a Twitter user and app developer.) Coincidentally, I met Justine at the 140 Twitter Conference in Mountain View, California, a few months ago. She was on a panel. You can follow iJustine on Twitter at @ijustine.

“The Twitter Song” – Rockin’ Robin Spoof – I’m tweeting

King Tut, Hearst Castle, and Sea Lions

First, I took the family to the special King Tut exhibit at the De Young art museum in San Francisco. That was neat, but the kids and I were very disappointed because there were no mummies!

Next, we drove down the central coast of California. We stopped in Monterey for a bit, then took a bunch of pictures thru Big Sur; it was the first time we had driven the whole way. We spent the night near Cambria and went to Hearst Castle the next day. It was a 5-mile bus ride to the castle on top of the mountain, which was neat in itself. I thought the best part of the castle was the outdoor pool. We then drove further south to Morro Bay. Cool little town with seafood restaurants, boat tours, sea lions, big beach, and one ginormous rock.

Carson and me on beach in Morro Bay

Art, Rock Stars, BBQ, Tigers, and Golf

Then I went on a trip to Michigan (just me) to celebrate my brother’s birthday. Connected in Dallas and met a few interesting people on my flights (including a army guy who just ended a 1-year tour in Afghanistan!)  I went to the Ann Arbor art fairs with my parents on the first day, then met my Web Axe co-host Ross and a few other guys at the Arbor Brewing Company. I golfed 9 holes with my brother and dad. Then took a cruise in my dad’s ’68 Mustang convertible and ate at a neat ’50s style drive-in called Tom’s Root Beer Stand. Then I went to Henry Ford Museum, where there was an awesome special exhibit “Rock Stars Cars and Guitars”. We then went to dinner at an awesome new barbecue restaurant/bar in Detroit called Slows. The last night there, we went to the Detroit Tigers Major League baseball game, and there were at least 8 home runs, and a Tigers grand slam in the first inning!

Front of Comerica Park

Garlic Festival is Last Stop

I worked this past Friday, then today I took the family to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California. We ate very garlicy pizza, bread, and stuffed mushrooms–all very good! It was very crowded and very hot, but a lot of fun.

Phew, OK, I think I covered most of the last couple weeks. Now back to work.

• Dirty Deeds
• Problem Child
• Sin City
• Highway to Hell
• Touch Too Much
• Gone Shootin’
• TNT
• Back in Black
• Hells Bells

Highway To Hell album cover