[Feature] Jersey City Teens’ Inaugural Arts & Music Festival a Success

Grace Church Van Vorst barely seemed open from the outside Friday night, even as the first-ever Green Teen Music and Arts Festival was happening within. But as the red double doors swung open, the clamor of people gradually got louder until it swept over us like a rush of hot air from an oven.

Movable walls around the perimeter of Grace’s main room featured art from local Jersey City teens hailing from seven area high schools. Photographs, oil paintings and abstract art pieces hung proudly as the artists roamed about the venue hob-nobbing with other artists and friends.

The Wayward Winos have the pleasure of writing for the Jersey City Independent when it comes to events around their current home of Jersey City.  If you want to read the rest of this story, visit Jersey City Independent

Host Our Coast: Tips on Video Submissions

A Lamp from the Georgetown Carriage Musuem

With Host Our Coast beginning to accept applications for this summers 2 month long travel writing/photography/video/social media gig, it is time to start putting together some ideas for that video submission.

The task is simple by introduction.  From the website,

“Your video submission must be 60 seconds or less and must be in English. This is your primary means of showing us that you are the right person to “Host our Coast” for two months this summer. Be entertaining, have fun, but most of all, make sure you show us why YOU want to Host our Coast and why we should pick YOU over all the other applicants.”

Although  60 seconds, a sole minute, seems like a short amount of time, it can be sometimes be daunting to fill with decent content.  In order to get those brainwaves moving in that direction, here are a few tips to help.

It’s “Host Our Coast” time!

Well, it is that time of year again.  The time when the winter starts to really bear down hard on the soul, with the bleak grey days and the bitter cold; the time when the novelty of sweaters and long johns begin to fade and the desire for swim trunks and the smell of sun tan lotion starts to bubble up.  With warm weather (especially with our friend Punxsutawney Phil calling for another six weeks of winter) still far off in the distance, there is something to look forward to and begin to prepare for:  Host Our Coast.

Host Our Coast is the ultimate summer job; a free place to stay in Delmarva (the peninsula of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia), adventures abound, and fifteen thousand dollars to boot.  The job description? Go on said adventures, have a blast, meet cool people, eat great food, and blog, make videos, tweet, and facebook about the entire thing.  Sounds like something that would interest the freelance writer, photographer, and especially traveler in you, than dust off the video camera, and stop watching TV because it is application time.

[Featured] Trains and Trees: Holiday Magic in D.C.

The Wayward Winos has once again been featured on the travel website, Sosauce talking about their holiday trip to the Botanic Gardens in Washington D.C.  Here’s an except:

“The morning was crisp and fresh, hinting at the soon arrival of Chris Kringle and the children running around the capital, with the Capital Building sitting nearby and proud, brought the holiday cheer more to the forefront.  We arrived at the gardens around noon for its annual Holiday Magic exhibit held from November 26 until January 10, just beating the long line of families coming for the same beautiful showcase of plants, flowers, and trains.”

To read more check out the they Sosauce blog here

Dear Santa: 4 Great Gift Ideas for the Traveler

With the holidays, just around the corner, the heat is on for gathering those presents and checking of your list.  And not just any present, but something that

The often come with a nifty case too!

will be useful or treasured by the receiver.  For travelers, usually minimalists by definition (since a happy traveler is typically traveling light), the best gifts are ones that will make for an easier, safer, fun trip.  Although there are ton’s of useful items that all travelers can benefit from, here are a few gift ideas from past surprises and future wish lists.

New projects, new hopes

Although travel is somewhat a state-of-mind for now, we’ve managed to stay “abroad” in spirit with new projects while awaiting our next adventure. We’ve recently focused our energy towards a great cause started by an travel buddy.

This past month, the Wayward Winos have teamed up with Maya’s Hope Project, a very new non-profit helping several orphanages in the Philippines, to collect necessities such as summer clothing and shoes. After the devastating typhoon season, Hospico de San Jose, a welfare institution in Manila, needed food more than ever and we have been working to answer the call through social media.

Red Bank Battlefield: History Alive Year Round

Last post, we featured a mini history of the legendary Jonas Cattell and his heroic 10 mile journey on foot to warn the rag-tag colonial army of a impending assault by the Hessians.  Recently, Red Bank Battlefield held their annual Field Day that commemorates that very run and battle of Fort Mercer.  Be it that Fort Mercer is in West Deptford, a Wayward Wino hometown, it was a perfect weekend trip to escape the trappings of the city.

Red Bank Battlefield is a magnificent park pushed up against the Delaware River and on a perfect autumn day, the breeze swings in hard from the water and rustles the beautiful orange and red adorned trees.  Field Day this year, like many in memories, was this perfect day.  The air was crisp and clean, and the sky was clear illuminating the nearby historic city of Philadelphia right across the river.  Vendors served funnel cake and Italian sausages as the opposing forces assembled in their respectful fields and prepared for battle.  And a glorious battle it was,even if it was a reenactment.

A Weekend of History

This weekend, in and around Woodbury, NJ there will be a celebration of some of South Jersey’s rich revolutionary history during Colonial Weekend.

Events vary from a walking ghost tour of historic Woodbury on October 23, to the Main Street Colonial Day festival tomorrow, October 24, that involves costumes, crafts and trolley rides through the town.

Mystic, Connecticut Shows Her Colors

Photo by Paul Cox

On the hunt for the changing leaves, Mystic Connecticut fell in our sights.  So we packed up our bags with sandwiches, fruit and cameras and headed the two hours up 95.

Five Great Traveling Albums

Last post we featured on “Hacking Your Commute” offered some sound advice on how to make a long commute easier.  One item that it mentioned was getting some good tunes on, which leads us to today’s post.

Although, musical taste obviously varies – people like to move along a bumpy road to different sounds – here is a collection that us here at Wayward Winos prefer to listen to on long rides and exciting adventures.

Modest Mouse – “The Moon & Antartcia”

We are sure this entire list could have been populated with five different Modest Mouse albums, but it was decided, for the sake of diversity, to include only one.  The obvious choice of their albums may have been “Good News For People Who Like Bad News”, with songs such as Float On, but “The Moon & Antarctica” has a certain exploration vibe to it.

The album starts of with “3^rd Planet” that includes lines like “The universe is shaped exactly like the Earth / If you go straight along enough, you’ll end up where you were”, it really can get the curiosity peaked for traveling that entire path to see what really is between here and … well…here.

The rest of the album follows suit. “A Different City” is a personally favorite when falling into a new concrete jungle.  It’s tempo, as compared to the rest of the album, offers a great contrast when going from countryside to an urban existence.