I shouldn't have been sooo hard on Omaha, it's ok.
I still wish I could find a reasonably priced city to live where all 4 seasons are bearable and somewhat near the ocean or at least a large lake.
I have a couple candidates, but, the quest continues...
Next stop, Brisbane!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Some Final Thoughts
- My brain can come up with very interesting expletives on the spot when confronted with an annoying driver. Usually a compound word with one being a curse and the other being a random word. Examples: D@#klick, S@#tpole, F$#knut, etc. It's really pretty amazing.
- No one else in the country gives a shit whats going on in Omaha. It;s getting better, but we are seriously geographically challenged. Our skyline' s laughable. If all my family and friends weren't here, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to move.
- GPS is a beautiful thing.
- Cruise control is too.
- I could've spent 3 times the amount of time I did on that route, I don't know how I ever thought I could go twice as far in the same amount of time.
I am so glad I did this. - People asked me what I do to pass the time in the car. I just thought I was easy to please, just listening to music and seeing the scenery, but I noticed that I am constantly playing math games in my head to pass the time. I am analyzing time of day, speed, distance, variations in speed, mileage, gas mileage, mph, distance to the end of my trip, and distance to other key locations constantly. I don't know if anyone else does this, but it's exhausting. And fun, I do enjoy it, I can guess the arrival time several hour away within minutes, if not closer. I'm a dork, maybe I should have been a math teacher instead of a graphic designer.
- I wish I never had to work again.
- I have learned that most of the things I really enjoy when traveling are free or really cheap. I could spend several hours in a state park for 3 bucks or less. And the architecture of skyscrapers and college campuses are amazing to me as well.
- Obviously getting the photography equipment costs a bit, but after the start-up, you can go a long time without putting too much into if you wanted to.
- Good food and live music not included in the free or cheap thing.
- I should have slept in my car more, I went a few hundred over budget, but nothing crazy.
- Staying with friends sometimes ends up costing more than not, when you go out and drink, and eat at nice places, etc.
- I will never know everything. There is so much out there.
- My roommate's home, gotta go, more to come later.
Norman to Homaha -- May 4th
Woke up and started off to see the OU campus and stadium. I had to wear my NU hoodie. To my surprise, no one said anything to me. I think I perceived a few looks here and there, but nothing concrete. The campus was nice, but it started to rain, so I got in the car and went OK city to get another DDD meal. I went to Leo's BBQ, and the location was vacant. It did have a different location written on the door, but it said it was only open til 2, it was 1:30. So I high-tailed over to other location and luckily, they didn't have any problem serving me. The waiter was very friendly and attentive and he recommended the ribs. That's what I had, and it came with their "world famous" strawberry banana cake. The sauce was AMAZING, and so was the cake. I wish the ribs were cooked a little longer, because if they had, it would be my new all-time fav BBQ joint. But they weren't, so it's still Jack Stack in KC. I did buy some of their sauce, and after all that, plus tip, I got outta there for 16 bucks. And the lady at the counter sent me home with two pieces of free cake! Very cool.
It was pretty rainy the rest of the way, so I decided to go all the way through to home, only stopping if necessary. I drove for about 8 hours today, the longest of the trip. It was also the only time I was in 5 states in one day. OK, KS, MO, IA, and NE. My favorite multiple state day would have to go to: FL, AL, MS, LA though.
So I booked it through, stopping just for gas and restrooms, but I had to stop for sunset, so I pulled over and went to Squaw Creek Nat'l Wildlife Preserve near Mound City, MO. It was cool. Very beautiful. The last 25 miles were the most annoying of the trip. I was ready to be home finally, when 3 times there was construction where we would all get back up to speed and in order, then we'd have to slow down by 20 mph for like 6 miles. Three times in a row!! Of course, the guy at the front all three times was going like 48 in a 55 also. Do you know what it feels like to go 48 for 6 miles when you've been doing 80 for 7 1/2 hours? It's excruciating. Oh well.
Finally got home, was greeted by rain, but there were like 5 parking spaces open at my apartment, so I couldn't complain. I guess everyone but 3 or 4 tenants have just moved out. I took about 5 trips up 3 flights to get all my shit in, relaxed for minute, got some Arby's and here I am. The drive from Mound City to Omaha was surprisingly the 2nd largest windshield bug collection, right behind the Everglades and Alligator Alley. AHhhh! Home Sweet Home.
It was pretty rainy the rest of the way, so I decided to go all the way through to home, only stopping if necessary. I drove for about 8 hours today, the longest of the trip. It was also the only time I was in 5 states in one day. OK, KS, MO, IA, and NE. My favorite multiple state day would have to go to: FL, AL, MS, LA though.
So I booked it through, stopping just for gas and restrooms, but I had to stop for sunset, so I pulled over and went to Squaw Creek Nat'l Wildlife Preserve near Mound City, MO. It was cool. Very beautiful. The last 25 miles were the most annoying of the trip. I was ready to be home finally, when 3 times there was construction where we would all get back up to speed and in order, then we'd have to slow down by 20 mph for like 6 miles. Three times in a row!! Of course, the guy at the front all three times was going like 48 in a 55 also. Do you know what it feels like to go 48 for 6 miles when you've been doing 80 for 7 1/2 hours? It's excruciating. Oh well.
Finally got home, was greeted by rain, but there were like 5 parking spaces open at my apartment, so I couldn't complain. I guess everyone but 3 or 4 tenants have just moved out. I took about 5 trips up 3 flights to get all my shit in, relaxed for minute, got some Arby's and here I am. The drive from Mound City to Omaha was surprisingly the 2nd largest windshield bug collection, right behind the Everglades and Alligator Alley. AHhhh! Home Sweet Home.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Houston to Norman -- May 2-3rd
Last day in Houston. Packed in quite a bit of quirky stuff to do. Angie had some errands and stuff to do, so I went out by myself. First I went and saw the 50 foot saxophone made out of vw beetles. It was in front of a now closed restaurant, so there was an overgrown palm tree right next to it, but still pretty cool. Then I went to a giant armadillo statue, then on to the beer can house. Some guy in Houston completely covered his house with beer cans that he cut up, and made the fence, garage, etc. the same way too. There were bottles as a fence, tabs as curtains, it was crazy. They had some really cool t-shirts too, but they wanted $25 for it, so I passed. The guy was very nonchalant about it forever, commenting he wouldn't walk around the block to see the house, and didn't consider himself an artist. Instead, he would just say, he just didn't want to paint the house or mow the lawn. There were over 50,000 beer cans, he and his wife drank them all. After that I ate at Jack in the Box, gross, but I get to cross it off the list now.
Next, I hit up the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, a neat little preservation area with trails and stuff. I went on a hike for a little over an hour, and got a few cool pictures. I then headed home because we scored free Fleetwood Mac tix!!
Got home and Angie and I left for Carabba's restaurant. It's the original one in the country. The fare was fabulous, absolutely awesome. We shared some mussels for an app, and then I had a panchetta wrapped quail served on polenta with asparagus and roasted potatoes. I had a food orgasm, I think. That was my first quail experience, and it won't be my last. Prbably the tastiest bird I've eaten.
We had a little trouble at the ticket window, and we were a little late to the show, but we got in, and only missed about 4-5 songs. I wish we could have caught them, I heard we missed Rhiannon, The Chain, and Gypsy, but the rest of the show rocked. Stevie's voice sounded great and Lindsay Buckingham's guitar play was incredible for any 30 year old let alone being a 60 year old man. So cool. They went for about two and a half hours, including a 3 song encore and a second 1 song encore! Then Angie and I went to a bar to hang out, we got kinda drunk and watched a cool little cover band that did songs in kinda rockabilly style. They played AC/DC, Steve Miller, Sublime, Tom Petty, and were taking requests. Unfortunately, they didn't know Weezer or Nirvana, so I just had to make due. Very cool bar, though. The Abbey Pub, I think. They were having a pajama contest, the bartender were pouring shots into people's mouths while standing on the bar, and the crowd could have entertained us for hours, kinda hick, kinda biker, about equally black/white, very interesting.
After that we went home and looked at photos until we passed out.
Woke up this morning with a bit of a hangover, but said goodbye to everyone and made it out by noon, my projected leaving time. Drove to Dallas, first stop: SMU. Poked around campus and took pictures, then went to Arlington, where the new $1 billion stadium for the Dallas Cowboys is being built. I met an enthusiastic photographer also there taking pictures and hung out with him while we walked around the new stadium. Then I snuck through the construction gate and got really close. It's projected to be done June/July-ish, so it's still kind of a mess, but the facility is the coolest stadium I've ever seen. Can't wait to go to a game there!!
Then I went west to Fort Worth to eat at another DDD place called Fred's Texas Cafe. They're supposed to be known for their burgers. I got there and there was a 3 day music fest going on! No cover. Bands all day. The menu was extremely limited due to the fest, but luckily they were doing burgers, so I had one. It was good, not really anything special, but tasty nonetheless. I watched about 2 songs from a local favorite band. they were great. 2+ drum sets, guitar, bass and vocals, great energy, experimental type music mixed with jam band and a little electronica. And the ladies were smokin'. Good times. Then I headed onto Norman, getting pulled over on the way, right before the Oklahoma border. The officer was super cool and gave me a warning, and I got into a brand spanking new Motel 6 about midnight. I'm very tired, sorry if the blog was brief this time, but I need to crash.
Next, I hit up the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, a neat little preservation area with trails and stuff. I went on a hike for a little over an hour, and got a few cool pictures. I then headed home because we scored free Fleetwood Mac tix!!
Got home and Angie and I left for Carabba's restaurant. It's the original one in the country. The fare was fabulous, absolutely awesome. We shared some mussels for an app, and then I had a panchetta wrapped quail served on polenta with asparagus and roasted potatoes. I had a food orgasm, I think. That was my first quail experience, and it won't be my last. Prbably the tastiest bird I've eaten.
We had a little trouble at the ticket window, and we were a little late to the show, but we got in, and only missed about 4-5 songs. I wish we could have caught them, I heard we missed Rhiannon, The Chain, and Gypsy, but the rest of the show rocked. Stevie's voice sounded great and Lindsay Buckingham's guitar play was incredible for any 30 year old let alone being a 60 year old man. So cool. They went for about two and a half hours, including a 3 song encore and a second 1 song encore! Then Angie and I went to a bar to hang out, we got kinda drunk and watched a cool little cover band that did songs in kinda rockabilly style. They played AC/DC, Steve Miller, Sublime, Tom Petty, and were taking requests. Unfortunately, they didn't know Weezer or Nirvana, so I just had to make due. Very cool bar, though. The Abbey Pub, I think. They were having a pajama contest, the bartender were pouring shots into people's mouths while standing on the bar, and the crowd could have entertained us for hours, kinda hick, kinda biker, about equally black/white, very interesting.
After that we went home and looked at photos until we passed out.
Woke up this morning with a bit of a hangover, but said goodbye to everyone and made it out by noon, my projected leaving time. Drove to Dallas, first stop: SMU. Poked around campus and took pictures, then went to Arlington, where the new $1 billion stadium for the Dallas Cowboys is being built. I met an enthusiastic photographer also there taking pictures and hung out with him while we walked around the new stadium. Then I snuck through the construction gate and got really close. It's projected to be done June/July-ish, so it's still kind of a mess, but the facility is the coolest stadium I've ever seen. Can't wait to go to a game there!!
Then I went west to Fort Worth to eat at another DDD place called Fred's Texas Cafe. They're supposed to be known for their burgers. I got there and there was a 3 day music fest going on! No cover. Bands all day. The menu was extremely limited due to the fest, but luckily they were doing burgers, so I had one. It was good, not really anything special, but tasty nonetheless. I watched about 2 songs from a local favorite band. they were great. 2+ drum sets, guitar, bass and vocals, great energy, experimental type music mixed with jam band and a little electronica. And the ladies were smokin'. Good times. Then I headed onto Norman, getting pulled over on the way, right before the Oklahoma border. The officer was super cool and gave me a warning, and I got into a brand spanking new Motel 6 about midnight. I'm very tired, sorry if the blog was brief this time, but I need to crash.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Houston -- May Day
Took it super lazy today. Went to lunch at this awesome little place close to home called Taqueria El Dorado #2, and had myself some pozole and tongue burrito. Yummy! Makes me miss home. The rest of the day I laid around, read, slept, watched tv, and got on the pc. Exciting!!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Houston -- Apr. 28-30th
Wow! Haven't blogged in a couple days. Hope I can remember stuff. Oh well, here goes.
I have been taking it pretty easy since I have a place to come back to and I'll be here for like 6 days. I have just been doing like 2-3 things each day and taking my time about it.
Two days ago, after my last post I ran some errands, got my eyes checked, so I could get some new glasses, and went to Eyemasters and got 2 pair for $99. Pretty good. Angie and I went downtown to scout a couple places to take some night skyline and got thrown out of one parking garage...twice. :) Then we looked at another one and it was locked up tight. So we decided to get dinner. We ate at a place called Cabo, it was a tex mex place, and we got tacos and wings. The wings were breaded, which I generally am not a fan of, but the breading was really tasty, it had thyme and something else interesting in there. The tacos were good, too. After that we went home and crashed.
Yesterday I went to a private art gallery, the Menil Collection, and down to a cool little place called Tranquility Park, and both were really awesome. The Menil collection had some really great stuff, including a Picasso. And it was free! Never hurts. The park had some great shots for downtown buildings and skyline pics. Then we went to Demeri's BBQ joint, and I had a four meat/two side plate and a beer for less than $20! It was decent, not as great as I was looking for, but I guess all the best BBQ is in Austin. We're thinking about taking the 2 hour drive and getting some, we'll see. The sausage and chicken were good, the sauce was tasty, I had charra beans and potato salad, both of those were great, but the ribs and brisket weren't the best cuts of meat, and they weren't cooked long enough.
Today, I picked up my glasses. They seem a little cheap, but they were, and I usually only wear them at night, so no big deal. Angie had some errands most of the day, so I was on my own today. I had gone on a decent run the last two days, and my legs were pretty sore today, so I skipped it this morning. I did end up hiking for like 5 miles, though. I found out that the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, was free admission on Thursdays, so I decided to start off there. Come to find out it's two buildings and three floors on each! I stayed for like 3 hours. It was amazing! Totally worth the admission. They had an Afghanistan exhibit, ancient Egyptian sarcaphagai and hieroglyphs, my favorite is always the 1880s - 1900s artists. Especially surrealists and expressionists. There was tons more stuff there, too, those were just some of my favorites. I was accused of using my flash in the gallery by one of the workers and had to get snooty with her because I hate being accused of shit I didn't do. She said she saw the flash, I said no she didn't because my flash was turned off. whatever. I left eventually, and walked around in the adjacent sculpture garden for awhile, and realized I was starving and the Chex Mix I had with me wasn't going to be enough. I tried another new fast food type place, James Coney Island. Touted as being around since 1923, they specialize in good hot dogs with toppings, and real Texas chili. I got the Texas, and tots. The Texas is a hot dog with cheddar, chili, and onions. Mmmmm mmm. It was good and their decor was fun and vintage as well. Hit the spot. I headed west, and went to Brazos Bend State Park. I had planned on just staying like an hour, then heading back to the house, but I ended up staying about 3 1/2 hours. It was great. Mostly just a nice leisurely walk around the lake. But this place was chalk full of wildlife. I saw about 5 new species of birds I hadn't seen before. I saw a large bird swimming completely underwater and come up with a full fish in its mouth, and hold it there plenty long enough for me to get several great pics, beat it on a log, and eat it. A little further, I saw 7 alligators. One of them was ON the trail! He receded back to the water as two bikers and myself got closer to him. I pretty much saw sunset there, but was trying to get a few miles away before the light ran out to get some pictures of some Texas longhorns. I didn't really make it, I got some pictures, but I had to use flash or they were a bit blurry. Oh well, good end to a good day. Even better, Joe got us Fleetwood Mac tickets today through his work for Saturday!! Excited!!
I have been taking it pretty easy since I have a place to come back to and I'll be here for like 6 days. I have just been doing like 2-3 things each day and taking my time about it.
Two days ago, after my last post I ran some errands, got my eyes checked, so I could get some new glasses, and went to Eyemasters and got 2 pair for $99. Pretty good. Angie and I went downtown to scout a couple places to take some night skyline and got thrown out of one parking garage...twice. :) Then we looked at another one and it was locked up tight. So we decided to get dinner. We ate at a place called Cabo, it was a tex mex place, and we got tacos and wings. The wings were breaded, which I generally am not a fan of, but the breading was really tasty, it had thyme and something else interesting in there. The tacos were good, too. After that we went home and crashed.
Yesterday I went to a private art gallery, the Menil Collection, and down to a cool little place called Tranquility Park, and both were really awesome. The Menil collection had some really great stuff, including a Picasso. And it was free! Never hurts. The park had some great shots for downtown buildings and skyline pics. Then we went to Demeri's BBQ joint, and I had a four meat/two side plate and a beer for less than $20! It was decent, not as great as I was looking for, but I guess all the best BBQ is in Austin. We're thinking about taking the 2 hour drive and getting some, we'll see. The sausage and chicken were good, the sauce was tasty, I had charra beans and potato salad, both of those were great, but the ribs and brisket weren't the best cuts of meat, and they weren't cooked long enough.
Today, I picked up my glasses. They seem a little cheap, but they were, and I usually only wear them at night, so no big deal. Angie had some errands most of the day, so I was on my own today. I had gone on a decent run the last two days, and my legs were pretty sore today, so I skipped it this morning. I did end up hiking for like 5 miles, though. I found out that the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, was free admission on Thursdays, so I decided to start off there. Come to find out it's two buildings and three floors on each! I stayed for like 3 hours. It was amazing! Totally worth the admission. They had an Afghanistan exhibit, ancient Egyptian sarcaphagai and hieroglyphs, my favorite is always the 1880s - 1900s artists. Especially surrealists and expressionists. There was tons more stuff there, too, those were just some of my favorites. I was accused of using my flash in the gallery by one of the workers and had to get snooty with her because I hate being accused of shit I didn't do. She said she saw the flash, I said no she didn't because my flash was turned off. whatever. I left eventually, and walked around in the adjacent sculpture garden for awhile, and realized I was starving and the Chex Mix I had with me wasn't going to be enough. I tried another new fast food type place, James Coney Island. Touted as being around since 1923, they specialize in good hot dogs with toppings, and real Texas chili. I got the Texas, and tots. The Texas is a hot dog with cheddar, chili, and onions. Mmmmm mmm. It was good and their decor was fun and vintage as well. Hit the spot. I headed west, and went to Brazos Bend State Park. I had planned on just staying like an hour, then heading back to the house, but I ended up staying about 3 1/2 hours. It was great. Mostly just a nice leisurely walk around the lake. But this place was chalk full of wildlife. I saw about 5 new species of birds I hadn't seen before. I saw a large bird swimming completely underwater and come up with a full fish in its mouth, and hold it there plenty long enough for me to get several great pics, beat it on a log, and eat it. A little further, I saw 7 alligators. One of them was ON the trail! He receded back to the water as two bikers and myself got closer to him. I pretty much saw sunset there, but was trying to get a few miles away before the light ran out to get some pictures of some Texas longhorns. I didn't really make it, I got some pictures, but I had to use flash or they were a bit blurry. Oh well, good end to a good day. Even better, Joe got us Fleetwood Mac tickets today through his work for Saturday!! Excited!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Houston -- Apr. 27-28th
It's been really rainy since I got here. I guess it floods here kinda often if its rains hard. I slept in and had a good sleep the night I got in. I woke up and hung out with Angie and Joe all day and had fun with them and had fun with them and their two wonderful kids, Cambry (2 1/2) and Boston (6 months). We went down top the park and fed the ducks and it was a bit rainy, but we enjoyed ourselves and were able to get a few good pictures. I saw more of these "turkey ducks" and just did a little research on them. They're actually called Muscovy ducks, but turkey duck is a very common nickname for them. There were also some ducks with little afros on their heads, too. It was neat.
We drove around a little bit and saw some of the city, this place is huge, though! It's going to take the whole 5-6 days I'm here to see the whole thing!! We went down town to see if I could get my camera lens fixed, and found out I'm probably either going to have to pay $150 to fix it, or buy a new one, I'll probably do the latter, because I think I got the lens for like $179. Oh well. I looked into a few options of getting new glasses as well, and may do that while I'm down here. Other than that, we spent a lot of time in rush hour traffic in the rain. Good conversation, though.
When we got home, the pork shoulder Angie and Joe had made for dinner was ready. They prepared it in a slow cooker with Cuban style spices and ingredients. We had black beans and rice on the side. It was awesome, I had two plates. Not that I needed it, I just had too. Joe is the head chef for Fleming's, and Angie has been in the food industry, like me, for a long time, and has a definite penchant for whipping up good food. I helped Angie with some ideas for her photography contest for the week, and watched a lot of playoff basketball. I hit the sack, and got this morning eager to get into some sort of routine, to kinda ease my way back into normal life when I get home. So I got up and ran about a mile or so. I always hate the first couple workouts when I haven't done it for awhile. The humidity is like 85%, the ground was soggy, I got my shoes muddy, some a-hole nearly hit me on the road, seriously, his sideview mirror was like 5 inches from the back of my head, I got shin splints, and I felt like a fat man after walking up three flights of stairs. It's all good though, I feel great now. I did some sit-ups and push-ups, took a shower, browsed the internet, and will probably eat some lunch here in a bit. It also looks like it's clearing up outside, so I will hopefully get downtown today and get some good pictures. It rained last inight, though, about 8 inches, so the closest interstate entrance is flooded. We'll have to go around about 2 miles the wrong direction and get on there. Wish me luck!
We drove around a little bit and saw some of the city, this place is huge, though! It's going to take the whole 5-6 days I'm here to see the whole thing!! We went down town to see if I could get my camera lens fixed, and found out I'm probably either going to have to pay $150 to fix it, or buy a new one, I'll probably do the latter, because I think I got the lens for like $179. Oh well. I looked into a few options of getting new glasses as well, and may do that while I'm down here. Other than that, we spent a lot of time in rush hour traffic in the rain. Good conversation, though.
When we got home, the pork shoulder Angie and Joe had made for dinner was ready. They prepared it in a slow cooker with Cuban style spices and ingredients. We had black beans and rice on the side. It was awesome, I had two plates. Not that I needed it, I just had too. Joe is the head chef for Fleming's, and Angie has been in the food industry, like me, for a long time, and has a definite penchant for whipping up good food. I helped Angie with some ideas for her photography contest for the week, and watched a lot of playoff basketball. I hit the sack, and got this morning eager to get into some sort of routine, to kinda ease my way back into normal life when I get home. So I got up and ran about a mile or so. I always hate the first couple workouts when I haven't done it for awhile. The humidity is like 85%, the ground was soggy, I got my shoes muddy, some a-hole nearly hit me on the road, seriously, his sideview mirror was like 5 inches from the back of my head, I got shin splints, and I felt like a fat man after walking up three flights of stairs. It's all good though, I feel great now. I did some sit-ups and push-ups, took a shower, browsed the internet, and will probably eat some lunch here in a bit. It also looks like it's clearing up outside, so I will hopefully get downtown today and get some good pictures. It rained last inight, though, about 8 inches, so the closest interstate entrance is flooded. We'll have to go around about 2 miles the wrong direction and get on there. Wish me luck!
Monday, April 27, 2009
New Orleans & on to Houston -- Apr. 26th
Woke up with a slight hangover, asked for for a late noon checkout, to which the front desk guy responded, "I can only give you til twelve." I said twelve was noon, he said "what?" I said never mind, that would work just fine. I barely made it out by twelve. I set out to go to another DDD place, called Parasol's. #1 it was on the list, and at least 3 locals recommended it as well. It was the crappiest little dive Irish pub I've ever seen, but the roast beef po boy was awesome. And the bloody Mary, aka hair of the dog, was fabulous as well. The bartender was sort of apathetic to me, though, although he had plenty of time to do shots with his friends at 1pm. He didn't provide very good service, and my boudin (boo-dan) balls, never came at all. He apologized and bought my bloody mary, so all was forgiven. I drove to a couple more cemeteries, and got in one or two this time, wlaked around city park and the sculpture garden, which was very extensive, and went to hang out by Lake Pontchartrain for awhile. Just as I got there, my mom called and my whole family was together because my niece had a dance recital, so I talked to everyone for a bit and decided to head around the lake to the north shore and check out a state park called Fontainebleau. I don't know if I could ever get used to all the French names down here, but I could probably live here. I had a great time, and would love to visit again at least. My GPS decided to crap out on me, it reset and acted as if it was right out of the box, asking me to set my preferences again, after about 4 steps, it would stop and reset, and do the same shit again! Luckily, I have an atlas and backup maps, but that would make the trip a whole lot different. I needed to stop for gas anyway, so I decided to turn it off and try again later, I knew I could get to the park at least. The gas station I ended up at, was the first time I was worried about the stuff in my car, even just for a minute. There were sketchy dudes all around me, but, nothing happened, and I started on my way. I tried the GPS again while on the road, and it was still doing the same thing, so I pulled into an America's Best Value motel and started my laptop. I got into their network , accessed the internet, hooked my GPS up and installed updates, and basically, rebooted the machine, and it worked! Thank goodness. I got to the park, paid the $1 entrance fee, and it was breathtaking! One side was a beach with a pier, and trees right on the coast with crazy sweet root systems in the sand, and it was nearly sundown, and the clouds were awesome, so I got some great shots there. And on the other side was a wooden boardwalk out over wetlands. Really the only good "swampy" area I'd seen up close since the Everglades. I couldn't stop taking pictures there. It was really great. After that, time to head on to Houston.
On the road, a few of the cities I passed through looked really cool, and when I crossed into Texas, I came upon a steep bridge, and when I got to the top I saw what looked like a whole city of lights in miniature. These continued for miles and miles. They look like the coal power plants back home, or the other large plants by the river. I can only guess these are oil refineries or something of the like. It was a good drive, probably my second longest stint after Des Moines to St. Louis. I had to stop for gas and grabbed some Whataburger for the first time ever. It was pretty tasty, a regular burger, but the bun was prolly what sets it apart, and the lettuce seemed really fresh. They were open inside 24 hours, and I felt like I was a burden on them, so I ate in my car. On to Houston. No more stops.
I got into Houston, and it was the first city that had the midwest vibe again since StL. Flat, straight interstates, and, I dunno, just got that vibe from the drive. Houston has the most impressive roadway system I have ever seen. Evidently, I-10 has just been redone, and it is impressive. Six lanes, with an extra two lane HOV/Toll lane, and then, when you exit the interstate, there is a 4 lane freeway right off the exits. There were like four tiers of bridges at the interchanges, and Houston is gigantic! Supposedly now the 3rd largest city in the U.S., I can't wait to start exploring. Angie waited up for me to get there, even though it was way past her normal bedtime. I arrived about 1 am, said hello and chatted with her for awhile, and she needed to go to bed. I'm not really that tired, so I'm catching up on the blogging. I'm going to sleep in tomorrow and do some research as to what to do here. I'll keep ya posted!
On the road, a few of the cities I passed through looked really cool, and when I crossed into Texas, I came upon a steep bridge, and when I got to the top I saw what looked like a whole city of lights in miniature. These continued for miles and miles. They look like the coal power plants back home, or the other large plants by the river. I can only guess these are oil refineries or something of the like. It was a good drive, probably my second longest stint after Des Moines to St. Louis. I had to stop for gas and grabbed some Whataburger for the first time ever. It was pretty tasty, a regular burger, but the bun was prolly what sets it apart, and the lettuce seemed really fresh. They were open inside 24 hours, and I felt like I was a burden on them, so I ate in my car. On to Houston. No more stops.
I got into Houston, and it was the first city that had the midwest vibe again since StL. Flat, straight interstates, and, I dunno, just got that vibe from the drive. Houston has the most impressive roadway system I have ever seen. Evidently, I-10 has just been redone, and it is impressive. Six lanes, with an extra two lane HOV/Toll lane, and then, when you exit the interstate, there is a 4 lane freeway right off the exits. There were like four tiers of bridges at the interchanges, and Houston is gigantic! Supposedly now the 3rd largest city in the U.S., I can't wait to start exploring. Angie waited up for me to get there, even though it was way past her normal bedtime. I arrived about 1 am, said hello and chatted with her for awhile, and she needed to go to bed. I'm not really that tired, so I'm catching up on the blogging. I'm going to sleep in tomorrow and do some research as to what to do here. I'll keep ya posted!
New Orleans -- Apr. 25th
I'll see if I can remember the whole day, as it is now the 26th, I didn't blog last night. I find it hard to remember everything I do in a day in detail if I don't blog everyday. I found out why the hotel was so much. Evidently Jazzfest, one of the largest concerts held in New Orleans all year, was in town, so everything was sky high.
I woke up and headed down to the French Quarter! How insane! The whole drive there I noticed that a lot of the city is still hurting from Katrina, and it is a very old city. A lot of the buildings and streets are falling apart. But the city has so much character and culture, and it is unlike any of the cities I have been to. I love it there! I got down and found a parking space and started walking around the French Quarter. My GPS led me to a "visitor center" that was just a little booth on the side of the road that just wanted to sell tours and cruises and stuff, luckily the actual one was only like 3 blocks away. I got some great information, and I had done a ton of research in my hotel before I left, so I didn't even leave until about 130. So I had a good list of stuff, and basically just had the guy help me map out where everything was so I could make a good line. Oh yeah, on the way to the vc, I stopped in the square where there was a show put on by four black guys, they were doing breakdancing and acrobatics stuff and there were really personable, funny and entertaining. I needed some food, so I went to another DDD place called Mother's who's special is a po boy sandwich which features "debris" which I guess is a mix of all different kinds of scrap meat, and they put it on top of your sandwich. It was amazing! I also had some seafood gumbo, it was only ok, and a bit overpriced. I met a couple of young, good-looking girls, both married unfortunately, but they invited me to eat at their table with them. They were in town for the Hornets playoff game, but they were from Raceland, LA, about an hour South of New Orleans. They were really cool, and gave me some other ideas of things to do. I left there, got on a street car for $1.25, and went to the Garden District. This is an area with rich, famous peoples' houses, and even though it was that, the streets were still in pretty crappy shape. I asked a person or two about it and they said that everything is just old. I don't know why they can't resurface something like that. Maybe they want it to retain a certain quality. I walked through the district, saw Archie Manning's house, where Peyton and Eli grew up, and I also saw Trent Reznor's house. I have met him once before at a show in Lincoln, and I think he is great, so that was cool. He is known for hard rock with kinda goth-y type fans, so I was surprised to see a yellow VW bug in the driveway, and he had a lab and a cocker spaniel. I walked to the end of the street where an old cemetery was, to try and get some pics, but it was closed for the day. Their cemeteries are really cool because everything is above ground mausoleums (sp?) and some of them are from the 16 and 1700s. I got back on the street car after stopping inMcD's for a bottle of water and some quarters for the fare. I got off at Tulane University and walked the campus and got some good shots. It was almost sundown by this point, and the white, gothic architecture of a lot of the buildings looked great. For actual sundown, I walked across the street from the school, to Audubon Park. This is a cool, large park where there were a lot of runners and dog walkers and other people enjoying the sunset. There were cool bridges and the best part was a clump of trees in the park where, probably 200+ egrets were all hanging out in the trees. I waited for the streetcar again to take me back down to the French Quarter, where I unloaded some stuff at my car, changed my shirt, and walked over to One Eyed Jack's, the music venue where Dax Riggs and Terry Reid were performing. I have been a fan of Dax Riggs for awhile now, and had gotten tickets online a few days before. Dax was standing right in the foyer when I got there, so I met him and got a picture with him, grabbed a beer and found a place to stand by the bar to wait for the show to begin. I struck up a conversation with a guy named Douglas, a 38 year old who was probably 6'2" and 250+ lbs. He lived in New Orleans his whole life, and knew just about everything about music. I bought him a shot, and we talked for a good hour nonstop. He told me that the owner of the bar was there, and when that happened, you knew it was going to be a good show. The owner, Rio Hackford, is the son of Taylor Hackford, who directed Ray, and Devil's Advocate, as well as produced a bunch of big name films. Rio himself, according to Douglas, is good friends with Vince Vaughn, and has acted small roles in Swingers and Fred Claus, and about a dozen other movies. I met both of them as well and just talked to him for a couple seconds. One Eyed Jacks is a really awesome venue, dimly lit, gothic wallpaper with dim, Victorian type lamps and just a nice, classy place that caters to a lot of good, smaller, lesser known bands like indie rock and metal and stuff like that. Douglas noticed that the female bassist from White Zombie, Sean Yseult, and Pepper Keenan from the band Down were also in attendance, two bands I love as well, so I met them and got another picture!! I was also noticing a young lady for awhile, but I didn't know if she was with this guy that kept hanging around her. She didn't seem very happy, so I went and talked to her, and bought her a shot. Her name was Liz, and she was absolutely gorgeous. She had that piercing, tattoo vibe that I'm drawn to, and we ended up hanging out for the rest of the show, as the guy she was with was a dbag, she had seen him a couple of times, and this was probably the end of it from the sound of it. She ahd to find a new ride home, it was almost me, but one of her friends ended up coming to get her. :( Oh well. I had a great night, though, and the show was awesome. Dax, of course was good, and Terry Reid actually was the headliner. He was a 60 something Brit rocker, who blew the doors off the place. Totally worth my 30 bucks. I walked to my car after that, paid 20 bucks for all day parking and went to hotel and crashed immediately. The show had started late, and they serve alcohol 24 hours a day there, so it was about 3 am before I got back. Also, you are allowed to carry any sort of container of alcohol anywhere in the city, anytime. Pretty nuts. I saw a lot of shitfaced people, evn at like 4 in the afternoon.
I woke up and headed down to the French Quarter! How insane! The whole drive there I noticed that a lot of the city is still hurting from Katrina, and it is a very old city. A lot of the buildings and streets are falling apart. But the city has so much character and culture, and it is unlike any of the cities I have been to. I love it there! I got down and found a parking space and started walking around the French Quarter. My GPS led me to a "visitor center" that was just a little booth on the side of the road that just wanted to sell tours and cruises and stuff, luckily the actual one was only like 3 blocks away. I got some great information, and I had done a ton of research in my hotel before I left, so I didn't even leave until about 130. So I had a good list of stuff, and basically just had the guy help me map out where everything was so I could make a good line. Oh yeah, on the way to the vc, I stopped in the square where there was a show put on by four black guys, they were doing breakdancing and acrobatics stuff and there were really personable, funny and entertaining. I needed some food, so I went to another DDD place called Mother's who's special is a po boy sandwich which features "debris" which I guess is a mix of all different kinds of scrap meat, and they put it on top of your sandwich. It was amazing! I also had some seafood gumbo, it was only ok, and a bit overpriced. I met a couple of young, good-looking girls, both married unfortunately, but they invited me to eat at their table with them. They were in town for the Hornets playoff game, but they were from Raceland, LA, about an hour South of New Orleans. They were really cool, and gave me some other ideas of things to do. I left there, got on a street car for $1.25, and went to the Garden District. This is an area with rich, famous peoples' houses, and even though it was that, the streets were still in pretty crappy shape. I asked a person or two about it and they said that everything is just old. I don't know why they can't resurface something like that. Maybe they want it to retain a certain quality. I walked through the district, saw Archie Manning's house, where Peyton and Eli grew up, and I also saw Trent Reznor's house. I have met him once before at a show in Lincoln, and I think he is great, so that was cool. He is known for hard rock with kinda goth-y type fans, so I was surprised to see a yellow VW bug in the driveway, and he had a lab and a cocker spaniel. I walked to the end of the street where an old cemetery was, to try and get some pics, but it was closed for the day. Their cemeteries are really cool because everything is above ground mausoleums (sp?) and some of them are from the 16 and 1700s. I got back on the street car after stopping inMcD's for a bottle of water and some quarters for the fare. I got off at Tulane University and walked the campus and got some good shots. It was almost sundown by this point, and the white, gothic architecture of a lot of the buildings looked great. For actual sundown, I walked across the street from the school, to Audubon Park. This is a cool, large park where there were a lot of runners and dog walkers and other people enjoying the sunset. There were cool bridges and the best part was a clump of trees in the park where, probably 200+ egrets were all hanging out in the trees. I waited for the streetcar again to take me back down to the French Quarter, where I unloaded some stuff at my car, changed my shirt, and walked over to One Eyed Jack's, the music venue where Dax Riggs and Terry Reid were performing. I have been a fan of Dax Riggs for awhile now, and had gotten tickets online a few days before. Dax was standing right in the foyer when I got there, so I met him and got a picture with him, grabbed a beer and found a place to stand by the bar to wait for the show to begin. I struck up a conversation with a guy named Douglas, a 38 year old who was probably 6'2" and 250+ lbs. He lived in New Orleans his whole life, and knew just about everything about music. I bought him a shot, and we talked for a good hour nonstop. He told me that the owner of the bar was there, and when that happened, you knew it was going to be a good show. The owner, Rio Hackford, is the son of Taylor Hackford, who directed Ray, and Devil's Advocate, as well as produced a bunch of big name films. Rio himself, according to Douglas, is good friends with Vince Vaughn, and has acted small roles in Swingers and Fred Claus, and about a dozen other movies. I met both of them as well and just talked to him for a couple seconds. One Eyed Jacks is a really awesome venue, dimly lit, gothic wallpaper with dim, Victorian type lamps and just a nice, classy place that caters to a lot of good, smaller, lesser known bands like indie rock and metal and stuff like that. Douglas noticed that the female bassist from White Zombie, Sean Yseult, and Pepper Keenan from the band Down were also in attendance, two bands I love as well, so I met them and got another picture!! I was also noticing a young lady for awhile, but I didn't know if she was with this guy that kept hanging around her. She didn't seem very happy, so I went and talked to her, and bought her a shot. Her name was Liz, and she was absolutely gorgeous. She had that piercing, tattoo vibe that I'm drawn to, and we ended up hanging out for the rest of the show, as the guy she was with was a dbag, she had seen him a couple of times, and this was probably the end of it from the sound of it. She ahd to find a new ride home, it was almost me, but one of her friends ended up coming to get her. :( Oh well. I had a great night, though, and the show was awesome. Dax, of course was good, and Terry Reid actually was the headliner. He was a 60 something Brit rocker, who blew the doors off the place. Totally worth my 30 bucks. I walked to my car after that, paid 20 bucks for all day parking and went to hotel and crashed immediately. The show had started late, and they serve alcohol 24 hours a day there, so it was about 3 am before I got back. Also, you are allowed to carry any sort of container of alcohol anywhere in the city, anytime. Pretty nuts. I saw a lot of shitfaced people, evn at like 4 in the afternoon.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Pensacola to New Orleans -- Apr. 24th
I've noticed many Southern cities and towns smell like burning wood, or what I like to call fish breeze, in my head, to myself. I could probably get used to it, but it's little weird right now. Highway 10 is bumpy also.
I woke up and got out and checked out downtown historic Pensacola and went to Pensacola beach as well. I went to a free co-op gallery and it was loaded with art that gave me some great ideas if I ever get around to painting again. Pensacola beach was maybe the most gorgeous beach area I've seen yet. No, it was. White fine sand, blue-green Gulf water gently rolling in...wow!! And the houses on the beach there were amazing!! I like the vibe of the city too. Last night, when I got into town and went to Target, I got hit on by two ladies. The one, in particular was hot, and probably drunk, and her friend talked her out of staying and talking to me more, even though she wanted my number. I told her it wouldn't do much good unless they wanted to hang out tonight, but her friend wanted to leave. Darn mother hens. Anyway, I had a lot of driving again today and I was spending too much time in Pensacola so I headed off to Mobile.
All of these Southern Gulf cities have beautiful scenery. Mobile seemed a bit neglected besides the historic district, so I just kinda drove through downtown and headed toward a place called Bellingrath Gardens, which was supposed to be a must see. It was. I probably took over 100 photos there. It is one of the world's largest and most beautiful gardens and home, with a lake, an asian themed area and much more. I kinda snuck past where I was supposed to pay for a ticket, because no one was there, but after I enjoyed the place so much, I went back and paid the admission post-visit. They were thankful. Almost got in a shouting match on the road because a couple of trashy girls were going way too fast and I had to kinda cut them off getting over for a turn. I was running a little behind where I wanted to be so I quickly got on the road again , this time eyeing up Biloxi.On the way, there was a bad wreck I heard about on the radio, but I had gone about 40 miles and thought maybe I was past it. I wasn't. It came up, everyone waited patiently for 30 minutes, then we got past the wreck, got back up to speed, and almost instantly, had to stop again. We waited about 15 more minutes there, and for no apparent reason, unless they just cleaned it up as we got to it.
I had had a couple small snacks during the day, but was saving my big meal for Biloxi. I had researched the night before and found this little local favorite that used to be a gas station, now a restaurant and bar called The Fillin' Station. I also wanted to see Beauvoir, the house and property that Jefferson Davis spent the last 12 years of his life at. I was absolutely starving, but I knew if I ate first, I wouldn't get to the house before sunset, so I went there first. It closed at 5, and the lawn was so large that I couldn't get any decent pictures, but it was on a road that was beach on one side for miles and miles, so I pulled over and snapped a few shots at some random beach. Then I eagerly headed to The Fillin' Station. On the way, I noticed a park about 6 blocks from the bar that was full of people with a little stage set up. Anyway, I got to the bar and it was packed, just a little two room bar and a small patio, but it was jumpin'. The waitress seemed flustered and it took her awhile to get my drink and order. I found out later she had just applied that day at 2, they told her to come in and work at 6, and then the other waitress didn't show up, so she was all alone on her first night. There was a 40ish year old woman plaing guitar and piano and singing and she was really good. She did covers of Sublime and Blind Melon and couple of other cool ass hits. The owner at one point randomly slapped me on the back and gave me a smile. Just a cool little local place. I love these type of places. My food came, I had a crawfish and sweet pepper po' boy with fried potatoes and potato salad. They were all great. They used ranch or something in the potato salad, which gave it a unique flavor. I asked what was going on in the park down the street, and they didn't know for sure, but thought a battle of the bands was going on, so I walked down, but alas, it was a bunch of families watching Kung Fu Panda on a screen. I almost decided to stay in Biloxi, and go to New Orleans on Saturday, but I didn't want to stretch it out. It seems like a cool little place, though. Beautiful sand again, not as well kept, seemed kinda blue-collary, but everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. There are a bunch of casino resorts there. There was also a sign for a National Cemetery and a couple of other things I would have liked to have done. Oh well, if only.
I got on the road to New Orleans, it's only about an hour and a half from Biloxi. The road was bumpy, but I got into town and started finding a motel. This is more expensive than any place I've been to yet. The best price I found for a decent place was 55.99 for a place that was like 13 miles from downtown. I ended up getting a room at EconoLodge for 66 and its very nice, plenty of space, but kinda a ghetto type area. Seems ok, though. I sure wasn't paying 239 for a downtown place.
I woke up and got out and checked out downtown historic Pensacola and went to Pensacola beach as well. I went to a free co-op gallery and it was loaded with art that gave me some great ideas if I ever get around to painting again. Pensacola beach was maybe the most gorgeous beach area I've seen yet. No, it was. White fine sand, blue-green Gulf water gently rolling in...wow!! And the houses on the beach there were amazing!! I like the vibe of the city too. Last night, when I got into town and went to Target, I got hit on by two ladies. The one, in particular was hot, and probably drunk, and her friend talked her out of staying and talking to me more, even though she wanted my number. I told her it wouldn't do much good unless they wanted to hang out tonight, but her friend wanted to leave. Darn mother hens. Anyway, I had a lot of driving again today and I was spending too much time in Pensacola so I headed off to Mobile.
All of these Southern Gulf cities have beautiful scenery. Mobile seemed a bit neglected besides the historic district, so I just kinda drove through downtown and headed toward a place called Bellingrath Gardens, which was supposed to be a must see. It was. I probably took over 100 photos there. It is one of the world's largest and most beautiful gardens and home, with a lake, an asian themed area and much more. I kinda snuck past where I was supposed to pay for a ticket, because no one was there, but after I enjoyed the place so much, I went back and paid the admission post-visit. They were thankful. Almost got in a shouting match on the road because a couple of trashy girls were going way too fast and I had to kinda cut them off getting over for a turn. I was running a little behind where I wanted to be so I quickly got on the road again , this time eyeing up Biloxi.On the way, there was a bad wreck I heard about on the radio, but I had gone about 40 miles and thought maybe I was past it. I wasn't. It came up, everyone waited patiently for 30 minutes, then we got past the wreck, got back up to speed, and almost instantly, had to stop again. We waited about 15 more minutes there, and for no apparent reason, unless they just cleaned it up as we got to it.
I had had a couple small snacks during the day, but was saving my big meal for Biloxi. I had researched the night before and found this little local favorite that used to be a gas station, now a restaurant and bar called The Fillin' Station. I also wanted to see Beauvoir, the house and property that Jefferson Davis spent the last 12 years of his life at. I was absolutely starving, but I knew if I ate first, I wouldn't get to the house before sunset, so I went there first. It closed at 5, and the lawn was so large that I couldn't get any decent pictures, but it was on a road that was beach on one side for miles and miles, so I pulled over and snapped a few shots at some random beach. Then I eagerly headed to The Fillin' Station. On the way, I noticed a park about 6 blocks from the bar that was full of people with a little stage set up. Anyway, I got to the bar and it was packed, just a little two room bar and a small patio, but it was jumpin'. The waitress seemed flustered and it took her awhile to get my drink and order. I found out later she had just applied that day at 2, they told her to come in and work at 6, and then the other waitress didn't show up, so she was all alone on her first night. There was a 40ish year old woman plaing guitar and piano and singing and she was really good. She did covers of Sublime and Blind Melon and couple of other cool ass hits. The owner at one point randomly slapped me on the back and gave me a smile. Just a cool little local place. I love these type of places. My food came, I had a crawfish and sweet pepper po' boy with fried potatoes and potato salad. They were all great. They used ranch or something in the potato salad, which gave it a unique flavor. I asked what was going on in the park down the street, and they didn't know for sure, but thought a battle of the bands was going on, so I walked down, but alas, it was a bunch of families watching Kung Fu Panda on a screen. I almost decided to stay in Biloxi, and go to New Orleans on Saturday, but I didn't want to stretch it out. It seems like a cool little place, though. Beautiful sand again, not as well kept, seemed kinda blue-collary, but everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. There are a bunch of casino resorts there. There was also a sign for a National Cemetery and a couple of other things I would have liked to have done. Oh well, if only.
I got on the road to New Orleans, it's only about an hour and a half from Biloxi. The road was bumpy, but I got into town and started finding a motel. This is more expensive than any place I've been to yet. The best price I found for a decent place was 55.99 for a place that was like 13 miles from downtown. I ended up getting a room at EconoLodge for 66 and its very nice, plenty of space, but kinda a ghetto type area. Seems ok, though. I sure wasn't paying 239 for a downtown place.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Orlando to Pensacola -- Apr. 23rd
Oh yeah, I forgot to say that last night, on the way to Orlando I saw a shooting star and it landed probably no farther than 2-3 miles away from me!!
I woke up this morning and watched a little news before I showered and left the room. It said the road I almost ran out of gas on, Alligator Alley, was closed because brush fires were all over! I noticed smoke while I was on it, but didn't think much of it. A lot of people burn their own trash down South, so I thought that was probably it. Turns out not.
Had a bunch of driving to do today, so didn't do a whole lot. Started off my day leaving the hotel at noon, went to a Waffle House, I've kinda wanted to for a long time now, and it was good. Crazy, though. There were 3 waitresses, evidently the cook had gone home. They all kinda waited on me, but the main one in particular was doing all the cooking and waiting tables. She had skills! She was cooking like 5 meals at once, flipping this and that, and she probably only had one good tooth in her mouth. I didn't see one, but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. The meal tasted good though, and it was really cheap.
I drove to the University of Florida and walked around campus and took some pictures, it was classy. All brick buildings everywhere, and everyone seemed really nice. I kinda liked the vibe of Gainesville. After that I went through to Tallahassee.
I got pulled over for first time on the way. I broke my don't go more than 10 over rule and paid the price....$239.00. I was in the fast lane and once again a guy in front of me wouldn't get over for a long time, then, all of the sudden, he started going like 90 mph. I thought, two can play this game, and stayed right on him. Of course, just then two cop cars lasered us both and pulled us both over. Ouch! I could have used that money for a better purpose. Seriously, though, 239 dollars for going 16 over?? WTF?? I wonder if they enjoy taking people's money in such an economic time for stupid shit. Whatever.
There I went to FSU and did the same thing as at FU. Tallahassee wasn't as nice. Seemed dirty and poorer. Both campuses had beautiful girls and at FSU, in the yard, there were like 40 people all in their bathing suits, and som of them were wading in the fountains. It was pretty hot, but I'd not really seen that before. Damn sure not at Bellevue!! I made it to a state park, Florida caverns, as I kinda wanted to do a litle hike today, but it was closing in 40 minutes and he said all the good hikes were closed because they were under water. So I went on down the road and ran across another one that I researched earlier in the day. It was called Falling Water state park. Pretty darn cool. It had a couple of hikes that were just like 10-20 minutes, but it was a good little park. It has the highest waterfall in Florida, it drops off a hill only about 50 feet above you, but it falls down into a huge sinkhole. The park also featured a beautiful litlle lake, where I ate a snack and watched the sun set. See Facebook for pics. I drove the rest of the way to Pensacola, I could have probably went through to Mobile, but I was told to spend as little time as possible there. I'll check it out tomorrow during the day and see what they're talking about. Plus it would've taken another hour, and I wanted to get a bunch done at the hotel and stop at Target.
Looking forward to Mobile, Biloxi, and New Orleans manana.
I woke up this morning and watched a little news before I showered and left the room. It said the road I almost ran out of gas on, Alligator Alley, was closed because brush fires were all over! I noticed smoke while I was on it, but didn't think much of it. A lot of people burn their own trash down South, so I thought that was probably it. Turns out not.
Had a bunch of driving to do today, so didn't do a whole lot. Started off my day leaving the hotel at noon, went to a Waffle House, I've kinda wanted to for a long time now, and it was good. Crazy, though. There were 3 waitresses, evidently the cook had gone home. They all kinda waited on me, but the main one in particular was doing all the cooking and waiting tables. She had skills! She was cooking like 5 meals at once, flipping this and that, and she probably only had one good tooth in her mouth. I didn't see one, but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. The meal tasted good though, and it was really cheap.
I drove to the University of Florida and walked around campus and took some pictures, it was classy. All brick buildings everywhere, and everyone seemed really nice. I kinda liked the vibe of Gainesville. After that I went through to Tallahassee.
I got pulled over for first time on the way. I broke my don't go more than 10 over rule and paid the price....$239.00. I was in the fast lane and once again a guy in front of me wouldn't get over for a long time, then, all of the sudden, he started going like 90 mph. I thought, two can play this game, and stayed right on him. Of course, just then two cop cars lasered us both and pulled us both over. Ouch! I could have used that money for a better purpose. Seriously, though, 239 dollars for going 16 over?? WTF?? I wonder if they enjoy taking people's money in such an economic time for stupid shit. Whatever.
There I went to FSU and did the same thing as at FU. Tallahassee wasn't as nice. Seemed dirty and poorer. Both campuses had beautiful girls and at FSU, in the yard, there were like 40 people all in their bathing suits, and som of them were wading in the fountains. It was pretty hot, but I'd not really seen that before. Damn sure not at Bellevue!! I made it to a state park, Florida caverns, as I kinda wanted to do a litle hike today, but it was closing in 40 minutes and he said all the good hikes were closed because they were under water. So I went on down the road and ran across another one that I researched earlier in the day. It was called Falling Water state park. Pretty darn cool. It had a couple of hikes that were just like 10-20 minutes, but it was a good little park. It has the highest waterfall in Florida, it drops off a hill only about 50 feet above you, but it falls down into a huge sinkhole. The park also featured a beautiful litlle lake, where I ate a snack and watched the sun set. See Facebook for pics. I drove the rest of the way to Pensacola, I could have probably went through to Mobile, but I was told to spend as little time as possible there. I'll check it out tomorrow during the day and see what they're talking about. Plus it would've taken another hour, and I wanted to get a bunch done at the hotel and stop at Target.
Looking forward to Mobile, Biloxi, and New Orleans manana.
Fort Myers/Orlando/Gainesville -- Apr. 22nd - Bday - Eday
Got up and hit the road immediately. Barely even woke Jared up, cause I wanted to get into Orlando quickly. I stopped and ate at a Krystal. It's like White Castle, with the sliders and such. It's pretty good. I went to Universal Studios because the Disney Parks let you get free admission on your bday. After paying 12 bucks to park, and walked for 15 minutes, I found out I was an idiot, as Universal Studios is not Disney affiliated, the one I was thinking of, and supposed to go to was Hollywood Studios. It was 20 minutes away. So I wasted over an hour and 12 bucks. DUH. Finally got in, and had a good time. I only had about two and a half hours there, but I maximized my time. I saw the Indiana Jones stunt show, a bit of Jedi training, rode the Star Wars movie ride, went to a Narnia thing, and rode the tower of terror. It was a fun time. I met a couple girls and a guy from Santiago, Chile. They were in town to be in the world cheer leading championships, to be on ESPN in June. They didn't speak much English, so I conversed with them in Spanish the best I could.
After the park I headed to Amway Arena, to see my first NBA basketball game. The Orlando Magic played the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2nd game of the playoffs. That's a pretty good first game to see. I had a blast, got my picture with and met a couple of cheerleaders, and the Magic won the game. Dwight Howard fouled out and didn't play that much, and he was who I wanted to see the most, but when he was in, he did well and it was a good experience. My next main stop is New Orleans, so I left Orlando and drove a couple hours to Gainesville so my drive isn't so long tomorrow. I checked into a Motel 6, and will probably be blogging and loading photos til 4 am. Good night ya'll.
After the park I headed to Amway Arena, to see my first NBA basketball game. The Orlando Magic played the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2nd game of the playoffs. That's a pretty good first game to see. I had a blast, got my picture with and met a couple of cheerleaders, and the Magic won the game. Dwight Howard fouled out and didn't play that much, and he was who I wanted to see the most, but when he was in, he did well and it was a good experience. My next main stop is New Orleans, so I left Orlando and drove a couple hours to Gainesville so my drive isn't so long tomorrow. I checked into a Motel 6, and will probably be blogging and loading photos til 4 am. Good night ya'll.
Fort Myers -- Apr 21st
I was looking forward to today for awhile, because Jared and I had planned on going fishing and just relaxing. We stopped at a bait shop, got some shrimp and some pinfish and headed down to Fort myers beach and walked out on the pier to fish. As we drove, I noticed the city, it is huge! It is much different than I pictured it would be. You never really hear about Fort Myers when you hear about places to go in Florida. But it is very big with lots of space and pretty spread out. It feels laid back and there are definitely some beautiful people here too. I really enjoyed the city, and glad I went.
On the pier, the pelicans just sat there and walked around all day. You could easily get within a couple feet of them. Eventually, Jared was putting his hand in their beak. It was cool. Some of our bait fish died in the bucket throughout the day, and we would feed the pelicans by hand. There was also a little egret, too. I caught my biggest and coolest fish ever! It was about a 12 inch Spanish mackerel. I had a great time. We fished until about 4, and we needed to eat. So we walked to a really good place that was close. Jimmy's roast beef. I joked that I come to Florida from beef country to eat beef, but it was really good. It was like Arby's on steroids. We had wings and fries to share, I had roast beef, and Jared had a pulled pork sandwich. Everything was great. We hit a little cool bar by the beach next, had a drink, and went back home to regroup. I did some laundry, almost got in a nap, and showered. We went to a place Jared used to work, the Stonewood grill, I think it was. They have an item there he told me I had to try. It was homemade chips with chunks of blue cheese, a blue cheese aoili, and topped with a balsamic vinegar reduction. Wow! I have never seen anything like this, and the flavor was amazing. Then we went to a little dive that had 2 dollar 32 oz draws and had a couple beers. There was a guy there who was absolutely hammered. He kept trying to drink everyone's beer, and the staff waited way too long to kick him out, but Jared's cute friend, Kate, met up with us and we met another guy there who was originally from St. Louis, and we all shot the shit for oawhile, until we decided to check out another place. We went to a place where it was ladie's night and they had kareoke. I sang a couple songs did a couple of shots and enjoyed my birthday with Kate and Jared. It was just right. Went home and went to bed. Slept like a baby.
On the pier, the pelicans just sat there and walked around all day. You could easily get within a couple feet of them. Eventually, Jared was putting his hand in their beak. It was cool. Some of our bait fish died in the bucket throughout the day, and we would feed the pelicans by hand. There was also a little egret, too. I caught my biggest and coolest fish ever! It was about a 12 inch Spanish mackerel. I had a great time. We fished until about 4, and we needed to eat. So we walked to a really good place that was close. Jimmy's roast beef. I joked that I come to Florida from beef country to eat beef, but it was really good. It was like Arby's on steroids. We had wings and fries to share, I had roast beef, and Jared had a pulled pork sandwich. Everything was great. We hit a little cool bar by the beach next, had a drink, and went back home to regroup. I did some laundry, almost got in a nap, and showered. We went to a place Jared used to work, the Stonewood grill, I think it was. They have an item there he told me I had to try. It was homemade chips with chunks of blue cheese, a blue cheese aoili, and topped with a balsamic vinegar reduction. Wow! I have never seen anything like this, and the flavor was amazing. Then we went to a little dive that had 2 dollar 32 oz draws and had a couple beers. There was a guy there who was absolutely hammered. He kept trying to drink everyone's beer, and the staff waited way too long to kick him out, but Jared's cute friend, Kate, met up with us and we met another guy there who was originally from St. Louis, and we all shot the shit for oawhile, until we decided to check out another place. We went to a place where it was ladie's night and they had kareoke. I sang a couple songs did a couple of shots and enjoyed my birthday with Kate and Jared. It was just right. Went home and went to bed. Slept like a baby.
Florida City/The Keys/Miami/Fort Myers -- Apr. 20th
What a crazy day! I woke up in Florida City and started heading down to the Florida Keys on my way to Key West. I've heard how cool the road is that goes there and couldn't wait to do the drive. I got to Key Largo and pulled into the visitor info center. The place looked like a cheap beach travel agent office and the 55 year old surfer dude with one earring was a joke. I asked what I needed to see, and he said,"we only got one road, you see something you like, pull over." I asked for a non-corporate local dive for lunch and he gave me an embossed brochure for 10% off a sprots bar with over 40 flat screens. I decided he was an idiot and started looking at a map. Two other people came in, and he said the same thing to them! I left and noticed that the ACTUAL visitor info center was just down the road. I talked some smack on the other guy there to the older woman helping me out, and she agreed he was an idiot. She told me about a nice place right on the water that was locally owned and I checked it out. It was a little swanky, but a good menu and not too pricey. I got a buffalo tuna bite salad, it was amazing!
Most of the road is actually on land, then there are small gaps to fill in between. The first 2 islands, Key Largo and Islamorada, were my favorite of the day. The road was very beautiful at parts, but most of the time it was one lane, and the speed limit was 55 at the most, and there were cops all over the road. I would be surprised if I averaged more than 45 mph the whole trip, which was longer than I expected. It took me about 8 hours to go to Key West and back. I did buy some new shades and a new shirt, because within about 30 minutes of the keys my tshirt was drenched. All in all though it was a great trip, I'm glad I went all the way through. The scenery and wildlife were gorgeous. I wanted to make it back up to Miami for sunset, eat, and see Dolphin Stadium before I headed to Fort Myers to meet up with my buddy Jared. It took a little too long though, and I knew I wouldn't make it, so I went back to the Bayside Grille, where I had lunch, to watch the sun set. I met a couple older ladies from Germany there, doing the same thing, and we got to talking. She said she liked Nebraska. Evidently she saw her first coyote outside of Grand Island and visited the sand hills. Pretty interesting. I took off after sunset, got into Miami, and hit up another dive from my list. It was called Scully's Tavern and I had a Presidente to drink, and ordered what Guy Fieri did. It was an awesome dolphin sandwich and the fish was encrusted with Ruffles. It was euphoric. I then had a piece of key lime pie, because I felt I had to before I left South Florida. Every place I go, it's key lime pie. They also have road signs off the interstate for orange juice and pineapples. I drove a bit further into Miami after that and took a few night pictures of Dolphin Stadium. Then, at about 11, I started the 2 hour drive to Fort Myers. I get on the toll road and notice I'm getting a little low on gas. Further and further, no gas station. I call Jared and asked him if he knew if there was a place coming up soon. He said,"didn't you see the sign, no gas for like 100 miles?" Obviously I had not. He siad he'd throw on his shoes, get a gas can and meet me, and to pull over at a rest area if possible. The road I was on is called Alligator Alley, because it goes through the Everglades and before the put up a bunch of fences, alligators would sun themselves on the highway. Also it was pitch black and no street lights. I really didn't want to run out of gas here. Just then a sign for a gas station appears, and I am saved! It was about 30 cents more expensive than the last one I saw, but supply and demand, right? I told the attendant I was lucky to find them as I only had about 15 miles left before I went dry, and he said thanked me and said most people just complain about the prices. Got into Fort Myers, met Jared, we went to a cool little dive bar and had a couple drinks, then went home and crashed.
Most of the road is actually on land, then there are small gaps to fill in between. The first 2 islands, Key Largo and Islamorada, were my favorite of the day. The road was very beautiful at parts, but most of the time it was one lane, and the speed limit was 55 at the most, and there were cops all over the road. I would be surprised if I averaged more than 45 mph the whole trip, which was longer than I expected. It took me about 8 hours to go to Key West and back. I did buy some new shades and a new shirt, because within about 30 minutes of the keys my tshirt was drenched. All in all though it was a great trip, I'm glad I went all the way through. The scenery and wildlife were gorgeous. I wanted to make it back up to Miami for sunset, eat, and see Dolphin Stadium before I headed to Fort Myers to meet up with my buddy Jared. It took a little too long though, and I knew I wouldn't make it, so I went back to the Bayside Grille, where I had lunch, to watch the sun set. I met a couple older ladies from Germany there, doing the same thing, and we got to talking. She said she liked Nebraska. Evidently she saw her first coyote outside of Grand Island and visited the sand hills. Pretty interesting. I took off after sunset, got into Miami, and hit up another dive from my list. It was called Scully's Tavern and I had a Presidente to drink, and ordered what Guy Fieri did. It was an awesome dolphin sandwich and the fish was encrusted with Ruffles. It was euphoric. I then had a piece of key lime pie, because I felt I had to before I left South Florida. Every place I go, it's key lime pie. They also have road signs off the interstate for orange juice and pineapples. I drove a bit further into Miami after that and took a few night pictures of Dolphin Stadium. Then, at about 11, I started the 2 hour drive to Fort Myers. I get on the toll road and notice I'm getting a little low on gas. Further and further, no gas station. I call Jared and asked him if he knew if there was a place coming up soon. He said,"didn't you see the sign, no gas for like 100 miles?" Obviously I had not. He siad he'd throw on his shoes, get a gas can and meet me, and to pull over at a rest area if possible. The road I was on is called Alligator Alley, because it goes through the Everglades and before the put up a bunch of fences, alligators would sun themselves on the highway. Also it was pitch black and no street lights. I really didn't want to run out of gas here. Just then a sign for a gas station appears, and I am saved! It was about 30 cents more expensive than the last one I saw, but supply and demand, right? I told the attendant I was lucky to find them as I only had about 15 miles left before I went dry, and he said thanked me and said most people just complain about the prices. Got into Fort Myers, met Jared, we went to a cool little dive bar and had a couple drinks, then went home and crashed.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Fort Lauderdale to Florida City -- Apr. 19th
Woke up and got in the shower. Got on the internet to see what to do with my day. I remembered seeing a special on the Coral Castle, and looked it up, got the address and decided to do that and go to the Everglades. I also registered for my free Disney day on my birthday and bought an Orlando Magic playoff ticket. I gave Joy a ride to Dana's, and got on the A1A to start heading to Homestead, FL. I decided to forego Miami and hit that up on my way back up from the Keys. I arrived at the Coral Castle, and it was pretty awesome. The story behind it is this: A man in the early 1900s started mining coral, carving it, moving it and building a castle. Coral is one the densest materials around and it is very heavy. Many of the pieces weigh several tons. The man who did all this was 5 feet tall and only 100 pounds. He used only crude tools, and did the whole project in secret. When people would ask how he did it, he would say he knew how they built the pyramids. Some claimed to see him from a distance "levitating" the pieces, and he was somehow involved with magnetism. Anyway, the castle is very impressive, with an accurate sundial nearly to the minute, a telescope, lodge, tables, chairs, and all kinds of other stuff. His crowning achievement is a 9 ton revolving gate that uses no bearing or gears or anything, but is easy enough a child can push it open. Pretty awesome. After that I wanted to get something to eat on the way to the Everglades. I looked for something quick, but something I hadn't had before. All that was on the way was BK, KFC, McD's, and all the usual crap. I alsmost gave up, then saw a quaint little roadside diner that was perfect. I ordered a dolphin sandwich, flirted with the owner, and headed on down the road.
The Everglades was only a few minutes away, so I paid the 10 dollar entry and went to the visitor's center. It had just closed so I went to the outdoor map and planned out a route. Went to the bathroom, accidentally sharted, and had to dispose of my new WalMart swim trunks. Whoops. Went to The Anhinga Trail, first, a trail my brother recommended to me. It was awesome, it featured a wooden walkway over water with dozens of Anhingas(a type of bird), alligators, and other wildlife. I went to a few other trails and lookouts and then it was getting close to sunset, so I thought I would go all the way down the main road to Flamingo, FL. It wasn't really what I hoped for, and didn't get that good of pictures, but I wanted to try and do some extended night exposures, so I went to another part called Bear Lake. When I got there, it was dark and there was a path marked TRAIL, so I grabbed my flashlight and camera, and started down the path. A little risky, I thought, but hopefully the lake wasn't far. After hiking for about 2-3 miles in the pitch black woods, with swamp all around me, I was hearing alligator noises in the water and decided to turn back. Quite a little adrenaline rush. I got back to the car and noticed a second path on the other side of the pull in. This one was not marked. I walked down it, and sure enough, the lake was about 50 feet from the start of the trail. I sat on a dock in the pitch black, listened to the water animal noises, saw birds flying in, heard some weird ass noises that were either animals fighting, or a weird mating ritual or something. It was really cool. I took a few extended exposures and got out of the park. I hit up the WalMart in Florida City, got my self some new trunks, waited in line for 20 minutes in the speedy checkout 12 items or less lane, behind a trashy family with 30 items. Many times I would say something at this point, but I decided to just hold my tongue this time. I found a TravelLodge within a mile or two, and finally got some Wi-Fi to post with. Enjoy.
The Everglades was only a few minutes away, so I paid the 10 dollar entry and went to the visitor's center. It had just closed so I went to the outdoor map and planned out a route. Went to the bathroom, accidentally sharted, and had to dispose of my new WalMart swim trunks. Whoops. Went to The Anhinga Trail, first, a trail my brother recommended to me. It was awesome, it featured a wooden walkway over water with dozens of Anhingas(a type of bird), alligators, and other wildlife. I went to a few other trails and lookouts and then it was getting close to sunset, so I thought I would go all the way down the main road to Flamingo, FL. It wasn't really what I hoped for, and didn't get that good of pictures, but I wanted to try and do some extended night exposures, so I went to another part called Bear Lake. When I got there, it was dark and there was a path marked TRAIL, so I grabbed my flashlight and camera, and started down the path. A little risky, I thought, but hopefully the lake wasn't far. After hiking for about 2-3 miles in the pitch black woods, with swamp all around me, I was hearing alligator noises in the water and decided to turn back. Quite a little adrenaline rush. I got back to the car and noticed a second path on the other side of the pull in. This one was not marked. I walked down it, and sure enough, the lake was about 50 feet from the start of the trail. I sat on a dock in the pitch black, listened to the water animal noises, saw birds flying in, heard some weird ass noises that were either animals fighting, or a weird mating ritual or something. It was really cool. I took a few extended exposures and got out of the park. I hit up the WalMart in Florida City, got my self some new trunks, waited in line for 20 minutes in the speedy checkout 12 items or less lane, behind a trashy family with 30 items. Many times I would say something at this point, but I decided to just hold my tongue this time. I found a TravelLodge within a mile or two, and finally got some Wi-Fi to post with. Enjoy.
Fort Lauderdale Day 2 -- Apr. 18th
We slept in this morning and took our time getting ready. Today was just going to be about relaxing. We went to a little Cajun type joint down on the A1A overlooking Fort Lauderdale beach. Then we went to the beach and laid out for a couple of hours. This beach was awesome, just what I pictured Florida beach scenes to be like. Gorgeous women all over, especially Latinas. Everyone was laid out together and having fun, lots of palm trees, the street just behind us with people playing their music loud, and crazy cool characters all over. The Monster energy drink truck pulled up and gave away free drinks for like 5 minutes, and it was just cool and relaxing. Then we came back to the house, I blogged, watched some basketball, napped and showered.
Just kinda wanted this day to be relaxing and easy, so we decided to just chill for the night. Joy, Dana, and myself picked a place called Crabby Jack's and got a table on the deck. The menu looked good, and I had a grouper reuben, the waitress said that's what she had that night, so I trusted her opinion. It was really good. Dana recognized a football player, and said he thought Santana Moss was sitting at the bar. I looked over, and it was Plaxico Buress! I of course had my camera with me and made up my mind to go over and say hello. I waited until he was finished with his food, I hear that is one of the biggest pet peeves of celebrities, being interrupted while they eat, so I waited, and went over. Some redneck was talking his ear off when I got over there, so I just stood there for a minute and waited my turn. The bouncer made the guy leave and I just told him I thought he was great and enjoyed watching him play, and I asked if he and his lady friend wanted to do a shot with me. They agreed and she wanted tequila, but Plax said Jager, so that's what I got. We took the shot and I asked if I could get a picture with him, he said he didn't want to do it right then, but to wait until he was leaving. He probably didn't want to attract any more attention, I figured. So I went back to my table and we finished our dinner and had a couple drinks. I saw Plax get up to leave, and just sat tight. He came over to my table, gave me a handshake/five thing, and said to come down to the parking lot for a picture. His lady friend snapped it and they hopped on a little white moped and left. It was pretty cool. We finished our drinks and went to Dana's for a minute, watched most of Superbad, then we went back to Joy's, I watched a little TV, and crashed. I think I left my glasses at Bill's in St. Augustine, cause I couldn't find them, hopefully he does.
Just kinda wanted this day to be relaxing and easy, so we decided to just chill for the night. Joy, Dana, and myself picked a place called Crabby Jack's and got a table on the deck. The menu looked good, and I had a grouper reuben, the waitress said that's what she had that night, so I trusted her opinion. It was really good. Dana recognized a football player, and said he thought Santana Moss was sitting at the bar. I looked over, and it was Plaxico Buress! I of course had my camera with me and made up my mind to go over and say hello. I waited until he was finished with his food, I hear that is one of the biggest pet peeves of celebrities, being interrupted while they eat, so I waited, and went over. Some redneck was talking his ear off when I got over there, so I just stood there for a minute and waited my turn. The bouncer made the guy leave and I just told him I thought he was great and enjoyed watching him play, and I asked if he and his lady friend wanted to do a shot with me. They agreed and she wanted tequila, but Plax said Jager, so that's what I got. We took the shot and I asked if I could get a picture with him, he said he didn't want to do it right then, but to wait until he was leaving. He probably didn't want to attract any more attention, I figured. So I went back to my table and we finished our dinner and had a couple drinks. I saw Plax get up to leave, and just sat tight. He came over to my table, gave me a handshake/five thing, and said to come down to the parking lot for a picture. His lady friend snapped it and they hopped on a little white moped and left. It was pretty cool. We finished our drinks and went to Dana's for a minute, watched most of Superbad, then we went back to Joy's, I watched a little TV, and crashed. I think I left my glasses at Bill's in St. Augustine, cause I couldn't find them, hopefully he does.
St. Augustine to Fort Lauderdale -- Apr. 17th
Woke up around 730 am to say goodbye to Kirstin before she left for school. Then I went back to bed for a couple hours. Took a shower, packed my stuff, and headed to the Ford dealership where Bill works to get myself an oil change and some new wiper blades. I chatted with the receptionist and the head mechanic while I waited and had a good time. The mechanic’s son had just been killed in a drunk driving accident, and it was obviously weighing on his mind. But we talked for awhile and I think he felt a little better afterwards. I hit the road and decided to go to Daytona beach and lay in the sun for a bit. You can drive right on the beach there, like 20 feet from the water rolling in! It was a little overcast and windy, so it wasn’t very busy, but it was an experience anyway. The driving on the beach is cool, but it makes everyone a little more private as far as on the beach. You just park your car and lay out next to it, so it’s not as interactive as I would’ve liked it to be. I kept on down the road, and went to the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral. Unfortunately though, the Space Center was closed and I didn’t get to see the space shuttle launch site like I wanted to. Oh well. After that it was time to get on down to Fort Lauderdale and meet up with my friend Joy, who is letting me crash. I got in town and Joy, her boyfriend Dana, and myself went out to eat first thing. We went to a local wing place and they had really good grilled wings, could’ve had a little better size and better sauce selection, but that’s just the picky wing eater in me talking. It was good, and the jagerbombs and beers went down nicely. We then came back to Joy’s house, she was having friends over and we had a good night of drinking and debauchery. Her friend Kristin was crazy fun and taught me how to “tripod.” She reminded me of Anna Farris. It was really only the first, maybe second time on the trip I’ve tied on a good buzz, so it was relaxing.
St. Augustine -- Apr. 16th
Woke up really early today. I set my alarm for 830, but I think I was up about an hour before that. I met Tara’s son Gareth, and we all hung out a little bit before he went to school. Kirstin had the day off school, and Bill had the day off work. Tara had to work at 130, but that left us a good amount of time to go down by the ocean and get breakfast at a place called the Oasis. It had a beautiful view, and I ordered two eggs, sunny, bacon, biscuit, and grits. I helped Kirstin with her word find and won in Tic-Tac-Toe 3 games to 2 with 1 cat. The meal was good, even though we had to wait a little longer than we expected, as the waitress forgot to put our order in for about 20 minutes. We went down to the historic district, walked around by the oceanfront, and historic fort for awhile. I gave Kirstin my small camera and let her take about 120 pictures with it. They came out very interesting, some good, some bad, definitely all with a unique perspective, and kind of a window into a child’s thought process and see how they look at the world. She had a blast. We got some gelato, and walked around the shops a little more. We went into this one store that had a really good selection of super hot sauces. I have researched this a little bit and recognized the Blair’s 3am and 2 am to be pretty rare and between 1 and 2 million scoville units! After that, Tara had to go to work, and the three of us went back to the house, relaxed, and I dumped some photos on my pc. I changed into shorts and we went over to Tara’s parents’ house and we all took the canoe out into the river. Kirstin was afraid of the neighbor’s dog, Champ, and of course Champ wanted to follow us the whole route we paddled in the canoe. We saw a great blue heron, a bald eagle, crab, and a couple of fish. The river is lined with beautiful trees and they all have that Spanish moss hanging down from them, very pretty. Right around then, it was time for dinner. Tara suggested a place she used to work way back when, that they said was very unique and an interesting menu. Right up my alley. We got there, and it was awesome! Exactly what I look for. It was a down home place on the river that used to be a bait and tackle shop. It was called Clark’s. We walked in, and they have more taxidermy animals than Canfield’s. It was all set up really nicely. We sat on the deck, right on the river and turtles(large ones), gar, and other fish swam right by our table the whole time. We gave the kids a couple of quarters and there was a gumball machine full of fish food for them to feed the animals. It was fun. We soon discovered that if you walked down a little bit, there was a small bridge, and a small alligator just hanging out right off the bridge. Pretty cool. We sat back down to eat and it was great. Bill and I had ordered four appetizers to split. We got: ostrich, snake, kangaroo, and some Cajun sausage. Yum. The kangaroo was the highlight of the meal, tasted just like beef, but more tender and seemingly less fat. The other items were all good, too, and we helped the kids finish off their meals and headed back home. I took a short nap, being worn out from waking up early, getting sun, and a full meal. When I woke up, I let the kids help Bill shave my hair off. They had a good time. I kissed Kirstin goodnight, and blogged. Bill and Tara were very gracious hosts and I had a really good time visiting them and especially Kirstin, hopefully I can do it again soon.
Savannah to St. Augustine -- Apr. 15th Tax Day
Woke up, Day 3 in Savannah, headed out around 11 and drove down to an old 1700s cemetery, supposedly Savannah is one of the most haunted cities in the U.S., they do Ghost Tours and stuff like that. The cemetery wasn’t as interesting as I thought it might be, it was kinda touristy, so I moved on. I walked up and down Bull St., which is known for historic houses and neat little squares, small parks, every few blocks. One of which is Chippewa Square, which is where Forrest Gump sat on his bench in the movie. The bench is gone now, and in a museum, but I took some pics there anyway. I went to SCAD again and took a tour of the campus and got some questions answered about possibly getting a master’s in Graphic Design. I wouldn’t do it for another couple years at least, but I figured might as well poke around while I’m here, right? After that I went down to the riverfront and ate at a place called Tubby’s Tank House on the recommendation of the guy at the visitor’s center, and it was okay, but a little overpriced and a bit corporate feeling. I think I will try and find younger visitor helper from now on. The lady in Charleston was dead on. I talked to Bill on the phone and arranged to stay at his house later that night, even though they had just gotten back from a long road trip themselves.
Before I went through to Jacksonville, though, I made a couple stops off the highway. I stopped and saw the smallest church in America, a small, 12 seat chapel on the Georgia coast. I then went on to a place called Jekyll Island. Dubbed the jewel of Georgia, it was pretty beautiful, again I got there just before sunset, and first I stopped off of the bridge and talked to a couple of fishermen and asked them if it was worth the 3 dollars to cross the bridge. I was eaten alive by gnats on that bridge, but they said yes. I have never experienced a gnat attack like that before. I was itching for hours, and I still think it’s affecting me a little. I went on to cross the bridge, found a nice little beach and got some nice sunset photos. Took off after that and headed towards Bill and Tara’s. I got there about 11 pm, they are actually in St. Augustine, just South of Jacksonville, but Jax has a lovely skyline I noticed as I drove through. They have a blue neon lined bridge over the ocean and a pretty cool set of skyscrapers to go with it. I arrived, met Tara, kissed Kirstin(my niece) goodnight and hit the sack, we were all tired.
Before I went through to Jacksonville, though, I made a couple stops off the highway. I stopped and saw the smallest church in America, a small, 12 seat chapel on the Georgia coast. I then went on to a place called Jekyll Island. Dubbed the jewel of Georgia, it was pretty beautiful, again I got there just before sunset, and first I stopped off of the bridge and talked to a couple of fishermen and asked them if it was worth the 3 dollars to cross the bridge. I was eaten alive by gnats on that bridge, but they said yes. I have never experienced a gnat attack like that before. I was itching for hours, and I still think it’s affecting me a little. I went on to cross the bridge, found a nice little beach and got some nice sunset photos. Took off after that and headed towards Bill and Tara’s. I got there about 11 pm, they are actually in St. Augustine, just South of Jacksonville, but Jax has a lovely skyline I noticed as I drove through. They have a blue neon lined bridge over the ocean and a pretty cool set of skyscrapers to go with it. I arrived, met Tara, kissed Kirstin(my niece) goodnight and hit the sack, we were all tired.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Savannah, Day 2 -- Apr. 14th
Woke up around 11 to the housekeeping call. I took some extra towels and refused any other service, other than to have the nice Indian man kill the giant cockroach in my bathroom I had just noticed. The room here isn't as well kept as the Best Value I stayed in, but it has everything I need, so I'm not complaining. I went back to bed for awhile, got up and showered and headed out about 2 pm. It was cloudy, but not raining yet, so I wore shorts and a t-shirt.
Drove down to the historic district to try out the pizza place Katie worked at for luch, but they didn't open until 4, so I stopped into a Scottish pub and ate there instead. Molly Macpherson's was the name of it, and I chose to have a sampler platter of apps and a side a smashed garlic potatoes. There were Scotch eggs,(a hard boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, then breaded and deep fried) onion rings with a Guinness batter, and a meat pie on the sampler. It was very good, I had never had Scotch eggs or a meat pie before, so that was exciting. After that, I went to the visitor center, and got several really good ideas, then decided to go over to SCAD and look around and ask about Master's programs. They had some good info, and I may go on a tour of the place tomorrow, even though it's 28k a year for a MA, and 56k for a MFA. Maybe sometime doen the road, it seems like an excellent school, and its in a really cool city. They also offer it online. Then I drove around a bit, found a camera store, picked up some cleaning products because I noticed a spot in my pictures. They didn't have the little air puffer I needed for cleaning the dust off of my image sensor, so I called a couple other places, and no one had one. An idea struck me, and I was off to Target again. I bought one of those baby nose mucus suckers and went back to my hotel. It worked well as an air puffer, I think, and I got on the internet for a minute to decide what to do next.
I decided to drive off to Tybee Island, about 30 minutes away, and was worried I mwould miss sundown. I arrived just in time to get some shots of the historic lighthouse there at dusk, and I think they came out amazing! Totally worth it. After that I went down to the beach area, where there is a pier, and pavilion, and just a beautiful sight. It was dark by then, though, so I grabbed my tripod and tried to get some long exposures anyway. I think I got some really good stuff there too! Left Tybee Island and went back down to histroic area Savannah to get some pizza from Vinnie Van Gogo's Pizzaria. They served authentic NY style pizza, and it was fantastic. Met a man there from upstate NY, he loved it, and wouldn't stop talking about the Huskers. Kinda cool. He was a teacher with the week off, and is headinbg to Charleston tomorrow. I told him to check out Shem Creek, my pizza came, and we said goodbye. After dinner, I went to a place called Bay St. Blues, which was supposed to be a pretty cool little blues place with live trivia starting at 10 pm. I got there about 1015, and the place was dead other than a few staff members who were off work and bitching about their tips. I saw the bartender ash her cigarette into the well where the bottles sit, and was glad I was drinking Newcastle. I thoght to myself if they were nice or hospitable at all, maybe their tips would be better. None of them so much as looked my way, even though I was the only customer there. Oh well. I left, went back to my hotel, and here I sit, blogging. I will probably upload some more photos and watch some tv tonight before bed, I need an early start tomorrow. Haven't decided if I want to stay here until sunset again tomorrow before I head to Jacksonville, or enjoy some of the coastal drive in the daylight. Ahhhhh! the tough, tough choices I have to deal with in my life!
Drove down to the historic district to try out the pizza place Katie worked at for luch, but they didn't open until 4, so I stopped into a Scottish pub and ate there instead. Molly Macpherson's was the name of it, and I chose to have a sampler platter of apps and a side a smashed garlic potatoes. There were Scotch eggs,(a hard boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, then breaded and deep fried) onion rings with a Guinness batter, and a meat pie on the sampler. It was very good, I had never had Scotch eggs or a meat pie before, so that was exciting. After that, I went to the visitor center, and got several really good ideas, then decided to go over to SCAD and look around and ask about Master's programs. They had some good info, and I may go on a tour of the place tomorrow, even though it's 28k a year for a MA, and 56k for a MFA. Maybe sometime doen the road, it seems like an excellent school, and its in a really cool city. They also offer it online. Then I drove around a bit, found a camera store, picked up some cleaning products because I noticed a spot in my pictures. They didn't have the little air puffer I needed for cleaning the dust off of my image sensor, so I called a couple other places, and no one had one. An idea struck me, and I was off to Target again. I bought one of those baby nose mucus suckers and went back to my hotel. It worked well as an air puffer, I think, and I got on the internet for a minute to decide what to do next.
I decided to drive off to Tybee Island, about 30 minutes away, and was worried I mwould miss sundown. I arrived just in time to get some shots of the historic lighthouse there at dusk, and I think they came out amazing! Totally worth it. After that I went down to the beach area, where there is a pier, and pavilion, and just a beautiful sight. It was dark by then, though, so I grabbed my tripod and tried to get some long exposures anyway. I think I got some really good stuff there too! Left Tybee Island and went back down to histroic area Savannah to get some pizza from Vinnie Van Gogo's Pizzaria. They served authentic NY style pizza, and it was fantastic. Met a man there from upstate NY, he loved it, and wouldn't stop talking about the Huskers. Kinda cool. He was a teacher with the week off, and is headinbg to Charleston tomorrow. I told him to check out Shem Creek, my pizza came, and we said goodbye. After dinner, I went to a place called Bay St. Blues, which was supposed to be a pretty cool little blues place with live trivia starting at 10 pm. I got there about 1015, and the place was dead other than a few staff members who were off work and bitching about their tips. I saw the bartender ash her cigarette into the well where the bottles sit, and was glad I was drinking Newcastle. I thoght to myself if they were nice or hospitable at all, maybe their tips would be better. None of them so much as looked my way, even though I was the only customer there. Oh well. I left, went back to my hotel, and here I sit, blogging. I will probably upload some more photos and watch some tv tonight before bed, I need an early start tomorrow. Haven't decided if I want to stay here until sunset again tomorrow before I head to Jacksonville, or enjoy some of the coastal drive in the daylight. Ahhhhh! the tough, tough choices I have to deal with in my life!
Atlanta to Savannah -- Apr. 13th
Worst day of the trip so far. I woke up to 50+ mph winds, and as I was showering, the power went out at Clint's house. Not a big deal, I just opened the door and finished. But it was definitely a harbinger of how the rest of the day would go. I said goodbye to Kathy, Clint was already at work for the day, and headed into downtown Atlanta. I went to a museum in a new part of town to see the Bodies Revealed exhibit. It has actual human bodies that have been preserved and plasticized and then posed with their innards showing certain points of interest throughout the exhibit. It was awesome! They had every part you could imagine, with bodies showing skeletons, musculature, arteries, veins, organs, etc. They had every stage of a fetus, and entire human bodies sliced paper thin and laid out separated all the way across the room. I learned a lot. I wasn't supposed to take any pictures in there, but I managed 3 or 4 on my phone, so I'll see how they come out. That was the highlight of the day, for sure.
After that, I headed out, excited for the fact that my list of diners, drive-ins, and dives had about 5 places in the ATL area. I drove to a place called Cabbagetown, closed on Mondays. Fine. I drove to The Colonnade, didn't open until 5 pm. I drove to the Silver Skillet, closed at 230 pm. By this time it was 3 pm, and I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. My stomach was rumbling, and I was cranky. I decided to not waste my time driving all over town, so I called The Marietta Diner, no answer. And the 5th place was 32 minutes away. Did I mention that Atlanta has extremely well placed construction that my GPS didn't know about and it kept telling me to turn the wrong way on one way streets, and the winds earlier had caused several trees to fall into the road, causing even more fun for me and navigation. I gave up and drove through a Checker's Burger joint. It was heaven, I think by that point I would have eaten my shoe. At the end of my rope with the overcrowded, unfriendly city, I decided to check out the Botanical Gardens before I started on my way to Savannah. Closed on Monday. Thanks Atlanta, I didn't know you were closed on Mondays, or I might have came on a Tuesday!
I headed out of town, it was raining pretty hard the entire 3 1/2 hour drive, there were countless jackasses in the fast lane going 15 mph slower than me, who refused to get over, and every time I passed a semi, I had about 50 feet of no visibility, as the rain it was kicking up off of its tires deluged my car. Finally arrived in Savannah, hit up WalMart and Target for a few supplies and checked into a Best Value Inn for two nights. I figured I'd spend a little more time here, because this is one of places I wanted to see most. And it was supposed to rain all day Tuesday also. I thought that if it was going to rain all day Tuesday, I might as well hit up the bars and I could probably sleep in a bit. I found out about a bar called the Wormhole, who had a band playing, and found my way there. When I got there, the bands were done because one of them didn't show up, but the owner, Amy was very nice and talked to me for awhile about starting her new business, music, and several other things. Smoking is allowed in bars here, and it's kinda nasty. But the place was a pretty cool little music venue, and I met several people, all nice, there. They had to throw out a crackhead, and I met Katie and Andrew, a couple of artists, and we immediatrly hit it off. I got tons of suggestions as to what to do, and then I left and Katie and Andrew and I went to couple other bars together, before I called it a night at 3 am. I guess the bars called it a night. I could've stayed a bit longer. I missed my exit on the way back to my hotel and wasted about a half hour of my time, but all in all, it was a good night. Thank goodness, because the day was bad. The town seems real cool, though, I drove ny the visitor's center on the way in, it was closed, but there is a school right by it called SCAD. Savannah College of Art and Design, and there were tons of people around that were right up my alley, I could tell by their style. I'm excited for Tuesday, hopefully it doesn't rain all day.
After that, I headed out, excited for the fact that my list of diners, drive-ins, and dives had about 5 places in the ATL area. I drove to a place called Cabbagetown, closed on Mondays. Fine. I drove to The Colonnade, didn't open until 5 pm. I drove to the Silver Skillet, closed at 230 pm. By this time it was 3 pm, and I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. My stomach was rumbling, and I was cranky. I decided to not waste my time driving all over town, so I called The Marietta Diner, no answer. And the 5th place was 32 minutes away. Did I mention that Atlanta has extremely well placed construction that my GPS didn't know about and it kept telling me to turn the wrong way on one way streets, and the winds earlier had caused several trees to fall into the road, causing even more fun for me and navigation. I gave up and drove through a Checker's Burger joint. It was heaven, I think by that point I would have eaten my shoe. At the end of my rope with the overcrowded, unfriendly city, I decided to check out the Botanical Gardens before I started on my way to Savannah. Closed on Monday. Thanks Atlanta, I didn't know you were closed on Mondays, or I might have came on a Tuesday!
I headed out of town, it was raining pretty hard the entire 3 1/2 hour drive, there were countless jackasses in the fast lane going 15 mph slower than me, who refused to get over, and every time I passed a semi, I had about 50 feet of no visibility, as the rain it was kicking up off of its tires deluged my car. Finally arrived in Savannah, hit up WalMart and Target for a few supplies and checked into a Best Value Inn for two nights. I figured I'd spend a little more time here, because this is one of places I wanted to see most. And it was supposed to rain all day Tuesday also. I thought that if it was going to rain all day Tuesday, I might as well hit up the bars and I could probably sleep in a bit. I found out about a bar called the Wormhole, who had a band playing, and found my way there. When I got there, the bands were done because one of them didn't show up, but the owner, Amy was very nice and talked to me for awhile about starting her new business, music, and several other things. Smoking is allowed in bars here, and it's kinda nasty. But the place was a pretty cool little music venue, and I met several people, all nice, there. They had to throw out a crackhead, and I met Katie and Andrew, a couple of artists, and we immediatrly hit it off. I got tons of suggestions as to what to do, and then I left and Katie and Andrew and I went to couple other bars together, before I called it a night at 3 am. I guess the bars called it a night. I could've stayed a bit longer. I missed my exit on the way back to my hotel and wasted about a half hour of my time, but all in all, it was a good night. Thank goodness, because the day was bad. The town seems real cool, though, I drove ny the visitor's center on the way in, it was closed, but there is a school right by it called SCAD. Savannah College of Art and Design, and there were tons of people around that were right up my alley, I could tell by their style. I'm excited for Tuesday, hopefully it doesn't rain all day.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Hampton, GA/Atlanta -- Easter Sunday Apr 12th
Woke up at Clint's (my father) about 11, which is pretty good considering I was up until 4 in the am. Showered, and went outside to oversee some chores being done around the house. I took some pics, Clint showered, and we got ready to go to his sister's house for an easter get together. I met new cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, and all sorts of new people. They were all cool, and I told them I would come visit just hear them talk to each other with their Southern accents. There were only two little kids, and one was two months old, so we had an easter egg hunt for my 5 year old second cousin Madison. She found them all. The dogs found some too. We ate quite the spread of two types of potato salad, crab pasta, pulled pork, deviled eggs, beans, and mac and cheese. It was an excellent Southern home cooked pot luck meal. For dessert, there was apple pie, pineapple cake, brownies and ice cream. I tried to ration myself, but still ended up over doing it. The occasion was at Clint's niece's house, Dawn. Dawn and Steve had a nice decorating motif of retro soda signs and refrigerators. They had a lovely large home, and a huge backyard. The neighbors are sort of trashy and inconsiderate, but they didn't bother us this day. I busted out the camera, and forced them to take some pictures, even though it didn't seem as if they were usually camera people. Sean commented that those were his 3 pictures for the year. But we all got along great. After that, Clint, Kathy and I headed downtown to drive around and take pictures. They don't go into the city very often and it was the first time they had seen a lot of what we saw, as well as myself, obviously. We drove around for a couple hours, then came home, watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and relaxed. Clint has to be up at 530 tomorrow, and as I never get up that early, we said our goodbyes tonight. Had a good little heart to heart and vowed to make it less than 28 years until we see each other next. He tried to give me a plethera of shoes and clothes, and I declined due to the fact that I have way too much shit I don't need already. I saw a really cool museum exhibit that features plasticized human bodies that I may hit up in ATL tomorrow, but after that, I'm onto Savannah!! Can't wait. Good night, ya'll, hope you had a good easter. ps.. I picked up a Southern accent in speech and typing as well...ya'll.
Pictures
It takes forever to upload pics to the blog, so I will be posting the majority of pictures on my facebook page. I'll continue to put a good selection here, but for a better selection, look there.
If you are not my friend on facebook, you can look me up by using my email address:
mstewar22@hotmail.com.
If you are not my friend on facebook, you can look me up by using my email address:
mstewar22@hotmail.com.
Athens to Hampton, GA --Apr 11th
Woke up quick at about noon, just thought that I had to be in Athens soon. :)
Woke up and got ready, headed out of my hotel room around noon, and headed down to the retail district right near the Georgia campus. I walked around and checked out a couple bars and shops as I looked for a bite to eat. There were people all over, as you know, the GU spring game was going on at 1. So there were all types of people hanging around, from the drunken frat boys, to the families with kids and babies. And it is true, the women in the South get all done up for games. Back home most girls look sporty and cute, but down here, they wear dresses and heels and get all done up. Interesting. I got myself a polish sausage and ate it walking down the street, then I bought myself a new GU t-shirt for 5 bucks and stopped into a bar and had a quick beer before I made the trek to Sanford Stadium. Got in and walked around for most of the first half just taking pictures, after that I sat down and hung out with a few guys, their wives and kids for the rest of the game. We chatted about GU, NU, Augusta and a variety of small talk, it was fun. The game was pretty boring mostly, until the last minute there were no touchdowns. The red team won 13-3, after scoring the only TD with like 16 seconds left. Headed back to my car after picking up a stray souvenir cup, and hoped my car wasn't towed, as I had parked in the "Holiday Inn Guest Parking Only." It was still there though. I called my father's wife, Kathy, and let her know that I would be there in about two hours.
I hit the road, stopped at a gas station to get some ice for my cooler and a Dr. Pepper. "I musta had me about seven Doctor Peppers on my road tr--ip." -Matthew Gump-
I was on my way. I've noticed in Georgia more than anyone else so far, there are more stubborn fast laners. The people who aren't going as fast as you, but want to pass a few more cars before they get over and let you pass. Frustrating. There were also a lot (two words) of people who varied their speed. Within two miles, in the fast lane, we would go from like 65 to 85 and back. I don't think I even got to use my cruise control the whole 2 hours. I didn't stop in Atlanta, but did drive right through the downtown area. If you weren't doing at least 75 in the 55 mph speed limit, you belonged in the slow lane. I drove by what looked like to be a speed trap going 20 over, and no one even noticed. The Atlanta skyline is very impressive. I've been to LA and Chicago, but I feel like Atlanta has more skyscrapers than what I've seen before. I hope to get back and at least get a few photos of it before I head to Savannah.
I arrived at Clint's (my father) home around 5:30. I hadn't really felt nervous or anything until I was sitting in the driveway getting ready to go inside, then I got a few butterflies. I rang the doorbell and Kathy answered and Clint was in the back yard and seen me pull up, so I kinda met both of them at the same time coming from two different directions. It was a warm welcome and the conversation was comfortable and relaxed. None of us really knew where to start, so we just did. Just talked,, for probably a half hour with no pauses until dinner was ready. Kathy made a roast pork loin, mashed potatoes with a dark mushroom gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, and we had some bread. It was a nice home cooked meal, the roast was tender and juicy and the potatoes were wonderful. We talked about many things that I won't necessarily share with everyone, but it was good. They both have a good sense of humor, and we had fun. I am taller than both of them, and I am 5'6''. Clint has to be about 5'3'' or 5'4''. So now I know where my height comes from. I can see some facial similarities as well. They showed me pictures of my half brother Robert, and he resembles me as well, they said we would get along very well. Both of them were in the military, and now Clint works for the census bureau and Kathy volunteers at an old folks home. Clint's mother died just a couple years ago, and Kathy had an intergral role in her last years. I had a couple of beers and the two of them drank wine a bit and I toured their house, we ran to Wal-Mart, and hung out with their two dogs and two cats. The dogs, Rewind and Tiny, are great, and the cats, Patches and (I forget) are pretty independent or shy, one of the two. Clint and Kathy gave me an early birthday/graduation gift and it was very generous of them. Then we decided to play Wii bowling. That was fun. Clint is left-handed. We played 3 games and I think each of us won one. Clint was originally interested in Design work, and printing and typesetting, and was told to go into the military and go for printing. It never really worked out, and he was mostly in clerical type positions throughout his career. He said it wasn't uncommon for him to be referred to as Radar, like the guy in M*A*S*H. It was funny, he kinda looks like him, and I'm sure the height lent to the name a bit also. I can definitely find more than a few similarities in our personalities, work ethic, appearance, and other things, which definitely gives credibility to genetics. Clint and Kathy stayed up until about 11 while I showed them photos on my computer, which was about 2 hours past their normal bedtime, and I have been organizing photos and blogging in the spare bedroom where I am staying since then. It is now about 2. Their house is very beautiful and they have done alot of work themselves, adding a sun room and several phases of what now is one deck. Their cul-de-sac is secluded, and feels rural and peaceful, but Wal-Mart and pretty much anything else they need is only 5-10 minutes away. I'll stop rambling now, but in brief, I'm glad I made the stop, and I am happy with my meeting. Goodnight. I'll put some pictures up tonight.
Woke up and got ready, headed out of my hotel room around noon, and headed down to the retail district right near the Georgia campus. I walked around and checked out a couple bars and shops as I looked for a bite to eat. There were people all over, as you know, the GU spring game was going on at 1. So there were all types of people hanging around, from the drunken frat boys, to the families with kids and babies. And it is true, the women in the South get all done up for games. Back home most girls look sporty and cute, but down here, they wear dresses and heels and get all done up. Interesting. I got myself a polish sausage and ate it walking down the street, then I bought myself a new GU t-shirt for 5 bucks and stopped into a bar and had a quick beer before I made the trek to Sanford Stadium. Got in and walked around for most of the first half just taking pictures, after that I sat down and hung out with a few guys, their wives and kids for the rest of the game. We chatted about GU, NU, Augusta and a variety of small talk, it was fun. The game was pretty boring mostly, until the last minute there were no touchdowns. The red team won 13-3, after scoring the only TD with like 16 seconds left. Headed back to my car after picking up a stray souvenir cup, and hoped my car wasn't towed, as I had parked in the "Holiday Inn Guest Parking Only." It was still there though. I called my father's wife, Kathy, and let her know that I would be there in about two hours.
I hit the road, stopped at a gas station to get some ice for my cooler and a Dr. Pepper. "I musta had me about seven Doctor Peppers on my road tr--ip." -Matthew Gump-
I was on my way. I've noticed in Georgia more than anyone else so far, there are more stubborn fast laners. The people who aren't going as fast as you, but want to pass a few more cars before they get over and let you pass. Frustrating. There were also a lot (two words) of people who varied their speed. Within two miles, in the fast lane, we would go from like 65 to 85 and back. I don't think I even got to use my cruise control the whole 2 hours. I didn't stop in Atlanta, but did drive right through the downtown area. If you weren't doing at least 75 in the 55 mph speed limit, you belonged in the slow lane. I drove by what looked like to be a speed trap going 20 over, and no one even noticed. The Atlanta skyline is very impressive. I've been to LA and Chicago, but I feel like Atlanta has more skyscrapers than what I've seen before. I hope to get back and at least get a few photos of it before I head to Savannah.
I arrived at Clint's (my father) home around 5:30. I hadn't really felt nervous or anything until I was sitting in the driveway getting ready to go inside, then I got a few butterflies. I rang the doorbell and Kathy answered and Clint was in the back yard and seen me pull up, so I kinda met both of them at the same time coming from two different directions. It was a warm welcome and the conversation was comfortable and relaxed. None of us really knew where to start, so we just did. Just talked,, for probably a half hour with no pauses until dinner was ready. Kathy made a roast pork loin, mashed potatoes with a dark mushroom gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, and we had some bread. It was a nice home cooked meal, the roast was tender and juicy and the potatoes were wonderful. We talked about many things that I won't necessarily share with everyone, but it was good. They both have a good sense of humor, and we had fun. I am taller than both of them, and I am 5'6''. Clint has to be about 5'3'' or 5'4''. So now I know where my height comes from. I can see some facial similarities as well. They showed me pictures of my half brother Robert, and he resembles me as well, they said we would get along very well. Both of them were in the military, and now Clint works for the census bureau and Kathy volunteers at an old folks home. Clint's mother died just a couple years ago, and Kathy had an intergral role in her last years. I had a couple of beers and the two of them drank wine a bit and I toured their house, we ran to Wal-Mart, and hung out with their two dogs and two cats. The dogs, Rewind and Tiny, are great, and the cats, Patches and (I forget) are pretty independent or shy, one of the two. Clint and Kathy gave me an early birthday/graduation gift and it was very generous of them. Then we decided to play Wii bowling. That was fun. Clint is left-handed. We played 3 games and I think each of us won one. Clint was originally interested in Design work, and printing and typesetting, and was told to go into the military and go for printing. It never really worked out, and he was mostly in clerical type positions throughout his career. He said it wasn't uncommon for him to be referred to as Radar, like the guy in M*A*S*H. It was funny, he kinda looks like him, and I'm sure the height lent to the name a bit also. I can definitely find more than a few similarities in our personalities, work ethic, appearance, and other things, which definitely gives credibility to genetics. Clint and Kathy stayed up until about 11 while I showed them photos on my computer, which was about 2 hours past their normal bedtime, and I have been organizing photos and blogging in the spare bedroom where I am staying since then. It is now about 2. Their house is very beautiful and they have done alot of work themselves, adding a sun room and several phases of what now is one deck. Their cul-de-sac is secluded, and feels rural and peaceful, but Wal-Mart and pretty much anything else they need is only 5-10 minutes away. I'll stop rambling now, but in brief, I'm glad I made the stop, and I am happy with my meeting. Goodnight. I'll put some pictures up tonight.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Charleston to Athens -- Apr 10th
It's official! A lot is two words. Learn something new every day.
I went to Windjammers last night and was accidentally on Omaha time, I arrived after the band instead of an hour late like I expected. Everyone was clearing out by then, and it was lame, cool place, cool location, but nothing much going on after the band was done. Oh well, I went back to my hotel and had a beer with myself, surfed the web, and watched tv.
I woke up this morning and headed out around 11. Drove around Mt. Pleasant and just marveled at the houses again. I grabbed a bite to eat at this little bbq dive place called Big Momma's or something like that. It was buffet or cafeteria style, and I didn't make the same mistake and order two lunches. I did only finish about half, but it was really good, my eyes were just bigger than my stomach. I had vinegar and red pepper pulled pork, hush puppies, fried okra, mac and cheese, and hash. I headed out of Charleston around 1 and took the highways to Augusta, GA where the 2009 Masters just happened to be going on. I knew I wouldn't even try to get a hotel room there, but I thought I'd walk around and mingle and maybe get some photos. I didn't get any good photos really, but I got a good walk in looking for some. I did get to meet John Daly, however, he was selling and signing merc and taking pics with people, so I did that. Definitely the highlight of Augusta for me. Other than the golf course, Augusta was kind of a shithole. Moving on...
I left for Athens around 5 and arrived about 7, went to the football stadium and drove around downtown. Met a nice girl outside the stadium and then it started to rain, so I was in a hurry to get my camera back to my car, and now I'm regretting not getting her number to hang out at the game tomorrow. The game I'm talking about is the University of Georgia spring game tomorrow at 1. That should be fun, then I'm off to Atlanta after that tomorrow. I decided to just take it easy tonight and hang out in my hotel room, even though it's probably a really fun night to go out here. Got another pretty good deal, I'm in an America's Best motel for 42 bucks and it's huge! King bed, couch, and everything else I need including, of course, wi-fi. Trying to keep these a little shorter, I noticed I was a maniac. Out.
I went to Windjammers last night and was accidentally on Omaha time, I arrived after the band instead of an hour late like I expected. Everyone was clearing out by then, and it was lame, cool place, cool location, but nothing much going on after the band was done. Oh well, I went back to my hotel and had a beer with myself, surfed the web, and watched tv.
I woke up this morning and headed out around 11. Drove around Mt. Pleasant and just marveled at the houses again. I grabbed a bite to eat at this little bbq dive place called Big Momma's or something like that. It was buffet or cafeteria style, and I didn't make the same mistake and order two lunches. I did only finish about half, but it was really good, my eyes were just bigger than my stomach. I had vinegar and red pepper pulled pork, hush puppies, fried okra, mac and cheese, and hash. I headed out of Charleston around 1 and took the highways to Augusta, GA where the 2009 Masters just happened to be going on. I knew I wouldn't even try to get a hotel room there, but I thought I'd walk around and mingle and maybe get some photos. I didn't get any good photos really, but I got a good walk in looking for some. I did get to meet John Daly, however, he was selling and signing merc and taking pics with people, so I did that. Definitely the highlight of Augusta for me. Other than the golf course, Augusta was kind of a shithole. Moving on...
I left for Athens around 5 and arrived about 7, went to the football stadium and drove around downtown. Met a nice girl outside the stadium and then it started to rain, so I was in a hurry to get my camera back to my car, and now I'm regretting not getting her number to hang out at the game tomorrow. The game I'm talking about is the University of Georgia spring game tomorrow at 1. That should be fun, then I'm off to Atlanta after that tomorrow. I decided to just take it easy tonight and hang out in my hotel room, even though it's probably a really fun night to go out here. Got another pretty good deal, I'm in an America's Best motel for 42 bucks and it's huge! King bed, couch, and everything else I need including, of course, wi-fi. Trying to keep these a little shorter, I noticed I was a maniac. Out.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Sorry
Sorry about no pictures yet, hopefully I'll have more time to get that going in the next few days.
Charlotte to Charleston -- Apr 8th
I awoke Charlotte around 11 and headed out about noon. Went downtown again and got the Panthers store guy to let me into the stadium to take some pics of the field. I went to the visitor information center after that and got some ideas of how to pass my day. Finding wi-fi around all the time isn't as easy as it seems unless I wanna eat Buffalo Wild Wings or Panera for every meal, and it doesn't come with most 35 dollar hotel rooms either, so I've found visitor centers to be very helpful the last couple trips. The lady there recommended that I go to a place called Mac's Speed Shop to eat and so I did. It was awesome! Great BBQ, ambiance, and the wait staff was very nice. The girl behind the bar and I talked for quite awhile, and she said that she loves Charleston and gave me a few ideas for my next stop. I invited her to come with me, but she declined as she had to work a double the next day. :)
After Mac's, I went downtown on a walking tour of sorts, they have a lot of cool buildings in Charlotte and some cool sculptures and such. The city has a really cool vibe, somewhere I could see myself living, everyone seemed very nice. But the whole city is under construction. I've never seen so much. And I thought Omaha was bad. The city looked orange and I bet I could get a job in construction with no experience. I finished my walking tour and stopped at an irish pub on my way to my car to enjoy a refreshing Smithwick's. The bartender girl there was also extremely cool and when I went to the bathroom they had an advertisement for Zingo. I asked the bartender more about it... Basically, Zingo is a designated driver company, unlike a cab, in that they come to the bar in a mini scooter that folds up and fits in your trunk. So they arrive on the scooter, then drive you home in your own car, that way you don't have to worry about it in the morning. Pretty cool idea, I might steal it. After that, I hit the road for Charleston, it was about 4.
The drive was fairly boring scenic wise, there were tons of coniferous trees, probably pines the whole way, and they were all the same color. I quickly tired of this and had to stop at a rest area and take a nap. I planned on a fifteen minute power nap, but was awoken by a car alarm going off next to me after an hour. Thanks Smithwick's! I got back to the road and saw my first palm tree of the trip. That doesn't really get old too quick for me. I arrived in Charleston just after sundown and immediately just headed to the ocean. They have a beautiful boardwalk in a super affluent historic area with all Georgian style Civil War era homes that are protected by law. I got some nice night photos of the full moon over the ocean and headed over the awesome suspension bridge to an area called Mount Pleasant, SC. There is an area of Mt. Pleasant called Shem Creek, I strongly recommend this area if you are ever around. It is a small creek that leads out to the ocean and shrimp boats dock here and when they come in with a catch during shrimp season, you can pull right up on the dock and buy "still talking" shrimp. I was here, however, because this was one of the places the bartender from Charlotte told me to go. She said sometimes her and her friends get off work and come straight there to Red's Ice House. Red's was really cool. It kinda reminded me of Rick's Boatyard but much more authentic. they were several areas including an outdoor bar and you could walk up and down the docks with your drinks if you wanted to. The crowd was ok, but it seemed like everyone around the bar worked there and were just getting off, so they were kinda clique-y. They did have a basketball game on, and a trivia game where the m.c. lady would play a song then ask categorized questions and dole out points. The higher point totals for the night won prizes. I got there about an hour after that started, and didn't want to embarrass anyone with me winning at that point, so I decided to just answer for my own leisure. I ate a plate of oysters and chips and had 6 Asian hot wings. It was good food. I also tried a new beer, which seems to really popular down here, Yeungling. It is made in PA. I don't really like it, but the locals here all do. After Red's I went out to the parking lot and made my car bed. I drove back across the bridge, found a 24 hour grocery store and slept like a baby in the parking lot.
I woke with the sun around 7ish, but decided that was way too crazy for me and slept til 9 instead. When I got up, my car was kinda humid, half the windows were fogged up, if I sleep in my car again, I'll have to remember to crack a window or two. Then again, I might not want to disturb the passers-by with my snoring. I went into the store, put on my contacts in the bathroom, washed my face, bought a banana nut muffin and drove to the waterfront park. I had some apple juice from home with me, and sat on a bench looking at the ocean and had an awesome breakfast. This city seems really fit. There are runners all over all the time. After that, I drove around with my GPS off and got lost on purpose, just to see what I wanted to. I've realized the definite benefits of being alone on a trip include: not worrying about someone else. Their feelings, opinions, moods, boredom, music taste, ideas of what to do with the day, etc. It can get a bit lonely at night, but for me, on this trip, this is exactly what I want and need.
I found my way to the visitor info building and got some more ideas for the day. The woman recommended a place called Vickery's, and it just so happened to be in Shem Creek, right across from Red's! First, I went downtown again and took more pictures and walked around the coast and neighborhoods for an hour. If you can even call it a downtown, all the buildings are like 3 stories. There might be a few random, more inland hotels that are like 10, but there is no real skyline at all, pretty unexpected to me. Actual Charleston is very tourist-y, which for a few days is ok, but I can tell I'd get really tired of it. I definitely like Mt. Pleasant, though. I went to the restaurant and their was a family walking to the car as I was walking in, and the father had a Nebraska hat on. I shouted "Go Huskers!" from my car and they seemed pleased. Inside, Vickery's has one of the best views in Charleston. The whole place has an outdoor deck wrapping around it and is all glass. The food was excellent! The bartender recommended the fried grouper sandwich and told me she likes to add pepper jack cheese to it. I said give it to me the way you like it, and a side of loaded mash potatoes also. I guess that the grouper isn't even in season, but was awesome. Doris said it was probably from Venezuela. Doris was a nice older woman sitting next to me who seemed to be a regular because the bartender, Rachel, knew what she wanted when she came in and it was a special order. Doris and I talked for like an hour, and much of the facts I have said in this blog have come from her. She was excited to hear about my trip, offer insight and suggestions, and when she found out I was meeting my father for the first time, she had a huge story about her own life. She had never met her dad and called him once on Christmas Day, his wife answered and told her it wasn't a good time, and to call back. Doris never called back. She got drunk that day. Come to think of it, the bartender in Charlotte also said that she was adopted, and never met her parents, but thought about it, and her sister had recently met her parents. Pretty crazy. I meet my father in two days just outside Atlanta. I'm not scared or nervous, just don't know what to expect. I hope the timing doesn't make things awkward. I will be arriving and staying the night before Easter, so that should make things unique. After lunch I drove along the coast of Mt. Pleasant and decided to go to an old Civil War fort. It was really boring and there was a class field trip with like 150 14 year olds. I did talk to a man about Canon cameras for about 15 minutes, though. So that was cool. He was a retired policeman who enjoyed photography and now worked part time for the force doing photo work. He said the last 3 times they needed him though, was for very horrible accident photos and each time took him about 1 1/2 hours to complete the job. He said he didn't want to do that anymore. I can't blame him. I got a good tip from the visitor center for a motel and checked in just after 3. This place is really nice for the price. There is a pool that is OPEN! and it has wi-fi, microwave, refrigerator, tv, and all the usual stuff as well, for 39 bucks! Score!
I took a nap for an hour or so, headed back down town to try and get some cool sunset photos. I am kinda disappointed, but they're ok. It was 77 and sunny today, i am in shorts! Right now I am back at my motel, the Masters Inn, blogging. But in a minute I will hop in the shower and get ready to go to the Isle of Palms, a place called Windjammer's. The bartender from Charlotte and Doris both recommended this place. Evidently it's right on the beach and they have good bands almost every night. Tonight they have a singer-songwriter from Nashville named Patrick Davis, so I'll check that out. P.S. I've always thought alot was a word, but spell check always tells me otherwise. Remind me to look that up.
After Mac's, I went downtown on a walking tour of sorts, they have a lot of cool buildings in Charlotte and some cool sculptures and such. The city has a really cool vibe, somewhere I could see myself living, everyone seemed very nice. But the whole city is under construction. I've never seen so much. And I thought Omaha was bad. The city looked orange and I bet I could get a job in construction with no experience. I finished my walking tour and stopped at an irish pub on my way to my car to enjoy a refreshing Smithwick's. The bartender girl there was also extremely cool and when I went to the bathroom they had an advertisement for Zingo. I asked the bartender more about it... Basically, Zingo is a designated driver company, unlike a cab, in that they come to the bar in a mini scooter that folds up and fits in your trunk. So they arrive on the scooter, then drive you home in your own car, that way you don't have to worry about it in the morning. Pretty cool idea, I might steal it. After that, I hit the road for Charleston, it was about 4.
The drive was fairly boring scenic wise, there were tons of coniferous trees, probably pines the whole way, and they were all the same color. I quickly tired of this and had to stop at a rest area and take a nap. I planned on a fifteen minute power nap, but was awoken by a car alarm going off next to me after an hour. Thanks Smithwick's! I got back to the road and saw my first palm tree of the trip. That doesn't really get old too quick for me. I arrived in Charleston just after sundown and immediately just headed to the ocean. They have a beautiful boardwalk in a super affluent historic area with all Georgian style Civil War era homes that are protected by law. I got some nice night photos of the full moon over the ocean and headed over the awesome suspension bridge to an area called Mount Pleasant, SC. There is an area of Mt. Pleasant called Shem Creek, I strongly recommend this area if you are ever around. It is a small creek that leads out to the ocean and shrimp boats dock here and when they come in with a catch during shrimp season, you can pull right up on the dock and buy "still talking" shrimp. I was here, however, because this was one of the places the bartender from Charlotte told me to go. She said sometimes her and her friends get off work and come straight there to Red's Ice House. Red's was really cool. It kinda reminded me of Rick's Boatyard but much more authentic. they were several areas including an outdoor bar and you could walk up and down the docks with your drinks if you wanted to. The crowd was ok, but it seemed like everyone around the bar worked there and were just getting off, so they were kinda clique-y. They did have a basketball game on, and a trivia game where the m.c. lady would play a song then ask categorized questions and dole out points. The higher point totals for the night won prizes. I got there about an hour after that started, and didn't want to embarrass anyone with me winning at that point, so I decided to just answer for my own leisure. I ate a plate of oysters and chips and had 6 Asian hot wings. It was good food. I also tried a new beer, which seems to really popular down here, Yeungling. It is made in PA. I don't really like it, but the locals here all do. After Red's I went out to the parking lot and made my car bed. I drove back across the bridge, found a 24 hour grocery store and slept like a baby in the parking lot.
I woke with the sun around 7ish, but decided that was way too crazy for me and slept til 9 instead. When I got up, my car was kinda humid, half the windows were fogged up, if I sleep in my car again, I'll have to remember to crack a window or two. Then again, I might not want to disturb the passers-by with my snoring. I went into the store, put on my contacts in the bathroom, washed my face, bought a banana nut muffin and drove to the waterfront park. I had some apple juice from home with me, and sat on a bench looking at the ocean and had an awesome breakfast. This city seems really fit. There are runners all over all the time. After that, I drove around with my GPS off and got lost on purpose, just to see what I wanted to. I've realized the definite benefits of being alone on a trip include: not worrying about someone else. Their feelings, opinions, moods, boredom, music taste, ideas of what to do with the day, etc. It can get a bit lonely at night, but for me, on this trip, this is exactly what I want and need.
I found my way to the visitor info building and got some more ideas for the day. The woman recommended a place called Vickery's, and it just so happened to be in Shem Creek, right across from Red's! First, I went downtown again and took more pictures and walked around the coast and neighborhoods for an hour. If you can even call it a downtown, all the buildings are like 3 stories. There might be a few random, more inland hotels that are like 10, but there is no real skyline at all, pretty unexpected to me. Actual Charleston is very tourist-y, which for a few days is ok, but I can tell I'd get really tired of it. I definitely like Mt. Pleasant, though. I went to the restaurant and their was a family walking to the car as I was walking in, and the father had a Nebraska hat on. I shouted "Go Huskers!" from my car and they seemed pleased. Inside, Vickery's has one of the best views in Charleston. The whole place has an outdoor deck wrapping around it and is all glass. The food was excellent! The bartender recommended the fried grouper sandwich and told me she likes to add pepper jack cheese to it. I said give it to me the way you like it, and a side of loaded mash potatoes also. I guess that the grouper isn't even in season, but was awesome. Doris said it was probably from Venezuela. Doris was a nice older woman sitting next to me who seemed to be a regular because the bartender, Rachel, knew what she wanted when she came in and it was a special order. Doris and I talked for like an hour, and much of the facts I have said in this blog have come from her. She was excited to hear about my trip, offer insight and suggestions, and when she found out I was meeting my father for the first time, she had a huge story about her own life. She had never met her dad and called him once on Christmas Day, his wife answered and told her it wasn't a good time, and to call back. Doris never called back. She got drunk that day. Come to think of it, the bartender in Charlotte also said that she was adopted, and never met her parents, but thought about it, and her sister had recently met her parents. Pretty crazy. I meet my father in two days just outside Atlanta. I'm not scared or nervous, just don't know what to expect. I hope the timing doesn't make things awkward. I will be arriving and staying the night before Easter, so that should make things unique. After lunch I drove along the coast of Mt. Pleasant and decided to go to an old Civil War fort. It was really boring and there was a class field trip with like 150 14 year olds. I did talk to a man about Canon cameras for about 15 minutes, though. So that was cool. He was a retired policeman who enjoyed photography and now worked part time for the force doing photo work. He said the last 3 times they needed him though, was for very horrible accident photos and each time took him about 1 1/2 hours to complete the job. He said he didn't want to do that anymore. I can't blame him. I got a good tip from the visitor center for a motel and checked in just after 3. This place is really nice for the price. There is a pool that is OPEN! and it has wi-fi, microwave, refrigerator, tv, and all the usual stuff as well, for 39 bucks! Score!
I took a nap for an hour or so, headed back down town to try and get some cool sunset photos. I am kinda disappointed, but they're ok. It was 77 and sunny today, i am in shorts! Right now I am back at my motel, the Masters Inn, blogging. But in a minute I will hop in the shower and get ready to go to the Isle of Palms, a place called Windjammer's. The bartender from Charlotte and Doris both recommended this place. Evidently it's right on the beach and they have good bands almost every night. Tonight they have a singer-songwriter from Nashville named Patrick Davis, so I'll check that out. P.S. I've always thought alot was a word, but spell check always tells me otherwise. Remind me to look that up.
Knoxville to Charlotte -- Apr 7th
After I left BW3s I found a little RodeWay Inn and got a room for 40 bucks. Watched some TV and crashed. In the morning I went downtown Knoxville and got a light lunch. I found a cool little diner online and surprised myself and had tuna salad, cottage cheese, and macaroni salad. Then, I drove around a little bit, the town is really cool. It’s got character. I was going to visit the Tennessee campus, but I drove by an awesome park on the way, so I had to stop and take some pictures. I had to park quite a bit of distance away, and as I walked towards the park from my car, there was an art museum with a sign out front that said “Free Admission Today.” That was a nice coincidence. So I stayed there for about an hour. It was pretty lame except for two exhibits. The first was a collection of miniature reproductions of early 1900s rooms, completely furnished, it was pretty cool. Evidently the woman had a rich husband and nothing to do but collect miniatures. Furniture makers used to make miniatures and bring them around to trade shows, exact replicas 1 foot =1 inch. She collected as many as she could find and made other pieces herself. She decided after awhile to put them all together into sets and eventually had assistants And Eveything. She made thousands of them. The other one was a really cool glass exhibit. Many undescribable pieces, but the crowns of the collection were solid 100+ pound spheres of layered artistic glass, most of them made to look like strange new planets. I also got a form to sign that made me eligible to win one of his pieces. The one they’re giving away is 2000 dollars. I finally got down to the park, which was called World’s Fair Park, and it has a giant sphere on top of a cylinder, reminds me of the world’s fair expo pictures I’ve seen.
After that I drove around the Tennessee campus, it was much smaller than Vanderbilt, but the weather was nice and there were a myriad of beautiful girls walking around. Then I snuck into the football stadium and took some pictures. Then I got the hell outta there because I wanted to make it to the Smokey Mountain National Park at a decent time. The drive to the park was insane. It was like Branson. Just shop after shop and waterparks, and restaurants and every kind of way to consume along the way. This went on for about 5 miles straight, then stopped, then started again, and went for another 3 miles. Finally I got to the park. I got there about 3. It was really beautiful, but unfortunately, the way I wanted to take was closed because they got 10 inches of snow the night before. I think it made for better pictures though. It was about 40 degrees all day, and it was snowing off and on. Pretty strange, the beauty of the snow, but I didn’t even need a coat. I took a winding road through the park that had a gorgeous river flowing over rocks the whole way. I probably stopped every 2 minutes to get out of my car and take photos. Finally, I headed out to try and make it to Charlotte near nightfall. Driving through the Smokies was amazing! I am a new huge Tennessee fan.
The mountains continued into North Carolina, but NC seems a bit more hillbilly to me. It could be because my GPS made me take one of the most backwoods roads I’ve ever seen, but it definitely has that vibe. There was a near blinding snowstorm most of the way to Charlotte, and I saw a new road sign: Remove Sunglasses. It was right before I went into a tunnel. Pretty unique. How cool would that be to have in your poker room or something. I arrived in Charlotte around 9 and stopped at my second Food Network dive. I ate at BBQ King, it is a drive in, much like Sonic, but older. I got a BBQ pork sandwich and fries. Carolina style BBQ, of course. Carolina style for those who don’t know has no tomato based sauce, it is a vinegar based sauce and has cole slaw on top. It was very good, and only 5 bucks. Thanks again Guy Fieri! Then I drove around and got some pictures of the skyline at night as well as the Bobcats and Panthers stadium. I don’t feel like I have the same boundaries in a different city. I sneak into stadiums and into backlots and pull into sketchy areas by railroad tracks to get pictures. Maybe if I had the same drive all the time, I might have a pretty decent portfolio.
I then asked my GPS where to stay and called a few places, drove to a Best Value Inn, and drove out. I decided I would pay 10 dollars more for somewhere that wasn’t on the last COPS episode I saw. So, I found a Motel 6, and it seems fine, except I can hear the neighbor’s daughter crying. Luckily, that only went on for about 10 minutes. This blog took entirely too long. I was considering finding a bar nearby, but now it’s almost 1 here. I won’t try and blog while watching a new show. I’m watching In Treatment on HBO, it’s very magnetic. Good Night.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Nashville to Knoxville -- Apr 6th
Not the weather I wanted when I woke up this morning. I awoke to "Housekeeping" this morning b/c I was up until 4 last night. I got a late checkout and hit the road looking for a quick bite. The weather was about 40 and rainy and stayed that way all day long. :( However, I still had a fun day, just spent more time in the car than I wanted to. I hope I can get more exercise on this trip, or I'll come back to Omaha fat as shit.
I started my day eating lunch at Shoney's, It was decent food and they had a 7.99 lunch buffet, with mashed pots, fried chicken, corn, and mac and cheese. Can't go wrong there. I accidentally planned this location about a block away from where the Tennessee Titans play, so I went there and took pictures of the stadium and also the downtown skyline near the riverfront. Then I went and drove around downtown to check out the vibe. It seems pretty cool, definitely country music heavy, but still cool. Then I went to Vanderbilt University and checked out the campus and the football field and took more pics. Absolutely gorgeous, wish the weather was better so I could've seen a few more students, but it's like Creighton on roids. After that I decided to go and get on my laptop to see what was going on in Knoxville and try and book a hotel. Borders there doesn't have wi-fi!! So I went down the strip mall to a Panera-type place but less corporate. I felt bad just sitting and taking their wi-fi, so I bought a Sprite. Then I found out that very few pages worked there. I couldn't get on Hotmail, Facebook, Expedia, or half the other sites I wanted to go to, so I left, disgusted with the whole wi-fi scene in Nashville.
Nashville is very beautiful, though, everything is green and the city is set in beautiful rolling hills. The drive from Nashville to Knoxville didn't disappoint either. More green everywhere, with a kind of hue I envision Ireland to be like, but probably is nothing like it. Maybe it was because it was raining the whole time. Anyway, the drive reminded me of the drive through the Ozark mountains in Southern Missouri, but not as curvy. There are slight elevation changes in between, with one major climb and descent in the middle. At this point, the rain turned to snow and was accumulating, then back to rain. The road is cut right through the trees and the drive is gorgeous. It's a very wooded mountain range and the interstate is divided by huuuge "medians" that give you a ton of space. There are long, slowly winding curves the whole way, which are super fun to me, and going downhill, you have to hit the brakes if you don't want to go 80 mph. I didn't hit the brakes, I like that speed. I felt like I was crawling along when I had to do 45 for a stretch there.
Knoxville seems cool, although it was dark again when I arrived, and I probably won't spend too much time here tomorrow. I may het breakfast and visit the Tennessee campus, but I really want to spend a good amount of time in The Great Smokey Mountain N.P. tomorrow. Then on to Charlotte!
I am sitting in a BW3s right now and it appears as if NC is going to win the NCAA tournament. (Boo!) But we'll see, there's 5 minutes left. Hopefully I will find a cheap motel nearby and get an early start tomorrow, but these Coronas are tasting good, so we'll see.
Peace.
I started my day eating lunch at Shoney's, It was decent food and they had a 7.99 lunch buffet, with mashed pots, fried chicken, corn, and mac and cheese. Can't go wrong there. I accidentally planned this location about a block away from where the Tennessee Titans play, so I went there and took pictures of the stadium and also the downtown skyline near the riverfront. Then I went and drove around downtown to check out the vibe. It seems pretty cool, definitely country music heavy, but still cool. Then I went to Vanderbilt University and checked out the campus and the football field and took more pics. Absolutely gorgeous, wish the weather was better so I could've seen a few more students, but it's like Creighton on roids. After that I decided to go and get on my laptop to see what was going on in Knoxville and try and book a hotel. Borders there doesn't have wi-fi!! So I went down the strip mall to a Panera-type place but less corporate. I felt bad just sitting and taking their wi-fi, so I bought a Sprite. Then I found out that very few pages worked there. I couldn't get on Hotmail, Facebook, Expedia, or half the other sites I wanted to go to, so I left, disgusted with the whole wi-fi scene in Nashville.
Nashville is very beautiful, though, everything is green and the city is set in beautiful rolling hills. The drive from Nashville to Knoxville didn't disappoint either. More green everywhere, with a kind of hue I envision Ireland to be like, but probably is nothing like it. Maybe it was because it was raining the whole time. Anyway, the drive reminded me of the drive through the Ozark mountains in Southern Missouri, but not as curvy. There are slight elevation changes in between, with one major climb and descent in the middle. At this point, the rain turned to snow and was accumulating, then back to rain. The road is cut right through the trees and the drive is gorgeous. It's a very wooded mountain range and the interstate is divided by huuuge "medians" that give you a ton of space. There are long, slowly winding curves the whole way, which are super fun to me, and going downhill, you have to hit the brakes if you don't want to go 80 mph. I didn't hit the brakes, I like that speed. I felt like I was crawling along when I had to do 45 for a stretch there.
Knoxville seems cool, although it was dark again when I arrived, and I probably won't spend too much time here tomorrow. I may het breakfast and visit the Tennessee campus, but I really want to spend a good amount of time in The Great Smokey Mountain N.P. tomorrow. Then on to Charlotte!
I am sitting in a BW3s right now and it appears as if NC is going to win the NCAA tournament. (Boo!) But we'll see, there's 5 minutes left. Hopefully I will find a cheap motel nearby and get an early start tomorrow, but these Coronas are tasting good, so we'll see.
Peace.
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