Mile High City to Sin City

We are literally on the home stretch now. Craziness. We got into Denver on Tuesday afternoon, and we hung out at the mall/apple store while we waited for our friend Alina to get off work. Once she did, we met up with her at the Cherry Cricket, where we also met up with our friend Matt, and we ate and got drinks till midnight or so. We also had the long awaited meeting of her boyfriend Kenny. Pretty cool guy; I approve :).  

After that night, we woke up and headed over to the Coor's Brewery. On the way, we stopped at the red rock ampitheater, which is literally a theater that has been put into the side of a mountain. It was quite the site to behold.  From there, we headed over to the "Biggest" brewery in the world.  It was interesting, though the audio tour dragged on at several parts.  We got some free samples, but the guys had too much beer the night before, and the girls don't drink much beer, so we ended up only having a couple samples each.   From there, we headed over to Wash Park, where we enjoyed margarita bottles and played some Boccie ball.  I won, of course.  After that, we went to Casa Bonita to realize a dream of mine since it was shown on my favorite show of all time, South Park. Well lets just say that SP kind of exaggerated how awesome it was. And by exaggerated, I mean they lied to me. The food was really bad and we had to buy a dinner to get in. The divers weren't that great, and Black Bart's cave was pretty lame. Overall, it was disappointing, but we were with good friends, so it wasn't too bad. 

This morning, we grabbed breakfast with Alina and Kenny before we started the long drive to Vegas.  We did 3 hour shifts, so it wasn't too bad, but Utah is freaking lame. There is literally 100 miles between food and gas places. It's just alotttttt of mountains and plains, which get old pretty quick.  Once we got into Vegas, we got stuck in really bad traffic, and after moving a quarter of a mile in half an hour, we hoped off and took surface streets to our first In n Out in a month. mmmmmm. After that, we checked in to suite in MGM Grand, which we got thanks to my players card. And it is niceeeee. The shower is huge, and there is a TV in the bathroom mirror.  The bed is also nice, and the set up of the room is awesome.  We went down to New York New York, where we did some gambling. Kristal ended up down 40 on the session, and I was down 60. Going to put down some Super Bowl bets tomorrow. Thinking the Bengals at 22/1, Texans at 28/1, and Packers at 8/1.  I'm not sure though I might just bet on teams to win the AFC rather then the SB. Gonna check those odds. 

Tomorrow, we head home. Its been a wild ride, and you can expect a lot of lists of the favorite things we have done, eaten, and various other wrap up type posts. Thanks for reading!

The Long Road to Denver

Today we started the long drive to Denver. We're still about 6 hours away and have stopped in some convenient hotel for the night. Yay for free hotel wifi!

While driving days are usually boring, I find them relaxing after cramming in as many sights as possible in all the cities. However, this one had a couple stressful moments.

Cruising down the I-80, just before we hit Des Moines, we ran in to some traffic. While not unusual by any means, the cop cars that sped past us tipped us off that something had happened. After crawling by in traffic, we come upon the accident. This was the worst wreckage I have ever seen in real life. The front of one van was all smashed in and it was stuck in the grassy median between the highways. This was nothing compared to the car, or rather what was left of a car, on the road. This was a blackened piece of metal that was barely recognizable that it was ever a car. The front was smashed in, the back end was completely gone, and it was charred to a crisp leading me to believe it caught fire or exploded after impact. Seeing something like that really makes you slow down and think about life.

Hours later, the sun has set and we're planning which city to stop in for the night when the sky starts to light up every few seconds. We're driving on the highway and in front of us on both sides of the road are major storms with lightning in the sky every 10 seconds are so. We continue are drive and enjoy the lights for a while and then the rain starts. We're driving towards the storms and the rain just gets worse and worse. I'm glad KT was behind the wheel, because I would have just called it a night during this storm. The rain was coming down in sheets and the lightening was the closest and most frequent I've ever seen. The Nebraska landscape was pitch black but the lightning was striking often enough that they might as well have been acting as street lights. After about 30 minutes of driving through this madness, we finally pass through the worst of it and can see the street again and the lightning slows to only 3-5 flashes per minute. WE MADE IT THROUGH!

And in lighter news, watch the video/song that inspired our URL. I'm sure most of you know the reference already, but since I have no pictures or sightseeing stories, I figured I'd post it.

The Windy City Blew us Away!

When we started the road trip, we decided to spend 3 nights in 2 cities: New Orleans and Chicago. Well New Orleans did not disappoint, and neither did Chi Town.  We had an absolute blast! On the 2nd day, we started it off with some great breakfast at Pancakes Eggsetera.  I got cinnamon raisin french toast and Kristal got banana nut pancakes which were vanilla and very sweet.  For only $7/each we got so much food and everything was delicious! Afterward, we hit up Michigan street, which is apparently where everything in downtown Chicago is.  We wanted to take a architecture boat tour, but they were all sold out for the day when we got there. We opted for a walking tour that showed the chronology of architecture in Chicago.  It went from a restaurant from the late 1800's (post the great fire) and ended with the Trump Tower that just went up last year.  Kristal also hit up the Art Institute to see the Impressionist and American exhibits, while I decided to go to the public library, which was huge and really cool looking from the outside.  It had a giant sculpture of an eyeball outside, which is apparently a huge photo-opp in the city.

After the afternoon activities, we met with one of Kristal's old high school friends and went to Giordano's for their famous stuffed pizza.  They say the small feeds one to two, but the 3 of us were barely able to finish it off. The pizza was stuffed with Canadian Bacon, Onions, and Mushrooms, and was reallllllly good.  After that, we went to the Bean, which apparently is one of Chicago's most famous landmarks. Its basically a giantic piece of reflective metal in the shape of a bean. Its was really cool to look up from the inside.  Lastly, we went to the John Hancock building to get drinks on the 96th floor and see the Chicago skyline. The drink lounge had a sub par view but Kristal got some photos of the view in the girls bathroom which Yelp correctly said was the best view in the room.

Today, we decided to go to one of the most famous places in all of the sports world: Wrigley Field. When we woke up, we found out that we would be seeing history, as Lou Pinella announced that he would retire after the game for family reasons.  Upon arrival, we decided on a whim to go to a sandwich place called Lucky's.  Upon arrival, we noticed that Man vs. Food was shot there, where the guy ate 3 double stuffed sandwiches. This might not sound like much, but consider that the sandwich has the meat, fries, tomatoes, and slaw, all stuffed into a 2 pieces of bread. It was artery clogging deliciousness.  The game was alot of fun, with a ton of scoring. Braves rookie sensation Jason Heyward did not disappoint, belting two home runs and led the Braves to a 16-5 win.  After the game, we went to the Ukrainian village, but there wasn't a whole lot to see outside of some cool homes and churches.  We decided to head home, and head to a place that never disappoints: Buffalo Wild Wings. I decided to up the spicy level and get Spicy Garlic, which was a big mistake! I'm definitely going to stick to Honey BBQ from now on.  After some trivia, we played our new favorite arcade game: Big Buck Hunter. I got a few game records in our 2nd round, and fell just short of my goal of tying or beating the bulls score of 41 (I got 39).

Well that's it for Chi Town. Tomorrow we head out to Denver, with a pit stop probably in Nebraska along the way.  Just 5 more days left on the trip!  Thanks for reading.

Homeward Bound

After no time at all, we are already over halfway through the trip and are starting the long journey back to LA. Craziness. In our last day at Philly, we went over to Old City to visit some more historical sites. We went to Betsy Ross's old house, and then to Christ Church. Inside, we sat in the same pews that George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Betsy Ross sat in. Pretty cool stuff.  From there, we headed over to Elfreth Alley, which is boasted as the oldest residential street in the US. It was pretty cute. After that, we grabbed one more lunch with our buddy Tina before we headed out to Cleveland!


The journey was supposed to be about 7 hours, but it took about 10 hours thanks to a trip through Amish country where we got stuck in 1 lane traffic behind a horse drawn buggy. Combine that with a ton of road work, and we were wiped by the end of the day. We were planning on hitting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but read some sub par reviews online, so we decided to skip it. Its a good thing we kept that money too because it went to good use thanks to all the tolls we had to pay. We ended up paying about 22 bucks in tolls again!!! Come on north east wtf guys!  We got to the Chi Town area around 4 or so, and after braving city traffic for an hour and a half, we arrived at our hotel.  We grabbed some food and hit up a couple bars, and called it a night.  We are planning on taking an architectural tour tomorrow before getting some authentic deep dish Chicago Pizza. Can't wait. Thanks for reading.

The Worlds of New York City

I just realized I never elaborated on Pop Tart World! We decided to spend our one full day in NYC at the brand new Pop Tart World! After a little trouble finding it, since none of the articles gave a specific address other than "Times Square", we saw the multicolored door full of Pop Tarts leading the way to the Pop Tart mecca.

Now, I'm a fan of Pop Tarts after growing up eating them for breakfast, but I'm no where near the fandom that was crying out for this world to exist. Was anyone really? Inside you can make a box of your favorite assorted flavors, customize a t-shirt, and enjoy a slew of Pop Tart infused junk food. KT and I were going to get a box to take home, but they didn't have any new or unusual flavors. It was all the flavors you could find in the store, you just could mix & match them in one box for your conveience. Well, at $1 per Pop Tart, we decided to skip it.

We did order from the Pop Tart bakery where they had a surprising big menu full of baked goods, ice cream sundaes, and somewhat real food with a Pop Tart twist to choose from. We both got a piece of Pop Tart Sushi, since that got the most press from the opening. It was definitely interesting. Consisting of mashed up raspberry Pop Tarts wrapped in a thin slice of Fruit Roll Up, it was sweet, but not as mushy in consistency as expected. At only $0.75 per piece, you gotta try it to get the full Pop Tart World experience. I also got the Mocha Fudge Brownie, which was like a normal Mocha Fudge Brownie, but with bits of Chocolate Fudge Pop Tart crumbled throughout. It was a rich and delicious brownie, but not nearly as Pop Tart infused as I was expecting. KT got a Smores Stick - 3 marshmellows dipped in chocolate with Smores Pop Tart crumpled on top. I'm not a marshmellow fan so I didn't try any, but KT seemed to enjoy it. This was maybe the first time I've ever seen him not finish a desert because it was too rich. So compliments to Pop Tart for using quality chocolate and good sugary marshmellows.

After Pop Tart World, my twitter friend recommended we check out Nintendo World. While Pop Tart World has been all over the press, I had never heard of Nintendo World even though it just opened in May. It was filled with Nintendo merch that if I had the money/space, I would have bought so much! Unforetunately, they also didn't have a lot of sizes since it was a Monday and I'm sure they had a busy weekend. KT bought a shirt for himself and I settled on just taking photos. We also got to play various games at all the stations and see some classic Nintendo products in their display cases. This was definitely an NYC highlight for me!

After all the worlds fun, we went to meet up with my high school friend Taryn to check out her neighborhood. We walked around Washington Heights and the neighboring park, but it soon started to rain so we caught the train back to Brooklyn to grab a delicious Indian dinner with KT's parents. Once again, ethnic food was soooooo good after the long streak of American food all the time throughout the South.

I've uploaded photos from the trip, so be sure to check out facebook to get a visual for all these great places. Stay tuned for more on Philly and now Chicago!

The City of Brotherly Love

Our last day in NYC was spent grabbing brunch, walking through the botanical gardens, and then braving the traffic. We learned from our mistake on the last drive and looked up toll free routes to Philadelphia. After a short drive of only 2 hours, we were in The City of Brotherly Love and ready to explore! We dropped off our stuff at Christina's and let her study/attend Med School things while we went to The Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin's Grave, the US Mint, and the Constitution Center.

I love how close everything is! We were able to walk to all those sites and still meet up with Christina for dinner - an amazing chicken/veggie pizza.from Top Tomato. Instead of hitting the hopping Tuesday nightlife, we decided to stay in and catch up with Christina and play with their bunny.

The next morning, today, we got an early start and went to City Hall, Love Park, Ben Franklin Parkway (the American Champs-Elysees), and the Philadelphia Art Museum. The Art Museum is supposedly one of the best in the nation, but at $18/each we didn't venture in. We saw the best attractions for free - the Rocky statue and the stairway made famous from the films. We took a couple flip cam videos of our ascent up the stairs, and believe me we will be posting that soon!

After the museum we headed back to grab some famous Philly Cheesesteaks with Christina at Rick's Steaks. DELICIOUS! I don't know yet if they were better than the South Philly Exp food truck in LA though. Maybe I'll have to go back for further testing.

After lunch we meant to check out Old City with it's historic structures and oldest continuously inhabited street, but ended up napping instead. The heat and all the walking caught up with us! We're planning on hitting Old City tomorrow before we head out for Cleveland.

After our nap, we got to meet up with another USC friend who lives just a few blocks away from Christina. While making dinner plans, we discovered that every Wednesday in summer it's Center City Sips - Happy Hour deals from a slew of bars on food and drinks. We ended up hitting up Moriarty's Irish Pub for dinner and drinks with Clark and Christina. USC reunion!

The Med Students then left us to study and continue towards their dreams of saving lives, while KT and I stayed in the area to drink and take advantage of the CCS deal. We finished the night in Irish Pub, sadly not Paddy's Irish Pub from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and then came back to catch up on blogging and save pictures to my laptop. Once we have a faster connection, we'll upload photos and those videos. Stay tuned!

Jellies, Sharks, and Sting Rays, Oh My!

Our last day in Baltimore was spent visiting the Aquarium and the Inner Harbor. We tried to go to the Aquarium on Saturday, but the crowd proved too much. Luckily, Sunday was much better because it was rainy and grey so it was practically deserted. The Baltimore Aquarium is one of KT's favorites and he'd been many times as a kid, and now I totally understand why! There's a large shark and sting ray pool in the center that the rest of the exhibits encircle it so you can see it from nearly any point inside. We had a lot of fun searching the exhibits for the hard to find animals - like the poison dart frogs that are about the size of a quarter. They also had a neat rain forest exhibit that was like stepping into Malaysia for a second. There were monkeys, spiders, and birds all around practically roaming free in the rain forest room. It even rained on us!

After the Aquarium we went on a quest for me to have my first crab cake. I just recently started eating sea food and discovered that crab is probably my favorite. So how perfect that we were in Crab Central Maryland! After searching around on yelp to no avail, we just went with Phillip's Seafood right on the Inner Harbor. There was a guy walking around in a crab costume for them and since we got our picture with him we got a free appetizer! We got a crab cake appetizer and I got the crab macaroni and cheese while KT got the shrimp scampi. Delicious all around and we had a great view of the water. I can see this place being incredibly busy during peak hours and sunny days.

After the harbor we had to head up north to The Big Apple. We relied on my iPhone to get us there and that was probably a costly mistake. The iPhone Google Maps app does not give you an option to avoid toll roads, or tell you when a toll is coming up. So, we start the drive and encounter our first toll - $5! Then we continue driving and there was another one, making it $9 just to get through Delaware. We wise up and start looking online for cheaper routes, but it's too late. We're pretty much stuck on the highway the rest of the way and by the end of the trip we had spent $22 just to drive from Baltimore to NYC. We're definitely going to try to find a different route for our drive to Philadelphia!

Once we got in to NYC it was a breeze, KT's parents found a place for us to park for our duration here. We're staying at their condo in Brooklyn which has a great view of the skyline, if only it weren't so cloudy and grey. We're spending today out in the downtown area with no set plan except to check out the new Pop Tart World. We'll be sure to give a full report on that attraction!

Good Morning Baltimore!

Last night we got into Baltimore around 7 just in time to join Kristal's friend Laura and her boyfriend Max for his Bday dinner at Chevy's. Afterwards we went to see Scott Pilgrim at this really cool Egyptian style theater. The walls were all painted as old stone and there were mini sphinxes all over the place.  The movie itself was really awesome. Anyone who has ever played a video game will appreciate a lot of the little things about this movie, and overall its a great mix of action and comedy. Definitely worth checking out.

This morning, we grabbed some lunch at Broadway Diner, which was on the food network.  I got a bruschetta burger, and Kristal got a pizza burger.  From there, we went to the Harbor to check out a fond childhood memory of mind: The Baltimore Aquarium. Unfortunately, upon arriving at 2ish we heard that we weren't going to be able to get in until 5 o clock! WTF!! We end up buying tickets for tomorrow morning, so we will be going tomorrow. We decided to check out the Observatory tower since it was only 5 bucks and we had a couple hours of parking to kill. It was pretty cool and it was interesting to see how close the Ravens and Orioles stadium are to each other. It was also cool because they showed how far a bunch of cities were from that point: including London, Sydney, Tokyo, etc.  After that, we grabbed some Ben and Jerry's before heading to the DC area to visit our college friend Jess.

We stopped by her apartment, then walked around her neighborhood for a bit, before getting a tour of NPR, where she recently got a job. It was cool to see the inside of it, and interesting to see how many shelves of free books they have there.  After our impromptu tour, we headed out to grab our first Asian cuisine of the trip so far, a place called Thai Tanic.  Kristal got her usual yellow curry, and got a chicken and broccoli style curry dish. Delish!! It was definitely a nice change of pace from all the American food we've had on this trip. After taking the train back to Baltimore, we took a quick driving tour of the Maryland Campus, where I was able to point out some of the buildings I remember, and the red M made of flowers. Its a really nice campus.

We are really tired right now. We haven't walked this much all trip lol. Tomorrow we head up to New York, where I'm going to see my parents while Kristal is excited to see her friend Taryn.  We've seen a lot of New York, but there are still a few places we are going to see, including Pop Tart World. We have also added a pit stop in Cleveland to our itinerary. It will break up what would have been a 12 and a half hour drive. We're excited! Thanks for reading.

And We're Halfway There

Charleston marked the halfway point of our journey! It was the transistion point between the South and the East. I loved Charleston, with its historical architecture, Southern hospitality, and Kiawah Island's beach and resort feel. I figure at the halfway point I'll list out my Top 5 Sites to summarize a bit for those that can't read through all our previous posts to catch up. This is just my list, KT has the same top 5, just in a different order of preference.

1. The French Quarter and the St. Louis Cemetery - I loved the architecture and the historic feel. This is one historic district that I felt was truly authentic and not just preserved like this for tourism. Comparatively, the Charleston historic district was all big name shops like BeBe and Starbucks in old buildings. New Orleans' French Quarter seemed like those shops could have been there for decades, just selling slightly different wares.

2. Graceland - I grew up listening to the King and to see his legacy was very interesting. We were there for Elvis Week so it was pretty busy and some of the guests had those tell-tale sideburns that they spent their days as Elvis impersonators. It was incredible that he bought Graceland when he was just 22 years old. It was a pretty big house and it must have been considered quite the mansion back in the 50s - 70s.

3. Dallas Cowboy Stadium - I'm not as big a football fan as KT, so I'm sure this is higher on his list. It is a massive stadium with the latest technology, making every other stadium I've been feel like it shouldn't be good enough for the team. The new JumboTron goes from one 20 yard line to the other and there's even a fountain on the 2nd floor that is like a mini Bellagio fountain show. Also, it was a lot of fun to try on the pads and helmets, just to get a sense of how huge these guys are that play.

4. JFK 6th Floor Museum - It was strange to be in the same spot that Lee Harvey Oswalt stood when he shot the president. The museum goes through the entire life and political career of JFK before it dives into his death and the conspiracy theories that surround it. It was a fascinating walk through history and I couldn't help but notice the similarities between JFK and our current President Obama. I just hope that history doesn't repeat itself in this case.

5. Mardi Gras World - Since I couldn't go to Mardi Gras itself, this was the next best thing. The decorations from years past are stored there and they also were making new floats as we walked through. I had no idea how big the floats were or how professionally decorated they all were. In addition to the float, we got to try on some costumes and learn more about the history of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. If you can't go to the real event, this is the closest you'll get to it.

Coming back to Charleston

Kristal and I left from Memphis bright an early on Wednesday to get ready for the 12 hour long haul to Charleston, SC, where I spent much of my youth.  We got in around 7 and saw my buddy Jason who has been a close family friend since I was 7 years old. It was great to catch up with him and find out how his family is doing.  After grabbing some dinner and watching Minute to Win It, we went to a bar on the marina called Salty Mikes.  We had a good time there; it was a nice location right on the lake front.

This morning we went to the Jason's parents place for brunch, and again it was great to catch up. I haven't seen them in about 6 or 7 years, so it was nice to share some stories with them. They will be family friends for life.  From there, I took Kristal down to Kiawah Island to show her my old house. She didn't seem too impressed with it lol. I then showed her the new hotel on the island called the Sanctuary.  It was reallllly nice with an awesome pool that had a pillar shooting waterfalls of water from each side. After enjoying some of the warm Atlantic Ocean water on the extremely smooth sand, we packed up and headed over to Porter Gaud to check out my the school I went to from 1st grade to 9th. Not much had changed outside of a new weight room and some movements in department locations. After driving around downtown for a bit, it was time to hit Mt. Pleasant to see my buddy John.

We got to his place and watched some of The Dark Knight. That movie never gets old. After catching up with his parents for a bit, we went to Poe's for some good burgers. It's called Poe's because Edgar Allen Poe spent some time in Charleston and was inspired to write "The Gold Bug." From there, we swung into downtown to see a few buddies of mine from school.  We came back to John's and caught most of the first episode of Hard Knocks. I had never seen the show before since I don't have HBO, but it was really entertaining and I'm gonna do my best to find the episodes somewhere.

Well this ends our journey of the South.  Now its time to head to the North East, where its only going to be 85 degrees everyday! Thanks for reading. 

Hunka Hunka Burning Love...For Elvis

Kristal and I got into Memphis about 7 o clock yesterday. We crashed in our friend's Sky's parents house, which is ridiculously nice. After eating quesadillas, we decided to just stay in for the night, enjoy the pool, and get ready for our big day tomorrow. Today was the kick off of the annual Elvis Week, and it started with a nice tiny reception in the Medical Hospital in Downtown Memphis. After grabbing some punch, cheese, and cake, we headed downtown for a quick view of things down there. We heard a lot about Beale Street, but were disappointed to see that it is for pedestrians only. We had pre-bought our Graceland tickets and didn't have time to stop in to check out it. But from our brief view, it looks like a good time. From there, we headed down to the famous Graceland Estate, where Elvis's mansion, planes, and cars are.

Kristal and I arrived and we headed straight to his mansion. In my opinion, it's still a pretty awesome house by today's standards, so it must have been something special back then. The house cost 100,000 dollars, and Elvis bought it at the ripe ole age of 22. Certainly makes me feel like I've done a lot in my time lol. The house was decorated quite interestingly. From the dark red kitchen, to the bright green carpeting and roof of his jungle room (that's right I said jungle room) everything was as flashy as Elvis was in real life. We got to see his basement, his pool room, his 8 billion gold and platinum records, and several of the jump suits that he wore on stage for several of his concerts. We also saw several outfits and scenes from his numerous movies. I had no idea that he had starred in so many films (31 in all!). I thought he only had small roles in like 3 or 4. After touring the house, we got to see his grave site, where he is buried next to his parents and grandmother - who oddly enough outlived them all! After the tour of the house, it was time to hit the rest of the grounds.

After grabbing some lunch, our first stop was the car museum. There, we saw just a small slice of Elvis's notoriously bright cars, the top one being his Pink Cadillac, which was his mother's favorite. We also saw a couple of his motorcycles, as well as the car that he drove into Graceland for the last time the day that he died. We then went into "Sincerely Elvis", which was a showcase of all his film work. There it showed brief summaries of several of his films, as well as some funny side stories, like Elvis giving a young co star a white Mustang for her to remember her first film. Kristal then grabbed some souvenirs from the gift shop before we made our final stop, Elvis's airplanes.

Private jets always make me jealous. They are just absurdly nice and compared to coach it is about as big a difference as you can imagine. The plane was full of couches, private bars, and TV's, and was finished by Elvis's own bedroom in the back of the aircraft. This plane was named the Lisa Marie in honor of his only daughter with Priscella. After that, we were given a brief look into his smaller private plane, and that was it for our time with Elvis! After coming home and napping, we went out with Sky's parents to Corky's BBQ, where Kristal and I both got pork sandwiches with fries. Delishhhh. Tonight we are resting up and getting ready for the long haul to Charleston. We both wish we could spend some more time here, but the show must go on, and I'm really excited to see some old friends and familiar places in Charleston. Thanks for reading.

Just for fun - Sky's dog Jack!

Why is Everything Closed in Nashville!!!

So today we went into Nashville to check out the Grand Ole Opry house, but upon arrival, we found out that the whole estate is closed down until October due to the massive flooding they received in May. After checking out some brochures in the Radison, we decided to go to a banjo factory to see how those joyful instruments are made. The best part is, it was right next door! But of course, it too was also closed temporarily because of the floods. Lame!!!

So we decide to go to 21st street as recommended by a friend of ours. It was a pretty cool area, but sadly, only about a couple of blocks long. From there, we head over to Vanderbilt to check out their school. After going through the massive medical school on campus, we got hungry and decided to head to downtown to get Jack's BBQ. Finally, we found a few things that were open! We ended up getting identical meals of pork shoulder sandwiches and mac and cheese.   They were pretty solid but we have had better BBQ on the trip so far. Here's hoping Memphis lives up to its name and tops all of that.

From there, Kristal and I hit up a famous record store, and take a peek inside the Ryman Auditorium, where Johnny Cash and June Carter once played. We decided to not pay the 17 bucks to take a tour, and we were on our way back to Bowling Green. So in case you couldn't tell, don't come to Nashville on a Sunday!!

After that, we had some down time before our bro joined us for Buffalo Wild Wings. There we got some honey bbq boneless wings, a chicken parmesan flat bread pizza, and then some sweet bbq wings. Delish. We also played some good ole trivia. I dominated the sports IQ section, and then Kristal and Colin split two "Wild Trivia" games. 

After dinner, my bro showed me an interesting documentary about competitive donkey kong playing, called  The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.  For anyone who remotely loves video games, I would highly recommend it.   Next up, we checked out Kick Ass on Blu Ray. So epiccccc! Love hit girl.  And now we are watching Eurotrip. Its TBS edited, but still freakin awesome. And that brings an end to our time in Bowling Green. Tomorrow we head down to Memphis for Elvis Week!!! We are pretty stoked. Stay tuned. Thanks for reading.

Stepping into the Past

For anyone who says America doesn’t have history the way Europe does, I recommend they come to New Orleans. I have been to a few cities on the East, but none of them felt like they had preserved their history as well as New Orleans, especially the French Quarter. I can’t imagine how amazing this city was before Katrina hit, because I was already impressed as is.

We started our last full day in “Nawlins” at Café Du Monde – famous for their Biegnets (fried dough covered in powdered sugar) and coffee. It was packed! I can’t imagine the line/wait on a Saturday when everyone comes out for brunch. The beignets were delicious, but very very messy! I’m glad KT warned me not to wear black, otherwise I would have looked even worse.

Once we cleaned ourselves off a bit, we did a walking tour that was in my Lonely Planet: USA & Canada on a Shoestring book. We walked around the French Quarter learning about the history and trying to survive the humidity. After walking by the old house of William Faulkner, the oldest surviving French Colonial Building, Ursaline Covenant, and more, we headed to the St. Louis Cemetary.

Because the watertable is so high in New Orleans, bodies don’t stay buried for long. Early settlers realized this after a few storms starting making the bodies resurface. So, they started making above ground cemetaries with vaults & masoleums. The only other cemetery I’ve been in like this was in France and architecturally they are very similar. A huge difference to me though was the skyline in the back. In Europe, it was like stepping into the past, but here it was nice to see the juxtaposition of the old and new.

After the cemetery it was too hot to keep sightseeing, so we just went back to Kenny’s place and played Mario Kart until the gang was ready to hit Bourbon Street for our last hurrah. Of course, just as we step outside a huge thunder/lightning storm starts. We waited it out and luckily it was all over after about 30 minutes. I’m so not used to rain like that! It came out of nowhere and just started pouring!

Bourbon St. was crazy and so much fun. It’s just bars and clubs for blocks down this one street. It was pretty busy, but definitely wasn’t packed since it’s the off season and it had just rained. I can only imagine how insane it gets during Mardi Gras and Spring Break.

After we got some drinks, including a Hand Grenade, we headed over to Frenchmen, which is a less touristy version of Bourbon. This street was even busier! I guess since there aren’t many tourists out now, it would make sense that the local bar area would be more lively. We wandered around there and eventually headed back. Overall, it was a great night and definitely a highlight of the trip.

New Orleans is so far my favorite city we’ve been to, but we have so much left it’ll be hard to stay at the top. The French Quarter was beautiful and quaint. While it’s a tourist attraction, it never felt like it was maintained for that purpose. I think I would have loved NOLA even more if it weren’t for that darn humidity! We usually could only hand a few hours of sightseeing before we had to head back to take a cold shower and bask in some air conditioning.

Today consisted of a 9 hour drive from NOLA to Bowling Green, Kentucky. We passed through Mississppi (where I was born!), Alabama, and Tennessee. That's 5 states in one day! We’re visiting KT’s brother for a couple days before we head over to Elvis Week in Memphis, TN. Apparently, there are usually around 100,000 people there for the event! It’s going to be madness, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Visiting Old Memories

Today was one of the few days on this trip where I will be reminiscing about the old days.  Today I took Kristal back to my old neighborhood where I showed her my old house and then we walked over to my high school.  It was great to see how the school had changed but for the most part to see how the school had stayed the same. A lot of the faculty had much turnover after Katrina, but it was great to see the librian that I knew, good ole Mr. Prescott, and share a few minutes with him to catch up on old times.  I showed Kristal all around the school, including the state trophies that I had a hand in winning in Tennis my Sophomore-Senior years. 

After that, we tried to head over to a great po-boy place called Domilise's, but it just so happens that it is closed this week while the owners are on vacation. Lame! So we ended up going to Popeyes because I wanted to make sure that Kristal could see how big a difference there was between New Orleans Popeyes and Los Angeles Popeyes.  We got some good old fried chicken, and oh my god the biscuits were even better then I remember. I think we might go back and grab some for the next part of the journey.  

After that, we went over to the Convention Center to go see Mardi Gras World. This is a warehouse where they build all of the floats that are going to be in the Parades comeMardi Gras. We got tons of pictures of all kinds of floats and decorations. From King Kong to Drew Brees to Pikachu. You name it: this place probably makes it or something close to it.  Its really an awesome place and a must see for anyone who comes to New Orleans and can't make it for Mardi Gras season.

We came back and chilled at Kenny's place for awhile, enjoying the awesome AC.  We got dinner at a popular local place, where I got a shrimp po-boy and Kristal got a BBQ beef po-boy.  It took her almost 5 minutes before she was able to bite into the actual sandwich, as she had to eat all of the stuff that fell out of it and find a way to wrap the sandwich up so that it didn't slip out of her hands. After that, we went to a local bar for trivia, where the categories included 80's TV, Revenge of the Nerds, Candy, and Horror Movies. We didn't fare too well but it was fun overall. After some Mario Kart, we finished up the night.

I'm pretty excited for tomorrow. I'm taking Kristal down to the French Quarter where we will grab lunch and the famous beignets at Cafe Du Monde.  After that, we plan on hitting up Bourbon street with Kenny and Katie as our last hoorah to the city of New Orleans. Thanks for reading.

We're in the NOLA, Baby!

Today was another long driving day. We left Austin bright and early at 8am and then headed to New Orleans as fast as possible to ensure we got a taste of the nightlife tonight. The drive was uneventful, full of green pastures, waterways, and even some marshes. We finally succumbed to fast food and got Chick-Fil-A for lunch, partly because it's delicious, but mainly because we didn't want to waste any time at a sitdown place and searching around on Yelp.

After just under 9 hours, we drove to the outskirts of New Orleans and found KT's friend's place. While Kenny was still at work, we decided to kill an hour at the nearby Race Track. The first thing I noticed once we left the car was the wall of humidity that hit. This is going to be a constant annoyance, but I'm sure it'll be worth trekking out anyway to see all the sites.

KT lost $4 while I wandered around the floor. It was a new experience to be in such a large crowd and have KT be one of only 4 white people; I didn't realize how large the black population was around New Orleans until now.

Soon after losing his money, KT got a call from Kenny saying he was back and we were ready to set up shop for the next 3 nights at his place. We headed out to dinner with Kenny, his girlfriend Katie, and a couple more of KT's friend's from high school. We ate at a local favorite restaurant with $3 beer served in goblets and lots of New Orleans/Italian food. I don't know if I'm going to enjoy most of New Orleans food since it all includes sausage, shrimp, or crawfish. But, I'll try some Gumbo and Po'Boys and see what works!

After dinner we went to a bar walking distance from their house. You had to buzz to get in to this place because of a drunk stabbing a year or so back. Also, this bar was founded by the son of the director of the movie "Ray." It had a great atmosphere and a popular mens' restroom thanks to all the vintage playboys lining the wall. 

Tomorrow we're going to visit Tulane, see the Mardi Gras floats at Mardi Gras World, and see KT's high school and old house. Check for an update tomorrow!

Sleeping Near the Enemy

Everyone knows that I'm a Trojan through and through, and everyone also knows that football is basically my life in the fall. So it pained me in a way to visit the campus of UT Austin. And it also pains me to say that it is a pretty cool campus.  I was very impressed that the football stadium is literally in the heart of the campus.  With most colleges, you are lucky if they are the walking distance that the Coliseum is, and if you suck, you stadium is a good 30 minute drive away. (Yes I'm looking at you, Bruins.) The main tower also looked quite impressive, though it was 5 bucks to take it to the top to visit the site of one of the worst shootings in US history.   We also stopped by the communications building and the graduate studies building, and overall, Kristal and I both agree that it is quite a nice campus. An unexpected highlight was the turtle pool filled with at least 25 turtles of all sizes and ages.

We also decided to swing by the state capitol building, where the tall dome is a fixture of the downtown Austin skyline.  The inside is rather impressive, but not much different then the inside of the LA supreme courthouse. It was cool to see the pictures of the former governors, except for the certain governor that was in power in the last 1990's.  Overall, it was a cool bit of architecture, and something that was interesting to bear witness to.

Tonight, we were lazy and just walked to a close sports bar. We got some pretty good food. Kristal got a chicken club and I got a blackened chicken sandwich.  After that, we played Big Buck Hunter, a game that was originally introduced to us by my cousin Shannon. We unintentionally played about 6-8 games on the night, and I won all of them for the most part. Though Kristal gave me a good sweat on the last one. 

Tomorrow we are hitting up one of our most anticipated spots, my old home New Orleans.  I'm  excited to see my old stomping grounds, and to give Kristal a taste of real Cajun food. And to show her that famous party street. Thanks for reading guys.

Some Texas Hospitality

Our only full day in Dallas was spent visiting the 6th Floor Museum and experiencing some true Texan hospitality. The 6th floor museum is on the 6th floor of the building where Lee Harvey Oswald was when he shot JFK during his visit to Dallas in 1963. The museum was extremely well laid out, as it told a complete story, starting with JFK's campaign, and going through the assassination and onto the controversy and aftermath of the event. They also played videos throughout the floor that set up very well with building suspense and made it seem like a movie in itself. It was very eerie to see the window that Oswald was looking out, and to see his perspective of one of America's greatest tragedies. I would highly recommend the museum for anyone in Dallas who is even close to a history buff. Kristal and I both learned a lot of new things, the main one being that JFK made the Peace Corps. Neither one of us knew that. Overall, a great experience and the highlight of my early trip so far. Well until the next day.

The day was capped with a true family BBQ at Shayna's house. Filled to the brim with family and friends, we had some great home-cooked BBQ chicken, corn, and lots of desserts. While in the historic West End of Dallas, we found a great cookie shop and bought a dozen to contribute to the event. 

After leaving Dallas, Kristal and I stopped by the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington, and from the outside, it looked like the biggest stadium I have seen. And the inside didn't disappoint. After walking through the pro shop, we were able to walk into the stadium, where we got our first look at the one of a kind ridiculously huge jumbo tron. It extends from one 20 yard line all the way to the other, covering an absurd 80 yards. My favorite part of it were the regular sized jumbo trons that were on both endzone sides. While its designed for the endzone crowd to see the replays, I'm sure Jerry Jones wanted to show how large his new screen was in comparison.

After taking some photos, we went into the Cowboys locker room, where they let you try on the jersey, pads, and helmets of Tony Romo, Miles Austin, and Demarcus Ware. I was surprised to see that I actually fit pretty easily into Ware's pads, meaning we are similar size. Sadly, he is just a bit more athletic then me. After that, we went into the press room, followed by the Cowboy's cheerleader locker room. We decided to hang out on the field again after that, and even timed our runs of the 40 yard dash. Professional Football players speeds vary from 4.2 seconds for the top players and 5.2 for the heavy set offensive linemen. We ran it in....around 7 seconds. Yeah, I don't foresee a professional football career in either of our futures.

After that, our tour was done, which was unfortunate cause I wanted to check out the fountain show that was on the 2nd floor. Overall, it truly is a one of a kind stadium, and one that I'm sure several stadiums will be modeled from down the line.

Lastly, we hit Austin this afternoon and immediately crashed for a couple hours. After that, we drove into downtown to the Congress Bridge, where at around 9 PM, a huge colony of bats is said to fly out at night. I was hoping for a huge cloud of them to come out all at once, but it ended up mainly being about 5-10 of them at a time. A little disappointing, but overall it was pretty cool. After that, we walked down to 6th street in the heart of downtown. It was fairly low key considering its a Monday in summer, but I can definitely see how it would be a great place to be on a Friday or Saturday night. We ended up at Darwin's pub, where we grabbed some Shwarmas and free soda, and played a few games of trivia. I ended up winning on the night, cause I'm totally smarter. (Kristal: Although, I placed 25th in the entire nation in one round, but whatever. no big) And that was it for our first night in Austin! Thanks for reading.

Completing the Dreaded Drive

Yesterday we finished the 2nd of two straight 8+ hour driving days, and we are very happy to be done with it. We knew that this was the dreaded part of the trip, so it was nice when we pulled into Plano and finally got to Shanya's, Kristal's friend, family home.

The drive from Van Horn to Plano was pretty standard. We stopped in Odessa to grab lunch at Rosa's Cafe and Tortilla Factory. Yelped raved about their tortillas, and I must say that while the food was solid, the tortillas were the highlight. Other then that, the drive was full of podcasts and desert viewings, all while once again taking it easy with Cruise Control doing most of the work.

Once we got into Plano, we went to a burger joint called Scotty P's, where I got a mushroom burger that was quite good while Kristal opted for a simple Grilled Cheese sandwich. So far the food on this trip has been fantastic we have yet to have a sub par meal which hopefully will continue throughout the trip. From there, we went to a bowling alley that Shanya's dad owns. I think this is the first alley I've ever seen that was open 24 hours a day. Kristal bowled well in both rounds, winning the 2nd after getting 2nd in the 1st. I also reached my standard goal of 100 in every bowling game, getting 108 in the first round and 106 in the 2nd. After that, we enjoyed some good old fashioned Texas karaoke that included me singing "Don't Stop Believing" and a rather disturbing almost TMI version of Usher's "Nice and Slow." But the highlight was a rather graphic interpretation of Rocky Horror Picture Show's "Sweet Transvestite" where everyone in our group got in the act. Truly a site to behold.

Well that's it for me. Stay tuned as we will recap a great visit to the 6th floor museum which chronicles JFK's time as president, and goes into detailed description of his assassination and the aftermath. Thanks for reading!

Cruisin’ the USA

Today we discovered the beauty that is Cruise Control. Having only really driven in LA, I never had chance to use it and never saw the point. But now that we’ve had nothing but flat, expansive road with little traffic ahead, we’ve cruised down the highway most of the way.

We drove over 500 miles in 9 hours. We grabbed breakfast in Phoenix, picked up some essentials from Target, and then we were off and running! We bee-lined to El Paso, TX. We hadn’t planned on stopping there, but KT applied to a job there earlier, so we decided to stop in to see if he could talk to the News Director to give him a leg up over the competition. After stopping in at the station, we grabbed dinner at CRAVE Kitchen. I got a burger with brie and chipotle aioli with a side of sweet potato fries. The burger was great, but the fries were the item to beat. They came with a dipping sauce that was close to the icing you get on a cinnamon roll. While probably terribly fattening, it was fantastic!

In other news, the drive was surprising eventful. Throughout New Mexico, there were dust storm warnings and we could even see one right off the side of the road. There was thunder and lightning with sudden downpours all in nearly 100 degree heat.

While driving I noticed a distinct change in the billboards between the states. While Los Angeles has billboards for movies, concerts, and various other entertainment promotions, Arizona had a lot for the military and how All State Insurance protects you from MAYHEM. New Mexico had a fair amount for reporting drunk drivers, which makes me wonder if it’s a big problem there. I haven’t been in Texas long enough to notice a trend here yet, but I’ll be keeping an eye out.

We’re currently holed up in a cheap hotel in Van Horn, TX to catch some Z’s and then drive the other 9 hours to Dallas. So excited to check out Dallas and to see some old friends!

It's Too Darn Hot!

Phoenix is proving too hot for me to handle! We got up early to try to beat the heat, but it just could not be avoided. We stopped for breakfast at Over Easy, a breakfast joint that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Drives on the Food Network. I had the best French Toast of my life - caramelized banana and pecan on brioche. Ah-maze-ing! KT had a pretty solid omelet as well. If you're ever in Phoenix or Scottsdale, I recommend stopping in.

After breakfast, we headed to the Desert Botanical Gardens. While it was a bunch of different cacti, as you would expect, it was cooler than I thought it would be. I had no idea there were so many types of cactus! We also go to see some desert wildlife like different little lizards, round tail squirrels, and mourning doves. We thought about spending our day at Castles & Coasters, or salt water tubing, but the heat proved too much and we ended up spending the hottest part of the day in our hotel room applying for jobs and networking online.

As the sun was setting we headed out to Rawhide - an old west "town" for dinner and a show. It got pretty mixed reviews overall on yelp, but the food was consistently rated highly so we figured why not. Worst case, we'd get good food and a laugh out of it. Well, we were right about that. The food was great - filet mignon steak with potatoes and fruit and the strongest $6 margaritas I've ever had. As for the show part.....if I were 5 I would have loved it! A gun fight filled with bad acting and only one real stunt where you could see the mat, killing the illusion of it. Oh well, the town was cute and straight out of that South Park episode about the old west actors who wouldn't break character.

After the show, instead of sticking around for Act 2 we headed to the nearby casino. When traveling with KT, you can count on some gambling happening. Since there were no roulette tables, we stuck to $5 minimum Black Jack. Luck was on our side tonight since we both ended up leaving with more money than when we came in! We should probably stop while we're ahead.

Tomorrow we leave Phoenix and no longer have any booked rooms or truly set plans. Our next major city is Dallas, where we'll be staying with one of my friends from Mystic Yankee (Girl Scouts 4 Life!). However, to get there we need to drive through 22 hours worth of desert. We'll be stopping somewhere to crash for the night, but have noooo idea what city or even what state that will be in. Wish us luck!

First day in Phoenix

So Kristal and I left the house at 10:15 this morning and after stopping by USC we were saying goodbye to downtown LA at around 11 am. We stopped by Cici's pizza in Chino Hills for lunch, and it was delicious as usual. There wasn't much to look at on the drive over. There was a weird elephant on a random hillside, and a pretty expansive and cool wind farm. Other then that, it was mostly mountains and deserts as far as the eye could see.

After a couple rest stops, we finally pulled into Phoenix, and after hitting our first round of traffic just outside the city, we pull into our hotel around 6. After a half hour of relaxing, we were all set to go to Rawhide Steakhouse and Old West Town until I was a genius and called ahead for a reservation. Turns out its only open on Thursday through Saturday, so good thing I call. We are going to swing by it tomorrow, and based on the ad in the hotel, it looks an awful lot like the western town in that South Park episode where they get taken hostage.

So instead of that we decided to go to a really good pizza place where Oprah apparently flies into Arizona just to eat there! But it was over a 90 minute wait so we decided to defer for a highly rated Mexican place. On the way out, we saw Chase field, home of the Diamondbacks, the ASU downtown campus, and I got splintered by a deceptive cactus.

We ended up eating at a nice Mexican place called Gallo Blanco Cafe. We both got margaritas, and for food I got a carne asada burrito while Kristal got a pork Torta. Unfortunately for me, Kristal got the better dish, so the count is 1-0 in her favor right now. After that, we swung by Downtown Scottsdale, but not much was going on, so we called it an early night.

Tomorrow we have plans all day, including trying out a Food Network recommended breakfast joint, the botanical gardens, and hopefully actually going to the Rawhide Steakhouse/Town we know will be cheesy goodness. Check back for a full update on that!

And we're off!

The car is packed, the tank is full, and I've got my mushroom buddy from Comic-Con! We're off to Phoenix and ready for an adventure! Stay tuned...

Help Us Pay For Gas!

Are you in the LA Area? Like watching movies in the comfort of your own home? We're selling a chunk of our DVD collection to help pay for gas on the long journey! All DVDs range from $5 - $10 each. Check out the full list below.

DVD WITH ORIGINAL CASE/PACKAGING
The Adventures of Pete & Pete Season 1
The Adventures of Pete & Pete Season 2
American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition)
Apocalypse Now (Complete Dossier Edition)
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (25th Anniversary Edition)
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Benny & Joon
Beyond Sherwood Forest
Borat
Bride Wars
Bruce Almighty
Cold Mountain (Collector’s 2-Disc Edition)
Death Race (Unrated)
Drillbit Taylor
Eagle Eye
Everything is Illuminated
Failure to Launch (Special Collector’s Edition)
Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
Fanboys
Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Finding Neverland
Freddy Got Fingered
Glory Road
The House Bunny
Jarhead
Little Miss Sunshine
Live Free or Die Hard (Unrated)
Match Point (never opened)
Napoleon Dynamite (never opened)
National Treasure
Peter Pan
Reno 911!: Miami The Movie (Unrated)
RV
Saw III
Saw IV (Unrated Director’s Cut)
Semi-Pro
The Spirit (Special Edition)
War of the Worlds (never opened)
Watchmen
The Waterboy

DISC ONLY
2 Fast 2 Furious
All Dogs Go To Heaven 2
Clockwork Orange
Honeymoon in Las Vegas
Master and Commander
Mr. Mom
Napoleon Dynamite
The Prince & Me
The Rookie
Smallville (Pilot Episode)

Let me know in the comments if you're interested in any!

What Up Readers

Hey guys, this is Kristal's better half KT. For those of you who don't know me, I just graduated with Kristal from USC in 2009. I majored in broadcast journalism, and I'm currently looking to be a sports anchor or reporter. I'm applying all around the country, and I'm hoping to hear back from someone soon so I can start working right after our road trip.

I'm very excited about the trip. It will be a great combination of visiting some of my old homes and some new cities that I've always wanted to visit. Chicago, Phoenix, and Philly are at the top of my new cities to see, and it will be great to go back to New Orleans and Charleston to see how the cities have changed and hopefully to see some familiar faces again.

Kristal and I would like to thank everyone who will be following our progress. We have been excited for this for a long time and we cannot wait to take all of you along with us here, at AmericaEffYeah. Thanks again guys, and FIGHT ON!

The Planning Begins!

With Comic-Con only 8 days away, that means we're running out of time to plan! So far, this is what we know:

Leaving Los Angeles early July 28 (after Comic-Con) for Phoenix, AZ. Coming back to Los Angeles August 27.

We have a list of cities we want to hit but aren't going to limit how much time we spend in each one, so some cities may fall to the wayside.

Phoenix, AZ
Dallas/Austin, TX
Houston, TX
New Orleans, LA
Memphis, TN (during Elvis Week in early August)
Atlanta, GA
Charleston, SC
Washington, DC
Philadelphia, PA
New York City, NY
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO

We'll be blogging the whole thing, so be sure to check back her for updates!

Who are "we"? I'm Kristal - recently unemployed and taking the time to figure out what my next career move will be. I've traveled to Europe and studied abroad in Asia, but found my exposure to my own country to be lacking. Now, in one month I plan to see as much of it as possible to make up for it. I bought a new car (2009 Toyota Yaris, yet to be named) and figured what better time than now to break it in?

The other part of this duo is my boyfriend Kevin (aka KT). A recent graduate from USC, he's been applying for sports broadcast jobs around the country and is eagerly waiting to hear back. From the South, he'll be taking the lead for many of these cities. But, I'll let him introduce himself later since we both can update here from our blogger accounts.

From these cities? We'd love to hear your suggestions on what to do, see, and where to eat! And if you've got a couch we can crash on that's even better.