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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.