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!
To celebrate our mutual unemployment, we're traveling around the good ole U.S. of A and documenting the whole thing! We've got our phones, a laptop, and a flip cam. Get ready for the adventure!
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Friday, August 27, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, August 20, 2010
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 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.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
We're in the NOLA, Baby!
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!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
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!
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!
Friday, July 30, 2010
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!
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!
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