YellowMore 2010... it's official

So here is the current run down, we are already booked in 3 cities.

Tues 6/29 Tampa to Minneapolis, MN - Stone Arch Bridge, Twins v. Tigers
Wed. 6/30 Minneapolis, MN Twins v. Tigers, Mall of America
Thur 7/1 to Fargo, ND - to do Fargo stuff
Fri 7/2 to Iowa, Nebraska, Oacoma, SD - travel day, stop in Sioux City, IA, and Nebraska to cross them off the list
Sat 7/3 Mount Rushmore NP - fireworks
Sun 7/4 to Badlands NP, and Black Hills
Mon 7/5 to Billings, MT
Tue 7/6 to Yellowstone NP
Wed 7/7 to Grand Teton NO
Thur 7/8 to Twin Falls, ID
Fri 7/9 to Boise, ID
7/10 fly home to Tampa.

Yellowmore 2010!!!

OK, so her's the tentative line up for next summers epic road trip!
6/29 - fly to Minneapolis, MN Tigers vs Twins
6/30 Tigers vs Twins
7/1 Mall of America, Bloomington, MN, drive to Souix Falls, SD
7/2 Drive to Keystone, SD, Badlands, Mount Rushmore
&/3 Black Hills, SD, Mount Rushmore
7/4 Devils Tower Natl Monument, WY, Little Big Horn, Custer's Last Stand, Crow Agency, MT Con't to Billings, MT
7/5 Yellowstone Natl Park
7/6 Grand Teton Natl Park
7/7 Drive to Twin Falls, ID... see falls
7/8 Drive to Boise, ID
7/9 Fly back to Tampa.

This is tentative of course, we are looking at an extra day between Yellowstone and Grand Tetons because we really want to see those places. Also, a quick jaunt through ND is somewhere in there, so we can say one day that we have been to all 50 states, and when are we ever going to go to North Dakota? Uh... Never. :)

Cruise Pictures

Cozumel, Mexico and Grand Cayman... Sept. 12 - 17th, 2009

I know I know it's been a long time...

Ok so possible trips in planning are...
1 Nashville - Nov 21st the Red Wings are playing, and I go to a Wings game every year and the damn Lightning aren't playing them this year. Well, this particular game falls on the Monday of Thanksgiving break, so I think CJ and I may drive up, stop in Atlanta, and enjoy a little mini-vacay! I think there is a football game he may want to go to as well. I don't know.

2 Philly - Winter break. Lynne, Dakota and I drive to Philly/New Jersey so D can see his dad who works all day and ignores him... anyway we would go do all the fun historic and art museum things suring the day and he could see his dad at night while we do other stuff... vaugue huh? I'm just thinking NYC. I've never been, oddly enough, but then again, I've never been to Atlanta.

3 Grand Canyon & Yellowstone - Summer 2010... the Nana wants to take a road trip. I am all good as long as she doesn't try to drive. Scary, however that is a lot of driving for me, so maybe Ryan would want to go to. She's really not sure where she wants to go, but she did mention the Grand Canyon and I want to do that as well and If we go the route to Yellowstone we can stop in Pueblo and see the Aunt and Uncle on the way and then loop around and hit Grand Canyon on the way back. It will be super hot though... I know this because I drove a lot of that area this past summer.

So anyway this is what I am contemplating at the moment. Need to find me a sugar daddy to pay for all my craziness. Still would like to head up north to see stacey and sean, but at this point it's a we'll have to wait and see kind of a thing.

Also... cruise pictures will be posted soon. actually, I may be able to post my movie. hmmm.

Trip in Reflection ...

What an amazing experience. I have to say that everything worked out in the end. We had so much fun, and saw so many new things. Here is the short list of the best of the best.

Best View ... Bryce Canyon, Utah
Most Scenic Drive - Route 1, California Coast
Most Boring Drive - I70 Kansas
Craziest Road - Lombard Street, San Francisco, CA
Best Party ... New Orleans
Best Bar ... Falling Rock Tap House - Denver, Little Woodrows - Houston
Best Meal ... Spotted Dog Cafe - Zion, Utah, Yardhouse - San Diego, CA
Funniest Purchase ... Bullhorns, Busts, Kimonos
Best Hotel ... The Cheshire Inn, St. Louis
Best Hike ... San Dune Arch, Arches National Park, Utah
Biggest Trees ... Muir Woods, California
Best Baseball Game ... L.A. Dodgers
Best Baseball Stadium ... San Francisco Giants
Best Shopping ... Chinatown, San Francisco, CA
Most Odd Stop ... Prairie Dog Town, Oakley, Kansas
Hottest Known Temperature ... 105, Nevada
Coldest known Temperature ... 42, I can't remember which park in the mountains, Yosemite maybe
Highest Elevation ... 10,000 ft - Bryce Canyon,Utah
Biggest Laugh ... Hacky Sack Panda - the car, Kimono Fighting - San Francisco Hotel
Biggest Blunder ... Falling on my ass in Los Angeles on the Sunset Strip, Wearing and the losing Rx sunglasses in the Pacific Ocean, San Diego
Friendliest People ... Everywhere!
New foods I tried ... Buffalo, In & Burger, Craw fish, Steak and Shake Chili, Red Robbin
Foods I haven't had in a very long time ... Kielbasa, beef, milkshake
Best Purchase for Trip ... National Park Pass, New Sneakers
Most Entertaining Car Game ... Person, Place or Thing, Who's Driving That Car?
Best Decision ... Stop in Tuscon to get some sleep
Best Random story by Stranger - Coconuts
Celebrity Sighting - Hed PE in the next room over at the Safari Inn, Los Angeles, CA
Biggest Disappointment - Not getting in to the Conan Show
Biggest Regret - Not doing this before.

This was the coolest thing I've done. Greg and C.J. are the best buddies a girl can have. I got to take part in something that will change my life forever and I will never forget the things we saw, place we went and adventures we had. Even better; I only gained 5 lbs back. I think that's pretty good considering I ate and drank myself silly.

Heading Home

Bourbon St. Was just as fun as last time. Ate a lot, drank a lot, got hit on by 70 year old guys. Lol. C.J. tried to buy a squirrel. Our fave bartender Victoria wasn't working. :( the same band was playing: I only remember this because I thought the singer/guitar player was super hot. Lol. On the way home now. Back to reality. :(

Memphis

Walking in Memphis with my Blue Suede Shoes! We drove in and headed to the Loraine Hotel, which as you may know is now the Civil Rights Museum. Of course it was closed on Tuesdays but we took pictures anyway. We then made our way to Graceland. Again we just took pics from the outside because tickets were 28$ seriously there are so many people making money off of a dead mans house. Everything was named/themed after him. We checked into our hotel stopped by Pei Wei so I could eat then we headed to Beale St. It was like a mini-Bourbon St. Lots of good music everywhere, lots of homeless people too. We went to rendezvous for bbq because it was on man vs food. The guys said it was awesome. Then we wandered in and out of shops with out "big ass beers". 5$ for a giant woodchuck. Never heard of back home. Maybe I can find that tonight on Bourbon. This is the last day of the trip. Tomorrow we head back home to reality. :( I have to get a job for the rest of the summer, but I may have some out of town company and I may head to colorado for a bit and then september; cruise 09!

The Cheshire Inn ...

This was the coolest hotel we've stayed in by far! It was in an odd location in St. Louis. It is an Old English lodge. I can't wait to show off the pictures. They had a tavern with cider. Wow yea we we're drunk. So the bartender told us that they have been filming a George Clooney movie there. It was supposed to be Wisconsin chalet. They used fake snow and painted the walls pink. The movie is called up in the air. Needless to say, CJ and I went on a treasure hunt looking for movie props. I will just say this ... Score! The desk clerk was odd. He told us a strange story about coconuts in his trunk. We saw the last of the ball games last night Cards lost to San Fran 10-0. Booo. So much for rooting for the home team. We also went up to the top of the St. Louis Arch and wandered the park during the day. Today we head to Memphis home of Elvis and BBQ. None of us have ever been there, so we're pretty excited. We just had to make a pit stop because I'm on my last pair of clean panties and I have no clothes that actually match, nor does CJ. We are all good now after our encounter with Loretta and Tiara. This place was crazy. We actually set the whore (gps) to take us to wal-mart and it was closed to a Big K. That's probably the only time I've ever seen a Kmart take over a walmart. On to the land of peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

The Cheshire Inn ...

This was the coolest hotel we've stayed in by far! It was in an odd location in St. Louis. It is an Old English lodge. I can't wait to show off the pictures. They had a tavern with cider. Wow yea we we're drunk. So the bartender told us that they have been filming a George Clooney movie there. It was supposed to be Wisconsin chalet. They used fake snow and painted the walls pink. The movie is called up in the air. Needless to say, C.J. and I went on a treasure hunt looking for movie props. I will just say this ... Score! The desk clerk was odd. He told us a strange story about coconuts in his trunk. We saw the last of the ball games last night Cards lost to San Fran 10-0. Booo. So much for rooting for the home team. We also went up to the top of the St. Louis Arch and wandered the park during the day. Today we head to Memphis home of Elvis and BBQ. None of us have ever been there, so we're pretty excited. We just had to make a pit stop because I'm on my last pair of clean panties and I have no clothes that actually match, nor does C.J. We are all good now after our encounter with Loretta and Tiara. This place was crazy. We actually set the whore (gps) to take us to Wal-mart and it was closed to a Big K. That's probably the only time I've ever seen a Kmart take over a Wal-mart. On to the land of peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Kansas con't

So Kansas ... A lot of driving. We stopped at Prarie Dog something or other in Oakley Kansas. Is was like a sad Nature's classroom. It was cool though. Great gift shop. C.J. bought a rattlesnake. Don't worry, it's stuffed. Fed some animals, took some pictures, then got back on the road. We had dinner at Red Robbin in Topeka and then did a big loop trying to get off the interstate at our exit is Kansas City, MO. We are at the Days-Inn now and heading to St. Louis tomorrow. The boys will OD on some BBQ. I know that for sure.

Denver ...

We got in about 4 and checked into the worst ghetto ass motel. Omg it was bad. We decided to drive downtown and check out 16th street mall. Had dinner at Chipolte. After that we went to Falling Rock Tap House. Btw meade is not good. Yuk. I had strongbow and ace pear cider. The boys trid a million weird beers. Bean and Leslie from NCCC met us there. That was awesome! We went to the downstairs area and some guy was having a bachelor party so we gave him shit but it was pretty funny. Something about touching his belt buckle and he was a champion, I don't know. I the beat CJ at cricket!!! I never do that, but I was feeling the old school darts. I left with the girls to go cruise around and the boys went to the Buckhorn and ate balls. Lol. Rocky Mountain Oysters and rattlesnake. I told them to take pics, which they did, because I didn't think I could watch them do it. I guess its a man vs food spot too and they have the oldest liquor license in the country. At any rate Bean and I ended up back at the taphouse for another round and then she dropped me off at motel hell where I crashed because we have a 9 or more hour drive today.

Arches and whatnot

Arches was cool! We saw balanced rock, delicate arch, double arch, and hiked out to sand dune arch and broken arch at sunset. The sand was red and felt great! Greg and I were dumb and wore flip-flops to dinner and I guess forgot we were going back to the park if the rain cleared out. Thankfully it did because it was amazing! I think we hiked about 3 miles after dinner. Arches was great though. We stayed at the Apache Motel in Moab. I guess John Wayne stayed there or something. It was old school kitch. It had wood beams on the ceiling. The lady that ran it had some serious spray on hair. It was hard not to laugh. I would have just gotten a wig if it were me.
We had breakfast at a place called Love Muffin lol. I had a gluten free, vegan pumpkin chocolate chip muffin and an omlet with spinach, onions, mushrooms and goat cheese. Delightful. I'm full! We are about 180 miles from Denver now. I get to see Bean and Leslie from NCCC and Greg and CJ are going to eat some Rocky Mountain Oysters hopefully if we can find them. I will be documenting it for historical/hystarical purposes. :). Gross! I was thinking, going home is going to be such a let down :( this trip has been amazing. Hopefully ill have funn stuff to do for the rest of the summer. I did find out, thanks to Lynne that we get paid Tuesday which will really help. And funny note ... I stopped at a roadside jerky stand and got sopme buffalo jerky for Sarah today per request. I just have to make sure the boys don't get into it before we get home.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon was absolutely amazing. I've never seen anything like it. I have always wanted to go there, well at least since the days of NCCC anyway. This was probably the most unique, natural wonder on Earth.
We bid goodbye to the Best Western Zion this morning, and saw some Big Horn Sheep and Buffalo on our way to Bryce. After the buffalo sighting, we stopped at The Buffalo Grill and clearly, we ordered buffalo. C.J. had a fancy ass buffalo burger, Greg had a Philly cheese steak with buffalo and I had a salad with buffalo. I know crazy ... I ate meat, and buffalo at that; and it was good too. I've actually eaten quite a lot of meat on this trip so far. No one pass out now.
We also stopped at a rock shop and I saw some really cool glass and stones, etc. I want a geode, and well everything there. I've seen some beautiful citrine, fluorite, azurite, and tiger-eye just to name a few. What sucks now is that I am super broke, tapped out the cc today and down to about $300 cash to last the rest of the trip, which is about 7 more days. Sorry guys- no more souvenirs for you.
Anyway, we headed to Bryce and drove through Dixie National Forest and Red Cliffs, I believe they were called. It was really pretty. Like I said earlier, Bryce was outstanding - I loved it. I did some hiking and lots of picture taking. I haven't had cell service for a few days, so if anyone has left any messages or sent any texts, I haven't received them.
Anyway ... Bryce = spectacular - I can't wait to upload the pictures for everyone to see.
We stopped at a weird grocery/camp store/gift shop and got supplies for the night. We are camping at the Bryce Valley KOA. It's fairly nice here. I had a weird dinner of bacon, pepperoni, and cream cheese on brioche that I got from the sensitive baker in Culver City. I did also have some Frito's and I made a smoke with the most delicious chocolate I have ever had. Greg bought some earlier in the day somewhere we stopped and it was amazing, so when we saw it at the store, I picked up a bar. It's huckleberry chocolate. OMG it's so fantastic, I've never had anything like it.
Now we're sitting around the campsite, listening to music, watching the fire, drinking, etc. The boys are playing football and are looking silly being their uber competitive selves. Every park we've been in, they've had rock throwing contests. I have pictures of this, but of course they have pictures of me with my ass up in the air hunting for cool rocks in the dirt, but it's all in good fun.

Fire is good btw! This is fun. Also, WTF? Michael Jackson died today. That was crazy. I got a text about it and we turned Sirius to an entertainment news channel. Anyway, getting dark now, can't see and quite drunk, I will write the rest later.

(Morning)
OK so... rain last night. Cold this morning. I feel like crap, but that may have to do with eating bacon from a skewer right before sleeping on the ground and the amount of rum I drank. Boys are sleeping, I'm in the car because my shoulder is killing me and I thought I would sleep better in here. Stupidly I thought I would take advantage of the free wifi at the koa and then get some sleep. I wrote this entry the first time on paper because I didn't realize there was wifi here and I figured I would type it somewhere else.

On to Arches today. I have been there, but it's been a long time. Hopefully I get some more sleep and I start feeling better. I definitely feel my age today, maybe older, lol.

still on the road ...

Yesterday we were in Vegas. I was exhausted because we drove all night. I got maybe 2 hours of sleep. We started the morning at slots of fun! lol, then we headed to the cracked egg for breakfast. mmmm skillet. After that we drove out to Red Rock Canyon. It was beautiful; hot, but beautiful. I am of course, collecting rocks from everywhere. I know, I'm a dork. After this, we had a fun trip to wal-mart and then finally to the hotel; Circus Circus. When we got there and finally got checked in (took forever), I crashed. I got maybe another two hours and then we headed out to cause trouble. I was still tired, so I actually didn't do much. The boys had all you can eat prime rib and then we went to gamble. I won 37$ which bought my dinner at P.F. Changs. I think that it made me sick, because I was sick as a dog all day today. It really sucked. This morning we left for Zion National Park. The thermometer was up to 105 as we drove through the desert. Zion was hot, but super amazing. I can't wait to see all of the pictures. Zion was cool because they had this shuttle-bus thing that drove us all around the scenic route of the park. We stopped and hiked a little and went to see some hanging gardens and water, etc. I left the boys to hike a long trail, so I could go pass out in the car. I really felt awful. We finally left the park around 9:00 and headed to the hotel. This is the coolest Best Western I have ever seen, by far. We went to dinner at the Spotted Dog Cafe and we're totally surprised when we got inside. It was fantastic. I spoke to the check and she knew right away what Celiac and Gluten-Free were and suggested a few things. I had Talapia with mashed pots and veg, and creme brule for dessert. Wow, it was so good. The sauce was amazing. The boys had buffalo and elk meatloaf wrapped in bacon. I think if it we're gluten free I would have tried it. We found the coolest shop after dinner and I got some bumbleberry jam amongst a few other things. I had some bumbleberries on the creme brule and they were outstanding. Anyway, that's about all for now. headed to Bryce Canyon tomorrow... we are camping. I'm excited.

Yosemite

We left San Francisco this morning, drove down Lombard street on the way out. We went over the Bay Bridge to Oakland and shipped stuff home including the bullhorns and busts lol. I've already gone through 4 memory cards. I can't wait to see all the pictures. I'm going to be scrapbooking for the rest of the summer! I'm going to need to get a part-time job at Joann's or something. Anyway we headed to Yosemite. At one point we were over 7000 feet up. Wow. There was snow on some of the mountains. It was about 45 degrees up there. We saw deer, elk, wolves and a few other random animals; alas no bear. :( we really wanted to see some. There we encountered the most windy mountain roads we had ever seen. It was freakin amazing! It was funny down at the Yosemite store I fount a ton of gluten free food, but I doidnt really get anything because we were going to go to the lodge for dinner because they have some kind of celiac menu, but the boys could wait 15 minutes for it to open and had to go to the food court which is where I sat outside and called Sarah and Starr. Oh well. I feasted on a pluot, almonds and dried pineapple I got at "the barn" (coolest place ever btw). I was driving this morning and as we drove through farm area there were a ton of produce stands and I had to stop! Everything is so fresh and yummy! I will just say ... A giant bag of fresh almonds for $4. I also got white cherries, strawberries and dried bananas for later. Mmmm. I've actually been eating pretty healthy on the trip aside from the several trips to In and Out Burger! Mmmmm. I like meat again. A whole new world has opened up to me. :). I can't wait for denver and mexican food and gf pizza and baked goods for the road! Actually, I'm pretty excited to see zion, camp in bryce and go back to arches. This has been the greatest adventure. Everyday we have seen something new and amazing! I still wish I could have seen height/ashbury but I guess that will have to be another day. Anyone want to travel with me? I'm dying to see the Pacific nw.
On the way to vegas now. We should be there by 6am. I don't think we can check in until later so we will find a bar/ casino and have a good ole time. Lol. Don't worry mom ... Ill be safe. Oy

If you're going to San Francisco ...

This city is amazing! We made it in the 6th inning of the Giants game but it had several extra innings so we were all good. It was freezing. I'm glad I bought a sweatshirt in Venice Beach! Mom said it was 95 and heat wave at home today, so I'm not complaining. After the game we headed to Chinatown for dinner. I had steamed rice and veggies. We checked into the hotel after that and headed next door to Tony,s Joynt for drinks. This morning we got up and went to Alcatraz for our tour then on to explore Fisherman's Wharf. Of course we then went back to Chinatown and did some serious shopping. We got some cool stuff! I got a dress and slippers amongst other things. You bitches better appreciate the cool shit I've gotten for you! We then dropped our goods off at the hotel and headed to the Golden Gate Bridge for the sunset. We are now leaving Muir Woods (home of Redwoods) and I think going to Chinatown again for CJ to have Chinese food again. Would be nice to go somewhere I can eat, but oh well. I'm just happy to be on this adventure. I've seen more shit on this trip than I ever have. It just sucks that I have this stupid disease. There have been so many great foods I would have like to try and its kind of getting old hearing them say "I bet you can eat there", and why do you just try, so what if you get sick". No one really understands what it's like. At any rate, I'm happy to be here and we're off to Yosemite tomorrow and then Vegas. As we all know what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Los Angeles...

Yesterday we hit Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Rodeo dr, etc. We had dinner at P.F. Changs at the Beverly Center. We are staying at the coolest motel. It's called the Safari Inn on Olive St in Burbank. We tried to get into a taping of the Tonight Show but they didn't have enough seats left. We ended up heading out to Santa Monica and had busts made of ourselves. It was pretty cold there, but it was really beautiful. We walked down the boardwalk and took pictures of the sunset, etc. We ended the night at an English pub and headed back to the motel where we found the band Hed PE was staying in the room next to us. Today we headed to the bario where cj accepted manuels challange and at the 5 pound burrito. I left them there and drove to culver city and hit up the sensitive baker for some gluten free goodness. Then I stopped at in and out burger. Yes folks, I've been eating meat! Yum! After I picked them up we drove out to venice beach where I spent entirely too much money, but I did get some clip ons for my glasses since I lost my rx sunglasses in the pacific ocean. After vencice we drove through compton and got gas. Timbo is worse than compton. The area was actually pretty nice. Now we're headed to the angels game. Peace out homies! Lol. Did I mention we saw several watermelon trucks and fried chicken places. Anyway. I'm out.

Los Angeles

Ok, so yesterday we arrived in L.A. We drove through the hills and took pics of the Hollywood sign, then we hit Hollywood. Fun place. We brought some crazy stuff, of course and then we headed out to the Dodgers game. We had the crazy cheap seats ... where the locals sit, and it was awesome! This was the first baseball game that the crowd really got into. Everyone was screaming and throwing beach balls and we had a wave that went around the entire stadium several times. It was pretty cool even though the Dodger's lost. After the game we decided to venture out to Sunset Blvd for drinks. We ended up at some crazy place that had a mechanical bull. No, I didn't get on, The guys we're trying to force it, but I just didn't want to, which is fine because as we were leaving I fell and looked like an ass anyway. Great, just another reason for them to make fun of me... I am fodder for insults, seriously.

Currently, they are waiting in line for Tonight Show tickets and I am stuck at the Safari Inn (pretty cool place) because they took both room keys. Damnit, I was going to do laundry. I'm really running out of clothes here. They should be back around 10:15, so I guess I'll start it then. After that... off to get an oil change. And then the adventure continues.

San Diego

San Diego … the whale’s vagina.

I’m Ron Burgundy, go fuck yourself San Diego. J Gotta love Will Farrell. We started of our stint here with a trip downtown, a drive through Balboa Park, Mission Beach, and dinner in the Gaslamp Quarter. Then I took the guys to Ocean Beach. My old stomping grounds. Man did I have some fun there back in the day. It’s still mostly the same. Actually, I think there were less homeless people now. Everything is good in San Diego, there isn’t one bad thing I could say. We had dinner at a place called the Yard House. Fantastic meal. They have a gluten free menu and everything. A little pricey, but oh well, it was fantastic. We walked around downtown for a bit; saw some of the old places I had been. All in all it was a great day.

Day 2 in San Diego

Morning started off with heading to Mission Beach. Wow, the water was cold and the waves were high. I was sucked under and lost my sunglasses. Oh well, now I know what my $200 expense on the trip will be. Hopefully I can find some of those dumb clip on things, but we shall see. We had breakfast at the beach after swimming. CJ got a salmon burger, very California of him. J After that we went to the hotel to shower and then headed downtown to the trolley transfer station, where we boarded the blue line for the land of cheap souvenirs. Good stuff. It was pretty clean actually, not the way I remember it. We did stand out like sore thumbs, but totally worth the experience. After the trip back, we wandered around the downtown (near Petco) area and I got some fruit at a farmer’s market and we headed into the game. I got a t-shirt and hat combo for $15. Super cheap, but I really need a hat because I have no sunglasses, and since this is an outdoor park … well, you can figure out the rest. The park was really cool, and after the sun went down we had the most beautiful view of downtown. Angie from Americorps met me at the game. I got to meet her son too. I haven’t seen her since 1996. Wow, that was so cool. The boys sat above some where house thing, and we moved a couple sections over. I know they were taking dumb pictures of me from far away, because I could see the red light from the camera. So … what do I do? Flip the bird of course. You know, that’s how I roll. Anyway … after the game we drove over to Coronado thinking we could get some really awesome pictures of the city, but the light made it difficult. Headed to wal-mart after that to find a 5$ movie, then… went In and Out Burger. And sure enough, I had a cheeseburger. I think I have decided that I don’t know why I didn’t eat meat for so many years. I know some of you are laughing and shaking your heads right now, but seriously, I just didn’t like it at the time. We are heading to Los Angeles today. Should be a party!

Going back to Cali... to cali to cali....

I have a pretty booked schedule for the next week I guess, so if you don't hear from me, I'm sure I haven't been abducted by aliens.

Day 7

Day 7

We decided to stop in Tucson last night to get some sleep and badly needed showers! We started yesterday morning at Guadalupe Mountains National Park for the sunrise. It was really cold actually. It didn’t help that I was in flip-flops, shorts, and a tank top. I didn’t even know where my hoodie was, I ended up wandering around in a sheet. After sunrise we left for Carlsbad Caverns. This was probably the coolest thing I have ever seen. We we’re inside the Earth. DUDE!!!! That’s so crazy. We took some great pictures. It was about 3.5 miles hiking into the ground. I think at the lowest it was 1600 ft. below. It was simply amazing. After that we drove to White Sands National Monument. It was crazy because we were driving through green and mountains, but then we pull through the park and it was just tons of white sand. I still haven’t seen any snakes, lizards, or spiders, but I don’t know that it’s really that bad of a thing. I can say this; my skin is like a snake or lizard. I even borrowed lotion from Greg this morning and I am still really dry. Oh well. So at White Sands, we encountered a real life sand storm. That was wild. I, of course, had to pick up some rocks.

So prior to this, we drove all night from San Antonio. It was pitch black, and middle of nowhere kind of driving. When I got my sleep shift about, about an hour maybe two, the guys were driving down some road that had crazy kamikaze rabbits. Apparently they were all over the road and it was a great feat to not hit them. I think they hit one, but I was sleeping. They were surprised that I didn’t wake up. It was a long day.

In San Antonio we went to The Alamo, of course; and no, there isn’t a basement. J I got some bull horns, but I have to hang them up in the house. I really wanted some to mount to the car, oh well. We will just have to live with the don’t mess with Texas magnet next to my Florida license plate. Texas was pretty good to us. Everyone was super friendly actually. There were the weirdo’s with mullets, but that’s to be expected. We also strolled Riverwalk and ended up at Dick’s for dinner. That was pretty funny. I didn’t eat, but the waitress made us hats, which is their thing. They make fun of you, service with sarcasm. Anyway, mine said spreads like miracle whip, CJ’s said small balls, and Greg’s said I cried at Brokeback Mountain. Good times all around. We got to throw random balls of paper at old people including a lady who had a hat that said ex-porn star or something like that. We ended the night at a sports bar on riverwalk to watch the Red Wings lose the cup to the Penguins. Greg was really happy, oh well. Road Trip 09 is still amazing! After the game we headed back on the road to New Mexico.

The day before, we were in Dallas. We stayed at the real random place, but it was all good. We we’re next door to Boston’s which is apparently a national chain that has fantastic gluten free pizza! I had a BLT pizza, damn that was tasty! And some grilled chicken pizza and some other random things. We went before the game, and then we went again after the game, but it was good because I got food for the road the next day.


Leaving Tucson … it’s beautiful here. I love the saguaro cactus. They are too cool. We really need to see some tumble weeds tumbling. We have taken pics of the craziest things. The sky is clear, the road is open. This is the greatest thing I have ever done. Others may disagree, but this experience is just what the doctor ordered.

chase field

I have more for later, but I will just say this now... Chase Field has a swimming pool in it. Weird.

Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico

We drove overnight from San Antonio to New Mexico. Now we are an hour ahead and so we are waiting to enter the caverns. We watched the sun rise at Guadalupe National Park. Beautiful!

leaving San Antonio

Texas has been good to us. The people were super friendly. It was almost weird. Today we saw The Alamo and Riverwalk and then watched the Wings lose to the Penguins. Booooo. Oh well, road trip 09 still rocks. We're on an overnight drive to New Mexico. We will watch the sunrise in Gualalupe National Park then on to Carlsbad Caverns. The pictures should be amazing! Hopefully I'll have wifi soon and be able post a few.

day 4- on the road love the blackberry!

We're on the road again. Houston was impressive. Great people, great ball park,the guys loved the food. We ended up at some Mexican place last night at like 1:00 am. La Tapitias I think. Guy @ bar told us about it. He was the man; he had been everywhere. He gave us a ton of ideas for other places we are going. His kids were in middle school. Speaking of middle school, we passed one yesterday that was awesome! Wow, to only work there. Another guy at the bar last night asked if I wanted to stay in Houston and tutor his kids. I said I couldn't be tied down. I need to go see the rest of the world. :). At any rate, the Dumb and Dumber quotes are getting better by the moment and always remember DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS.

Day 3

Day 3 – recovery from day 2 …

This just blows my mind. I’m in New Orleans… not only that, I’m at a cool, old hotel one block from Bourbon Street. Here is how we spent the day. Drove through a million little beach communities in Florida, crossed into Alabama and fount that Bayou Labatre really does exist, crossed into Mississippi and found and amusing t-shirt that we didn’t buy. Crossed into Louisiana and took about a million car pictures. Parked in a horribly expensive parking garage, and carried all our crap across the street to our hotel; The St. Ann-Marie Antionette on Rue Conti. Or as I now know, thanks to C...J., Conti Street. Rue means street in French. We checked in and ran upstairs to shower. Camping is great and all, but we were dirty. Less that an hour later we were out the door to explore the city. We walked up and down Bourbon Street checking out cheesy souvenir shops and grabbing a drink here and there. Then we went to Acme Oyster House. Dude … I ate a pound of Crawfish! I had never had them before and I tore those things up. Yum! The boys had an assortment of things from the sea, cooked in different ways. Raw and grilled oysters, steamed and fried crawfish, gumbo, and I have no idea what else. Totally by coincidence this happened to be where the Man Vs. Food guy ate 15 dozen oysters, so of course these two decided they could totally beat that and we are stopping here on the way back anyway, so it works out. So, after dinner we started out looking for a fun bar, big ass beer, hurricanes and hand grenades. And we pretty much found it all.

After copious amounts of alcohol, Red Wings losing in game 6, lots of fun with my new bartender friend from Mississippi named Victoria, and cool, live New Orleans music, we ventured back out to Bourbon Street. We hit a few more bars for a few more drinks at which point I danced in the street like an idiot, took a bunch of pictures, went to a strip club for old retired strippers (pretty amusing), we headed to a recommended restaurant called Yo Mama. There is only one thing anyone can say … Peanut Butter Burger. C.J. was awestruck by this thing. It was peanut butter and bacon on a hamburger. Apparently this thing was amazing. I had a big ass baked potato with bacon, chives and butter. It was crazy. They we came back to hotel and crashed. We are planning on hitting Oak Alley Plantation on our way to Houston today.

I knew I was going to catch hell for writing this thing, and I was right. We will see how much I actually write from here on out.
Still day 3, 3:15pm. Apparently I am now dubbed Doogie Houser for keeping this captains log, lol. They are so funny. They keep humming the theme song.

We stopped for gas in Arcadia, Louisiana and it was the funniest place ever. Of course I have pictures. The guys had gator sausage and fried oysters and shrimp, and I don’t know what else. This place was awesome. I bought postcards.

I can’t get the air card to work, so I will have to post this when I can. I really wanted to look up gluten free food in Houston, but oh well.

houston rocks!

Awesome people, great place! Will add more later doogie houser style!

Day 2

Day 2 – Road Trip ‘09

The cicadas woke me up this morning. About 3 hours too early in fact. However, I was able to watch the sun rise over the Gulf Coast of Florida. Pictures are coming. I tried really hard to be quiet, but I believe I woke the sleeping bears, oh I mean boys. I was lying in the tent listening to the Pine trees creek, the cicadas make their crazy loud noise, and the birds happily chirp, thinking to myself… it’s good to be a teacher. Summers off ROCK!

Today, we head to New Orleans. It’s about out 4.5 hours from here I think. We are staying right in the French Quarter. I have never been there. I’m pretty excited. Last night we tried to go out to dinner, but the people thought I would end up sick because apparently food flies all over the kitchen. Oh well, we had a blast last night, just the same. I’m just concerned about eating in New Orleans. Everything there has flour in it. The guys are being really patient with me, so it’s good. We’ll see how tired they get of having to deal with my food issues.

Yesterday, on the way up we stopped at a place for lunch called Bubba Ques. Ha ha, I was amused. We we’re on a boat, a mother-fu@@ing boat. No really. It was the funniest thing; we literally sat in a boat inside the restaurant. Of course, it was the perfect beginning of the trip. So funny. And then, I got a call from Lynne saying that Cosmo got into a fight with her dog, Jack and she was going to have to take him to my folks. I feel really bad about that. I didn’t want them to have to deal with dog watching for so long.

Well, I suppose I should go be productive now and maybe get dressed or something, maybe not. I know one thing for sure, my stomach is going to kill me for all this crap. That was a lot of kielbasa and beer; two things I don’t normally partake in. Yes, it was gluten-free, but still it was a big leap into eating food again.

Panama City Beach

We are at st. Andrews state park. Camping. Its freakin cool. I'm drinking gluten free beer and I had smoked sausage for dinner. We grilled out. Its beautiful here. We played asshole and I was the asshole of course. I suck. We played other games. I'm gonna go put pjs on. Long day. Apparently there is a no farting zone in the tent. Lol. Ok. Off to hunt for pjs now.

Postcards?

If you want me to send them to you, you'll need to send me your address.

The Schedule ...

Mon, June 8- Leave from Tampa, head to Panama City Beach. Camp in St. Andrews State Park.
Tues, June 9 - Drive to New Orleans, spend the night in the French Quarter.
Wed, June 10 - Drive to Houston, see Astros play the Cubs
Thur, June 11 - Drive to Dallas, See the Rangers play the Blue Jays, Spend the night in Arlington
Fri, June 12 - Head to San Antonio, check out Riverwalk, I think we night drive to Carlsbad averns, New Mexico and now that I'm looking at this, I don't think we get to sleep because we have nothing booked again. hmmmm I'll have to check on that.
Sat, June 13 I have San Antonio to Carlsbad Caverns
Sun, June 14 I have Carlsbad to Phoenix where we have a Diamondbacks Vs Astros game at 1:10 so it's going to have to be some weird night driving thing if were going to make it on time. It's better to drive through the desert at night anyway; it's going to be super hot. Average for this day in Phoenix is 104 degrees.
Mon, June 15 Drive to San Diego (Yay). We are staying across from Sea World. I think we're going to rent some segways to cruise through Balboa park. I can't wait to go back and see everything again.
Tue, June 16 - still in SD Padres vs. Mariners game
Wed June 17 - drive to Los Angeles, staying in Burbank, doing all the tourist things, you know... getting some 40's of Old E and heading to Compton. ha ha. No really we're hopefully going to be able to get tickets for the tonight show! We are of course going to another baseball game.
Thur, June 18 - still in LA
Fri, June 19, Still in LA
Sat, June 20 Drive to San Francisco, staying in Japan town, Giants vs Rangers game
Sun, June 21 still in SF, Alcatraz tour! Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown all that good stuff
Mon, June 22 Drive to Yosemite - continue the drive to Las Vegas
Tue, June 23 hang out in Vegas, maybe go to the Grand Canyon
Wed, June 24 drive to Zion Natl Park, staying in Springdale, UT
Thur, June 25 drive to Bryce Canyon Natl Park, where we are camping again. the low here is supposed to be 42 degrees. Wow!
Fri, June 26 Drive to Arches Natl Park, where we stay at the Apache Motel in Moab. hmmmm whatever I'm psyched to go back there.
Sat, June 27 drive to Denver where I get to meet up with Colleen and Leslie!!! Who cares what else we do. Actually there is a gluten free bakery and ton's of places to eat, makes me sad I'm only there for a day.
Sun, June 28 drive to Kansas City for a very long time. ug
Mon, June 29 drive to St. Louis, see the arch, go to a baseball game
Tues, June 30 Drive to Memphis, eat some bbq, riverboat tour maybe
Wed, July 1, drive to New Orleans, stay in french Quarter again
Thur, July 2 either stay one more night in New Orleans or Drive back to Tampa.

So there is it folks... If you happen to be near anywhere I'll be, hit me up. We don't have a lot of time, but If you want to meet us where we are, let me know.

A few days left ...

Today I have to go to the doctor at 9:00, then to pick up Ryan, then to work for a few hours. I have to finish packing up my room, turn in my grades and all that jazz. I still have a few things I need to pick up for the trip, and then I really need to start packing. Oh wait, I would need bags for that. hmmm... ok I am the ghetto traveler and will end up using the big home depot bag, LoL. Tonight is Greg's surprise party. Should be a good time. Only thing is that we leave Monday, so I could be seeing people I'm not going to see for the next month instead of hanging out with CJ and Greg, oh well, worse things could happen. I really should get dogzilla groomed before I go, maybe I can get him in tomorrow. I need to get his medicine from the vet, and I need to go to whole foods and get some stuff to eat. There is not going to be much in the way of gluten free for the first few days. Damn it, I really need to work on the binder. Geez. OK, no more rambling I clearly have a lot to do.

Monday!

Monday is the big day! The plan is to shove off around 9:00 am. 1st stop... Panama City Beach, FL. We are camping at St. Andrews State Park. It's supposed to be beautiful. Uh, and hot. Oh well. Life is an adventure. Today was the last day of school with students. The year just flew. Bring on the summer of fun!

trip is booked!

On a positive note, the trip is booked. We have our hotels and most of our baseball tickets and the tickets for our Alkatraz tour. I can't wait. I am still working on the gluten free food issue. I've started a binder and have been printing menus from across the country. The problem is looking at them is making me seriously hungry, and fatty mcfatfuck over here isn't fitting into the bridemaid dress she is supposed to wear on the 23rd. crap! I say this as I sit here and eat not the right foods. Oh well, I will work it out. Hopefully I will have the full itenerary soon. It's off to Tuesday night trivia now. I have loads to say, just not the time to write it.