NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA
Ok so, because I’m so behind on everything I’m going to try to remember the important things and leave the little details behind. I realized that the longer I go without writing this stuff up, the harder it’s going to be to write everything up so bear with me while I work out my baby steps. Haha.
Albuquerque
• We stayed with Dre’s cousins who were really really hospitable and lived in the foothills of the Sandia mountain, overlooking the city and the valley. It was gorgeous and they were so great to us – took us out to dinner, took us out flying one morning in their plane (what???? I know!! When I get batteries in my camera I’ll throw the pictures on Facebook), and most fun – introduced us to Dre’s 21 year old cousin Sean, who guided us through the Duke City nightlife. (Yes apparently Albuquerque is nicknamed Duke City. I feel like they were just trying to make up for the silly original name.)
• We hung out with some kids our age one night, basically a regular college party night, and learned that the elevation can mess with your alcohol tolerance and your car.
• The next night we went around downtown Albuquerque. It was a Wednesday night so nothing really special was going on but we had a good time, went into about 6 places and generally made it a good night.
• The BEST night was when Sean’s friend had his 21st birthday party at the Sandia Casino Resort, which luckily was close to the house we were staying. That was really fun- the casino gave us $20 free for the slots and $20 free chips for whatever we wanted, I assume so that we would keep putting in money and then they would take it all, I won $10 in roulette and got out quick before I lost anything, and $.28 playing slots, which I didn’t bother cashing in. All in all, it was a big party and a good night that lasted until about 5 a.m.
HOWEVER – that really fun late night was not a great thing to have right before we had to drive 9 hours to Phoenix the next day. We didn’t get going until 2 p.m., and then had a gas scare at about 10 p.m. in the middle of 3 Indian reservations. Rolling into the gas station in Globe, AZ in the middle of the night never felt so good! The next day we bummed around Phoenix, where there really wasn’t anything to do or see, and headed out of town to a random lake in the middle of the desert. Interesting but not the cleanest body of water I’ve swam in. I guess when you live in the desert you take what you can get. We stayed with another of Dre’s cousins in Scottsdale and played with her cute dogs, and then headed out to Sedona, which I had heard from lots of people was definitely a place to stop.
And I’m SO glad we stopped there!! It was this great little hippie town high up in the mountains, and apparently the main attractions included annual Phish weekend concerts, energy vortexes, and special crystals. Awesome. Arizona actually had the most varied landscape – on the way to Phoenix we drove through tree-covered mountains that reminded me of West Virginia, we drove through high country desert to get to Sedona, and Sedona was huge red rock mountains and forests. We had expected Arizona to be just desert but it had the best landscape out of anywhere. We got there in the evening and camped for the night, and the next day we managed to find a hike along a creek, which kept us nice and cool. Rather than spending the night again and paying for camping again, we headed straight to Vegas to stay for free with my friend Dave.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Rest of Texas
Alright everyone, here’s the rest of Austin!
After we recovered from our night, we went to the Texas Statehouse and walked around downtown some, and then headed out of town to Mt. Bonnell, which overlooks the city. The statehouse was ok, basically they just opened it up to the public while no one was there working and let us wander around and look at paintings and things. Realized that I had forgotten that George Bush was a Texas governor back in the day, but I was reminded by his portrait up on the wall. Basically we just walked around in the air conditioning during the hottest part of the day and looked at old paintings.
Mt. Bonnell was cool, you drive out of the city and up the base of the mountain, then park on the side of the road and walk up about 100 or so stone steps to the summit, where you can walk around and look down at the Colorado River and a bunch of big fancy houses, and there’s also a great view of the Austin skyline. Not much to do there either, but it was our first day of no rain since we were in Tallahassee so it was satisfying just to be able to walk around outside. (Sidebar – I don’t have any pictures between St. Louis and the Willie Nelson concert because my batteries ran out in Missouri and I didn’t feel a pressing need to buy more until the show. But I have them now!!)
Waking up the next day, Sunday the 4th, was like waking up on Christmas morning!! But almost more exciting. I got up, got food, and got going before Dre had even stirred, which is completely understandable considering it was noon and we definitely hadn’t gotten home before 5 a.m. the previous night. There was a brief crisis when we realized that our host didn’t have a printer so we couldn’t print out our tickets, but fortunately there was an Office Max downtown that was open, even on a Sunday and a holiday, so that worked out absolutely fine. We also had some problems even finding the venue, called the Backyard at Bee Cave, but thanks to the fact my dad was home and by a computer we were able to get there fine. THEN we ran into more problems when the parking there was full and we had to drive to a giant shopping center and get shuttled over by a bus. At this point we had missed 2 of the bands I had really wanted to see, but there were so many more coming that I wasn’t too upset. Also, the fact that we had been able to listen to the concert on the Sirius Radio Willie Nelson station definitely helped.
We finally got there and had our minds absolutely blown. It was a small crowd (only 7,000) but an even smaller venue, and by 5 p.m. it started to get crowded, and only got more so as the night went on. Memorable highlights include Del Castillo (Latin/rock band who won the South by Southwest festival), Kris Kristofferson (who came on without even an announcement; I looked up and was like “Hey, these are some great songs, I like this guy a lot,” and then he started playing Sunday Morning Coming Down and I finally realized who he was), Jack Ingraham (made famous by Love You and Barefoot and Crazy) and Folk Uke, a 3-girl string band with hilarious, hilarious songs. I had been looking forward to David Allen Coe, one of the giants in country music writing, but he played all of his big hits, including the pop ones he wrote for Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, which I already knew and didn’t really need to hear. Oh well.
Willie Nelson finally came on well after midnight and played all of my favorites right in a row at the beginning, which was very convenient for us because we were exhausted, dehydrated, starving and ready to go home. We were starving because the place ran out of most of its food by 7, so we had to settle for fried onions and tomatillo sauce on tortillas. At least it was free. Anyway, we stopped at a great diner on the way home as a special treat for lasting as long as we did and it was probably the most delicious food I’ve ever had in my life. Also, coffee, orange juice, and biscuits and gravy altogether only ran me about $7, so that was nice too. We finally got home around 2:30, fell into bed, and the next day started the first leg of our drive to Albuquerque.
Don’t worry, you’ll all hear about Albuquerque, Arizona, Las Vegas, Zion and Grand Canyons, and LA eventually. It’s coming, I promise!!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
After we recovered from our night, we went to the Texas Statehouse and walked around downtown some, and then headed out of town to Mt. Bonnell, which overlooks the city. The statehouse was ok, basically they just opened it up to the public while no one was there working and let us wander around and look at paintings and things. Realized that I had forgotten that George Bush was a Texas governor back in the day, but I was reminded by his portrait up on the wall. Basically we just walked around in the air conditioning during the hottest part of the day and looked at old paintings.
Mt. Bonnell was cool, you drive out of the city and up the base of the mountain, then park on the side of the road and walk up about 100 or so stone steps to the summit, where you can walk around and look down at the Colorado River and a bunch of big fancy houses, and there’s also a great view of the Austin skyline. Not much to do there either, but it was our first day of no rain since we were in Tallahassee so it was satisfying just to be able to walk around outside. (Sidebar – I don’t have any pictures between St. Louis and the Willie Nelson concert because my batteries ran out in Missouri and I didn’t feel a pressing need to buy more until the show. But I have them now!!)
Waking up the next day, Sunday the 4th, was like waking up on Christmas morning!! But almost more exciting. I got up, got food, and got going before Dre had even stirred, which is completely understandable considering it was noon and we definitely hadn’t gotten home before 5 a.m. the previous night. There was a brief crisis when we realized that our host didn’t have a printer so we couldn’t print out our tickets, but fortunately there was an Office Max downtown that was open, even on a Sunday and a holiday, so that worked out absolutely fine. We also had some problems even finding the venue, called the Backyard at Bee Cave, but thanks to the fact my dad was home and by a computer we were able to get there fine. THEN we ran into more problems when the parking there was full and we had to drive to a giant shopping center and get shuttled over by a bus. At this point we had missed 2 of the bands I had really wanted to see, but there were so many more coming that I wasn’t too upset. Also, the fact that we had been able to listen to the concert on the Sirius Radio Willie Nelson station definitely helped.
We finally got there and had our minds absolutely blown. It was a small crowd (only 7,000) but an even smaller venue, and by 5 p.m. it started to get crowded, and only got more so as the night went on. Memorable highlights include Del Castillo (Latin/rock band who won the South by Southwest festival), Kris Kristofferson (who came on without even an announcement; I looked up and was like “Hey, these are some great songs, I like this guy a lot,” and then he started playing Sunday Morning Coming Down and I finally realized who he was), Jack Ingraham (made famous by Love You and Barefoot and Crazy) and Folk Uke, a 3-girl string band with hilarious, hilarious songs. I had been looking forward to David Allen Coe, one of the giants in country music writing, but he played all of his big hits, including the pop ones he wrote for Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, which I already knew and didn’t really need to hear. Oh well.
Willie Nelson finally came on well after midnight and played all of my favorites right in a row at the beginning, which was very convenient for us because we were exhausted, dehydrated, starving and ready to go home. We were starving because the place ran out of most of its food by 7, so we had to settle for fried onions and tomatillo sauce on tortillas. At least it was free. Anyway, we stopped at a great diner on the way home as a special treat for lasting as long as we did and it was probably the most delicious food I’ve ever had in my life. Also, coffee, orange juice, and biscuits and gravy altogether only ran me about $7, so that was nice too. We finally got home around 2:30, fell into bed, and the next day started the first leg of our drive to Albuquerque.
Don’t worry, you’ll all hear about Albuquerque, Arizona, Las Vegas, Zion and Grand Canyons, and LA eventually. It’s coming, I promise!!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Houston - Beginning of Austin
Alright everyone, so I know I have been a huge slacker/procrastinator and that is ending NOW!! Well that's a lie, but basically I'm going to start catching you all up on everything since New Orleans. That was such a long time ago that it's going to take me a while but we're looking at baby steps here, people. Ok so this is the post that I wrote right when we got to Austin but never put up. Also, look for lots of pictures from Austin and the Southwest on my Facebook group page!
Enjoy!
Greetings from the Live Music Capital of the World!
So unfortunately it’s been raining I think since we left Tallahassee, which has definitely ruined our motivation for going outside or doing anything anywhere. We pulled into Houston around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday (in the rain, of course) and didn’t leave Rice’s campus until we headed out for Austin on Friday around 3:30. This means that my impressions of Texas so far are based solely on one night out in Austin, all of the music we’ve been listening to on the Outlaw Country station, and things we drove past on the way to Austin. But today it’s actually sunny (for now at least) so I’m hoping we can get out and actually see some of the cities we’ve been staying in!
It was great to see Lauren in Houston, and we managed to be relatively comfortable when staying in her dorm because we basically requisitioned a common room and turned it into our room. Rive University apparently hates visitors and has not a single overnight visitor parking space on the entire campus, so we had to park on the street across from campus and wait in fear of being towed while Lauren was at work. Luckily the First Christian Church allows “operable vehicles only”… good thing my truck is operable I guess? At any rate, no towing occurred, we played some really fun beach volleyball in the rain with Teach For America Rio Grande Valley people and stopped by the campus bar for a few 95 cent beers. A nice evening considering everyone except us had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. the next day. Teachers, man.
So now we’re in Austin recovering from a crazy fun night last night! The girl we’re couch surfing with took us out for a night on the town near 6th Street and we had an absolute blast! We had one drink per bar in a bunch of different bars, and the night included an 80s dance party, dancing on this ridiculous floor that was clear so you could see the people below you, and – wait for it – checking off the only thing on my “make sure you do this on your trip” list… riding a mechanical bull!!!! I’ve been wanting to do it since I saw it in Cancun but couldn’t because I was wearing a dress (I’ve never been so mad at my classiness haha), and specifically wore shorts out last night so I would be prepared for any opportunity. It was so so SO fun and I stayed on for a long time!! So happy and excited, definitely a high point in our time since New Orleans.
All right well it’s sunny out now for the first time in a week, so I’m getting going to do something fun and outside! (Despite the fact it’s going to be hot and humid and miserable… but apparently you can’t have it all.) Next update will include the Willie Nelson 4th of July concert!!!!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Enjoy!
Greetings from the Live Music Capital of the World!
So unfortunately it’s been raining I think since we left Tallahassee, which has definitely ruined our motivation for going outside or doing anything anywhere. We pulled into Houston around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday (in the rain, of course) and didn’t leave Rice’s campus until we headed out for Austin on Friday around 3:30. This means that my impressions of Texas so far are based solely on one night out in Austin, all of the music we’ve been listening to on the Outlaw Country station, and things we drove past on the way to Austin. But today it’s actually sunny (for now at least) so I’m hoping we can get out and actually see some of the cities we’ve been staying in!
It was great to see Lauren in Houston, and we managed to be relatively comfortable when staying in her dorm because we basically requisitioned a common room and turned it into our room. Rive University apparently hates visitors and has not a single overnight visitor parking space on the entire campus, so we had to park on the street across from campus and wait in fear of being towed while Lauren was at work. Luckily the First Christian Church allows “operable vehicles only”… good thing my truck is operable I guess? At any rate, no towing occurred, we played some really fun beach volleyball in the rain with Teach For America Rio Grande Valley people and stopped by the campus bar for a few 95 cent beers. A nice evening considering everyone except us had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. the next day. Teachers, man.
So now we’re in Austin recovering from a crazy fun night last night! The girl we’re couch surfing with took us out for a night on the town near 6th Street and we had an absolute blast! We had one drink per bar in a bunch of different bars, and the night included an 80s dance party, dancing on this ridiculous floor that was clear so you could see the people below you, and – wait for it – checking off the only thing on my “make sure you do this on your trip” list… riding a mechanical bull!!!! I’ve been wanting to do it since I saw it in Cancun but couldn’t because I was wearing a dress (I’ve never been so mad at my classiness haha), and specifically wore shorts out last night so I would be prepared for any opportunity. It was so so SO fun and I stayed on for a long time!! So happy and excited, definitely a high point in our time since New Orleans.
All right well it’s sunny out now for the first time in a week, so I’m getting going to do something fun and outside! (Despite the fact it’s going to be hot and humid and miserable… but apparently you can’t have it all.) Next update will include the Willie Nelson 4th of July concert!!!!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Big Easy: Where you can drink outside and smoke inside!!
To sum up my time in New Orleans: Rainy. Bad roads. BEST TIME EVER!!!!!
Seriously, this has been my favorite place by far up until now. Let's see if I can summarize what we did and why I am seriously considering moving here.
After we moved in with our couch surfing hosts (who were AWESOME, by the way!) we basically hung out long enough until it was time to go out. We went with our hosts to a local dive bar called Lucky's, a 24-hour bar, grill, game room, and laundromat where you can get things notarized and where you can bring your dog. WHAT?!?! First hint that this is the city for me. Haha. While it as fun, we were a little tired and wanted to find somewhere a little more hopping so that we would wake up a little. Cue our hosts hooking us up with one of our friends, who was out on Frenchmen St., which I think is north of the quarter and basically a small strip of jazz clubs. We got there, met up with her friend, and proceeded to see 3 different jazz bands in different clubs in quick succession. Let me just say that the blues are still going strong and definitely still relevant in New Orleans. It was like watching country bands in Nashville but a little more authentic and personal... hard to describe but great. Fun Fact- while walking back from Frenchmen to head closer to home, we saw the lead singer from the first band on the street, so we shook his hand and he gave me a CD!! The band is called Dumaine (named after one of the streets in the Quarter), and I'm so excited to listen to it!! Yet another reason to love this place.
Around 3 (I think?) We went from that strip to another 24-hour bar called Miss Mae's, where well drinks were $1, calls were $2 and premiums were $3. Yes, that means that you could get Johnny Walker Black or Knobb Creek for $3. Another hint that I love this city. haha. We met lots of awesome people there, had a great time, and went home around 4:30...ish...not really sure but some late time that did not feel nearly as late as it was.
Unfortunately, because of the rain and thunderstorms we didn't motivate enough to walk around much or get very far from the Quarter and the Garden District. Guess that just means I'll have to come back some day! We did manage to get ourselves to Parasol's for a po'boy, it was really good although there were lots of big bugs on the floor. But hey, it's New Orleans and they weren't bothering us, so we just let it be an enjoyed our po'boy. Delicious.
That night we spent the whole night at another local dive called The Saint, with our hosts, their neighbors, and some of the friends we had made the night before. Started the night with 1/2 priced drinks, continued with karaoke, and ended with me being very proud of my (apparently newly acquired) skill at maintaining myself by drinking booze slowly and water quickly. Definitely a useful thing to be able to do... glad it took me this long... haha. That bar wasn't a 24-hour one but last call was at 6a.m., yet another reason to love New Orleans.
We got home, slept for a few hours, thanked our hosts (and their dog) over and over and headed out for Houston around 2. It was a long, rainy drive to get here, and seemed even longer because of the weather and the fact that a 2004 Ford Ranger packed to the roof with backpacks, guitars, food, and beer is not the most comfortable place to try to sleep. But we made it, and subsequently had a long battle with Rice University over where the hell you are allowed to park overnight. Apparently nowhere. Agh.
So now we're up, doing computer things, and hopefully we'll make it out to explore the city a little before the storm really hits. Hurricane Alex can do nothing to weaken my resolve to drink and meet people. I'll keep you posted!
Once again,
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Seriously, this has been my favorite place by far up until now. Let's see if I can summarize what we did and why I am seriously considering moving here.
After we moved in with our couch surfing hosts (who were AWESOME, by the way!) we basically hung out long enough until it was time to go out. We went with our hosts to a local dive bar called Lucky's, a 24-hour bar, grill, game room, and laundromat where you can get things notarized and where you can bring your dog. WHAT?!?! First hint that this is the city for me. Haha. While it as fun, we were a little tired and wanted to find somewhere a little more hopping so that we would wake up a little. Cue our hosts hooking us up with one of our friends, who was out on Frenchmen St., which I think is north of the quarter and basically a small strip of jazz clubs. We got there, met up with her friend, and proceeded to see 3 different jazz bands in different clubs in quick succession. Let me just say that the blues are still going strong and definitely still relevant in New Orleans. It was like watching country bands in Nashville but a little more authentic and personal... hard to describe but great. Fun Fact- while walking back from Frenchmen to head closer to home, we saw the lead singer from the first band on the street, so we shook his hand and he gave me a CD!! The band is called Dumaine (named after one of the streets in the Quarter), and I'm so excited to listen to it!! Yet another reason to love this place.
Around 3 (I think?) We went from that strip to another 24-hour bar called Miss Mae's, where well drinks were $1, calls were $2 and premiums were $3. Yes, that means that you could get Johnny Walker Black or Knobb Creek for $3. Another hint that I love this city. haha. We met lots of awesome people there, had a great time, and went home around 4:30...ish...not really sure but some late time that did not feel nearly as late as it was.
Unfortunately, because of the rain and thunderstorms we didn't motivate enough to walk around much or get very far from the Quarter and the Garden District. Guess that just means I'll have to come back some day! We did manage to get ourselves to Parasol's for a po'boy, it was really good although there were lots of big bugs on the floor. But hey, it's New Orleans and they weren't bothering us, so we just let it be an enjoyed our po'boy. Delicious.
That night we spent the whole night at another local dive called The Saint, with our hosts, their neighbors, and some of the friends we had made the night before. Started the night with 1/2 priced drinks, continued with karaoke, and ended with me being very proud of my (apparently newly acquired) skill at maintaining myself by drinking booze slowly and water quickly. Definitely a useful thing to be able to do... glad it took me this long... haha. That bar wasn't a 24-hour one but last call was at 6a.m., yet another reason to love New Orleans.
We got home, slept for a few hours, thanked our hosts (and their dog) over and over and headed out for Houston around 2. It was a long, rainy drive to get here, and seemed even longer because of the weather and the fact that a 2004 Ford Ranger packed to the roof with backpacks, guitars, food, and beer is not the most comfortable place to try to sleep. But we made it, and subsequently had a long battle with Rice University over where the hell you are allowed to park overnight. Apparently nowhere. Agh.
So now we're up, doing computer things, and hopefully we'll make it out to explore the city a little before the storm really hits. Hurricane Alex can do nothing to weaken my resolve to drink and meet people. I'll keep you posted!
Once again,
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Monday, June 28, 2010
...I don't think we're in Florida anymore...
Finally, we are out of the state of Florida. It feels like we were there forever, although I just realized it was only actually 6 days. The weirdest juxtaposition of this trip so far has been spending 6 days in one state, and then being in 4 states the next day. The U.S., England, and Mexico are all out of the World Cup running, so now all we have is Ghana to root for before all of our teams are out. (By "our" teams, I mean I get to root for Ghana because Dre went there once. I think we're becoming the smae person so that's probably ok.)
Tallahassee was an interesting place, we met some fun people at the pub (which was SO RIDICULOUSLY CROWDED) and ended up staying the night with an old hippie. Coolest house ever - I've never seen so many knick knacks all in one place!! We went out for a little bit that night, just trying to see the town, but there were only about 4 bars, and they were all like nasty college frat bars. Which can definitely be fun (clearly... who am I again?) but not really what we were in the mood for. No worries though, we went home, watched a movie and went to sleep!
On our way to New Orleans yesterday we stopped near Eglin Air Force Base to go to the beach, and ended up finding tar balls while swimming in the ocean. Really sad, the beach wasn't messy yet but just to know that it will be soon was depressing, especially because it was so so beautiful. Stopped at a few more places on the Gulf to try to see some oily beaches (half from rubbernecking, half because...how could we not?) but didn't see much. We finally made it into our campground very near New Orleans around 6, after a 8 hour total trip. Bayou Segnett State Park was so so nice, and if we hadn't found an awesome couch surfer to stay with for the rest of the time we would be totally happy to have stayed there. We made some Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice for dinner in honor of the occasion and the location, and then headed out on the town!
Another advantage of the campground was that it was only about a 15 minute drive to Bourbon St. However, we spent longer than that trying to find a place to park in the French Quarter. In the scheme of things though, that was the only problem we had, so the night was definitely a success! We went to a bar called Krazy Korner (I think?) and had a great time chatting with the upstairs bartender. We made a great friend who's really into traveling and couch surfing, and what more do you need when traveling than 3-for-1 drink deals (what?!?!?!) and new friends? Nothing.
Today has been mostly trying to sleep while the sun streams in the truck window at 7 a.m., and then dealing with rain. Go figure. But on the plus side, we got to our couch surfing location around 1 and it's been great to have air conditioning, a fridge, and wireless! And possibly a delicious Twix to help also. haha
For the rest of the night, I think we're going to look for free red beans and rice (apparently that's a common Monday thing... awesome!!) and then we'll head wherever the night takes us! I'm sure it will be fun, I decided that I'm totally in love with New Orleans and now that we know where to go for locals bars I'm excited to explore!
Alright, now that I"m all caught up it's time to get off my computer and go do stuff!
Thanks for reading everyone!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Tallahassee was an interesting place, we met some fun people at the pub (which was SO RIDICULOUSLY CROWDED) and ended up staying the night with an old hippie. Coolest house ever - I've never seen so many knick knacks all in one place!! We went out for a little bit that night, just trying to see the town, but there were only about 4 bars, and they were all like nasty college frat bars. Which can definitely be fun (clearly... who am I again?) but not really what we were in the mood for. No worries though, we went home, watched a movie and went to sleep!
On our way to New Orleans yesterday we stopped near Eglin Air Force Base to go to the beach, and ended up finding tar balls while swimming in the ocean. Really sad, the beach wasn't messy yet but just to know that it will be soon was depressing, especially because it was so so beautiful. Stopped at a few more places on the Gulf to try to see some oily beaches (half from rubbernecking, half because...how could we not?) but didn't see much. We finally made it into our campground very near New Orleans around 6, after a 8 hour total trip. Bayou Segnett State Park was so so nice, and if we hadn't found an awesome couch surfer to stay with for the rest of the time we would be totally happy to have stayed there. We made some Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice for dinner in honor of the occasion and the location, and then headed out on the town!
Another advantage of the campground was that it was only about a 15 minute drive to Bourbon St. However, we spent longer than that trying to find a place to park in the French Quarter. In the scheme of things though, that was the only problem we had, so the night was definitely a success! We went to a bar called Krazy Korner (I think?) and had a great time chatting with the upstairs bartender. We made a great friend who's really into traveling and couch surfing, and what more do you need when traveling than 3-for-1 drink deals (what?!?!?!) and new friends? Nothing.
Today has been mostly trying to sleep while the sun streams in the truck window at 7 a.m., and then dealing with rain. Go figure. But on the plus side, we got to our couch surfing location around 1 and it's been great to have air conditioning, a fridge, and wireless! And possibly a delicious Twix to help also. haha
For the rest of the night, I think we're going to look for free red beans and rice (apparently that's a common Monday thing... awesome!!) and then we'll head wherever the night takes us! I'm sure it will be fun, I decided that I'm totally in love with New Orleans and now that we know where to go for locals bars I'm excited to explore!
Alright, now that I"m all caught up it's time to get off my computer and go do stuff!
Thanks for reading everyone!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
The Happiest Place on Earth... for Muggles
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ORLANDO
Basically we went there for the sole purpose of going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The line just to get into that part of the park was 2 hours long at 11 a.m. so we held off and went to some other areas of the park until the line cleared out around 2. And let me just say, every single minute I spent waiting in line to get into rides, shops, bathrooms, whatever – TOTALLY WORTH IT!! Hogsmeade was adorable and all of the shops were a great mix of attraction and retail. The wait for the Dragon Challenge rollercoaster was only 10 minutes the whole time, and of course was made much easier by the fact that the line wound through dungeons and the Champions’ Tent on the way to the ride. There was a cute little family-friendly rollercoaster based on Hagrid teaching you how to train hippogriffs, and that was a nice way for me to warm up to the bigger rides. By far the best of all though was the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” ride. We had a 90 minute wait, and most of that time was standing in a line that wound back and forth outside the castle and in fact was diverted out of the Wizarding World section of the park in order to make the line longer. However, once we got into Hogwarts Castle it was so cool to hear and see the portraits talking to each other, standing in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom watching a hologram of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and feeling some kind of fake snow that “Hermione” made fall. (That was like the coolest thing ever – it was just like snow but I don’t think they can make fake snow in Orlando in July so I have no idea how they did it.) Finally we got to the ride, which was a kind of simulator, where you are strapped into your seat and moved through the castle while all around you TV screens show you flying around the castle avoiding a dragon, complete with having head blasted at you when the dragon breathes fire in your direction. Terrifying and awesome and worth it in every way. The food was good, the rides were good, and everything was pretty accurate – no complaints from me! The lines of course were long but to be fair it’s Universal Studios in the summer time, and the park had only been open for a week.
So that was my day of Harry Potter nerd paradise. I highly recommend it and I’m looking forward to going back in the off-season in a few years when there aren’t any lines.
So after that we stayed in a Knights Inn whore-tel near the Café Risque (“We Bare It All”) in Williston, FL because the campground we tried was creepy and totally deserted. Headed out around 11 this morning and now we just got off the highway in Tallahassee! We’re going to a pub to watch the U.S.-Ghana World Cup game – I’m taking bets on who Dre will be rooting for. Haha.
Well we’re about 3 miles from the bar so I’m going to sign off for now and start getting pumped for the game!
Sorry I didn’t post for a while – lots of things to do and enjoy and not as much driving as usual. I’ll be better about it for the next few days since we’re doing more driving, although I’m not totally sure when we’ll have wireless again. But never fear, I’m still here! And feel free to Facebook me or text me if you find yourself going through Katie withdrawal (I know it’s a common problem, maybe I can get you a prescription for methadone or something haha.)
GO USA!!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Basically we went there for the sole purpose of going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The line just to get into that part of the park was 2 hours long at 11 a.m. so we held off and went to some other areas of the park until the line cleared out around 2. And let me just say, every single minute I spent waiting in line to get into rides, shops, bathrooms, whatever – TOTALLY WORTH IT!! Hogsmeade was adorable and all of the shops were a great mix of attraction and retail. The wait for the Dragon Challenge rollercoaster was only 10 minutes the whole time, and of course was made much easier by the fact that the line wound through dungeons and the Champions’ Tent on the way to the ride. There was a cute little family-friendly rollercoaster based on Hagrid teaching you how to train hippogriffs, and that was a nice way for me to warm up to the bigger rides. By far the best of all though was the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” ride. We had a 90 minute wait, and most of that time was standing in a line that wound back and forth outside the castle and in fact was diverted out of the Wizarding World section of the park in order to make the line longer. However, once we got into Hogwarts Castle it was so cool to hear and see the portraits talking to each other, standing in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom watching a hologram of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and feeling some kind of fake snow that “Hermione” made fall. (That was like the coolest thing ever – it was just like snow but I don’t think they can make fake snow in Orlando in July so I have no idea how they did it.) Finally we got to the ride, which was a kind of simulator, where you are strapped into your seat and moved through the castle while all around you TV screens show you flying around the castle avoiding a dragon, complete with having head blasted at you when the dragon breathes fire in your direction. Terrifying and awesome and worth it in every way. The food was good, the rides were good, and everything was pretty accurate – no complaints from me! The lines of course were long but to be fair it’s Universal Studios in the summer time, and the park had only been open for a week.
So that was my day of Harry Potter nerd paradise. I highly recommend it and I’m looking forward to going back in the off-season in a few years when there aren’t any lines.
So after that we stayed in a Knights Inn whore-tel near the Café Risque (“We Bare It All”) in Williston, FL because the campground we tried was creepy and totally deserted. Headed out around 11 this morning and now we just got off the highway in Tallahassee! We’re going to a pub to watch the U.S.-Ghana World Cup game – I’m taking bets on who Dre will be rooting for. Haha.
Well we’re about 3 miles from the bar so I’m going to sign off for now and start getting pumped for the game!
Sorry I didn’t post for a while – lots of things to do and enjoy and not as much driving as usual. I’ll be better about it for the next few days since we’re doing more driving, although I’m not totally sure when we’ll have wireless again. But never fear, I’m still here! And feel free to Facebook me or text me if you find yourself going through Katie withdrawal (I know it’s a common problem, maybe I can get you a prescription for methadone or something haha.)
GO USA!!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Actual Post About West Palm and Miami
Alright readers, I’m now sitting in the car about 30 miles from Tallahassee, so I finally have time to fill you in on all the fun happenings from this leg of the trip. We had the awesome opportunity to stay with our friend Josh from A.U., whose parents have a house near West Palm Beach. It was really really great of them to host us for 5 days, and between that, them taking us, Josh, and another visiting friend Christina, out to dinner, insisting that we take snacks with us for the road, and Josh taking us out to see the town and Miami, we are so grateful for the Diamond family’s hospitality.
SO on to the events… when we got to Josh’s, he and Christina welcomed us with cold Coronas, which was like the coolest most perfect way to arrive anywhere ever. That night we went to Clematis St. in downtown West Palm to a rum bar, where we drank what was basically rum jungle juice and listened to a live reggae band. Very chill and relaxing.
The next day was our Miami day, and we ended up getting there around 5:30 or 6 I think. We had some happy hour margaritas at an “Irish pub” named Finnigans (the only Irish thing about it was its name, but it was right on the beach and we sat outside on wicker love seats, so I’m not complaining). We hung out on the beach for a little bit, maybe an hour or so, and then headed BACK to that Irish place for more drinks and a little food. The sun went down and we started the night in earnest, walking down the strip and stopping for drinks at a few places, including one called Wet Willies which basically only served slushies. However, the best place we went, by far, was Mangoes. It’s a little hard to explain but imagine a salsa club mixed with European techno, with a stage with professional dancers performing and sometimes singing, and all the girls basically wearing nothing. I don’t know if that’s a good way to explain it but I had SO much fun, even though their vodka sodas were $11 – their rail was Grey Goose. Bienvenido a Miami. Haha. We went back to the beach as soon as it opened at 5 a.m., went swimming, and fell asleep on the beach until about 6:30, when we left. All in all, a GREAT awesome fun night in Miami.
The rest of the week we went to the pool in Josh’s neighborhood, hung out at his house, went out with him and his friends and Friday morning left at 6 a.m. to go to...
(to be continued...)
SO on to the events… when we got to Josh’s, he and Christina welcomed us with cold Coronas, which was like the coolest most perfect way to arrive anywhere ever. That night we went to Clematis St. in downtown West Palm to a rum bar, where we drank what was basically rum jungle juice and listened to a live reggae band. Very chill and relaxing.
The next day was our Miami day, and we ended up getting there around 5:30 or 6 I think. We had some happy hour margaritas at an “Irish pub” named Finnigans (the only Irish thing about it was its name, but it was right on the beach and we sat outside on wicker love seats, so I’m not complaining). We hung out on the beach for a little bit, maybe an hour or so, and then headed BACK to that Irish place for more drinks and a little food. The sun went down and we started the night in earnest, walking down the strip and stopping for drinks at a few places, including one called Wet Willies which basically only served slushies. However, the best place we went, by far, was Mangoes. It’s a little hard to explain but imagine a salsa club mixed with European techno, with a stage with professional dancers performing and sometimes singing, and all the girls basically wearing nothing. I don’t know if that’s a good way to explain it but I had SO much fun, even though their vodka sodas were $11 – their rail was Grey Goose. Bienvenido a Miami. Haha. We went back to the beach as soon as it opened at 5 a.m., went swimming, and fell asleep on the beach until about 6:30, when we left. All in all, a GREAT awesome fun night in Miami.
The rest of the week we went to the pool in Josh’s neighborhood, hung out at his house, went out with him and his friends and Friday morning left at 6 a.m. to go to...
(to be continued...)
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Welcome to the City Where the Heat is On...
Hello everyone! No, this post is not actually going to be about West Palm Beach or Miami or Orlando.... yet. I just wanted to let everyone know that we're alive, we made it, and today we're heading northwest in FL for what might be our last night in the state. I'll give you a much more detailed version of this past week when I get a chance, but here's the rundown:
listened to live reggae at a rum bar
West to Miami, drank all night, danced at a salsa club until 5 a.m., swam in the ocean, fell asleep on the beach, and got back home at 8 a.m.
Went to a techno club
Laid by the pool
Went to Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (!!!!!!)
So I would say this state has been quite a success so far! I hope your interest has been sharpened and you're waiting on the edge of your seat to hear more about it.
Until I actually have time,
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
listened to live reggae at a rum bar
West to Miami, drank all night, danced at a salsa club until 5 a.m., swam in the ocean, fell asleep on the beach, and got back home at 8 a.m.
Went to a techno club
Laid by the pool
Went to Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (!!!!!!)
So I would say this state has been quite a success so far! I hope your interest has been sharpened and you're waiting on the edge of your seat to hear more about it.
Until I actually have time,
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
On the Road Again...
So I never thought that a 2-day journey in the car could be so fun and easy! My last post was written about an hour or so south of Nashville while I was in the car, at about 2 p.m. on Sunday, and we made it to West Palm Beach, FL around 6 yesterday (Monday). Sunday was a lot of driving and sleeping, and then around 8:30 we started to look for a place to bed down for the night. Our problem was that all of the state parks in souther GA were all $25-$28 per night, which was wayyyy more than we had expected (the parks I looked at in TN and KY were all like...$12 a night). Finally we decided to ask if an RV park also had camping (which it did). Unfortunately it was also expensive at $20 for the night, but when we asked the lady if she knew of any truck stops nearby on the interstate, she reminded us that we really didn't want to be sleeping at a truck stop in southern Georgia. Good point, lady. So we camped there and ended up being really happy with it - we cooked dinner on my Coleman stove (before we remembered that we didn't have a spatula, tongs, forks, or a pasta drainer, all things we needed to make and eat this food), we set up my tent and hung out in it for a while, and then Dre slept on the air mattress in the truck while I had some nice bonding time with my tent.
Yesterday we got up and got out around 9:30 and drove until about 3, when we got really excited to stop and see the Kennedy Space Center Museum. Definitely did not realize until we got there that it was going to cost $41. So we said screw that, I'm saving my money for Harry Potter. Apparently we would rather be involved with fake characters from childrens' novels than real people going to space. You really shouldn't be surprised. Haha. So we headed back to the highway and got to our friend Josh's house in West Palm, had some pizza and headed out to a rum bar downtown around 11. We heard a cool live dub step band (I don't really know what that means but it was kind of reggae-ish), and then when they closed around 1:30 we headed to another place until about 3. Yes, the bars here close at 3 a.m. on weekdays. Holy crap.
This brings me up to now, while we're trying to figure out what to do for the day (yes I do realize that it's already 1 p.m.) and drinking lots of coffee.
Make sure you watch the U.S. vs Algeria World Cup game tomorrow morning at 9:30! We'll be watching it here!
And now I think we're off to Miami Beach for the day! I hope you are all having fun and not totally jealous of me being here on this awesome beach vacation! Be sure to check out gringanomad.blogspot.com for Dre's version of events!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Yesterday we got up and got out around 9:30 and drove until about 3, when we got really excited to stop and see the Kennedy Space Center Museum. Definitely did not realize until we got there that it was going to cost $41. So we said screw that, I'm saving my money for Harry Potter. Apparently we would rather be involved with fake characters from childrens' novels than real people going to space. You really shouldn't be surprised. Haha. So we headed back to the highway and got to our friend Josh's house in West Palm, had some pizza and headed out to a rum bar downtown around 11. We heard a cool live dub step band (I don't really know what that means but it was kind of reggae-ish), and then when they closed around 1:30 we headed to another place until about 3. Yes, the bars here close at 3 a.m. on weekdays. Holy crap.
This brings me up to now, while we're trying to figure out what to do for the day (yes I do realize that it's already 1 p.m.) and drinking lots of coffee.
Make sure you watch the U.S. vs Algeria World Cup game tomorrow morning at 9:30! We'll be watching it here!
And now I think we're off to Miami Beach for the day! I hope you are all having fun and not totally jealous of me being here on this awesome beach vacation! Be sure to check out gringanomad.blogspot.com for Dre's version of events!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Nashville Cats
Hello again everyone, right now I’m sitting in the car with 875 miles to go and figured that I might as well put this time to good use.
So Nashville was really cool, and part of our great time is definitely due to the gracious hospitality of our fabulous hostess Sarah, who I was great friends with in high school. Let me just say that she just bought a (really REALLY NICE) townhome in Nashville and has a great job running the websites for some really big country stars. Definitely would love for my life to be in half as good of shape as hers when I’m 23.
It only took us about 5 hours to drive from St. Louis to Nashville, so we were able to get there in plenty of time ot go out on Friday night, even after stopping in Metropolis, Indiana to take a picture with an unimpressive “Huge Statue of Superman.” If only there had not been families around, we would have been ale to take lots more interesting pictures with the statues and props. But that was probably for the best, because who knows what kind of indecency laws there are in tiny tourist towns in Indiana and it was better that we didn’t have to find out the hard way. The slightly less exciting but ultimately more appropriate pictures will soon be posted up on the trip Facebook group.
So, after our Superman detour we got to Nashville around 9:30 p.m. and soon thereafter headed out to Dan McGuinness, a surprisingly expensive and DC-ish bar for Tennessee. Lots of dancing to Top 40 and club hits while the music videos played on a screen by the DJ. (Note – see gringanomad’s blog for interesting commentary on Nashville headgear.) It was a fun place to start but we decided that we would rather be somewhere a little more Nashville so we headed to Broadway, the main drag where all the big bars with live music are. Encountered a very unenthusiastic bachelor party (one guy was falling asleep – not passing out, actually falling asleep – at the table) and an awesome but intimidating karaoke bar where the bartenders were also some of the singers. What a fun life.
Headed home and the next day (Saturday) we went back to Broadway for the afternoon and had a great time drinking beer and listening to some great bands play country music. Highlights include magically appearing tequila shots, making friends with the band at Legend’s Corner, and accidentally telling the whole bar that my name was Peggy. Saturday night we headed back to The Stage even though we were both dragging a little and saw this ridiculous country band that thought it was some kind of fusion of country, 80’s hair rock and generic Top 40 rock. Some fun covers and some awful, awful originals (one chorus: “If I had wings I would fly away/If I had wings I would fly away/I would fly away if I had wings”), followed by some girl from NYC who sang a bizarre cover of “When I Think About You I Touch Myself,” a barely-acceptable song even in the best of circumstances. Sort of an odd evening but there were some fun moments and I’m glad we went out (also glad we each only had 1 beer, so the night cost a whopping total of $5).
After we packed up and headed out this morning, we stopped for brunch at the Pancake Pantry with my friend Erin, who I met at AU through Honors 101 and who was a Delta Gamma with me. The food was great and it was great to catch up and hear about life as a PhD candidate in economics at Vanderbilt (needless to say, I’m glad there are other people in the world willing to do it so I don’t have to). The food was great and despite the length of the line running out the door and around the corner, we were seated fast and the waitress took great care of us despite the crowds. Neat little place, and Dre and I got away with splitting a breakfast and each getting coffee for a total of $13.
This brings me to our current location, on I-24 East near (in?) Murfreesboro, TN. We’re en route to West Palm Beach, Florida to visit another friend from A.U. and go to the Harry Potter park in Orlando (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) while we’re in the area. This is the only place where we are spending money – it’s about $80 per one-day ticket. A review is definitely forthcoming.
By now we are down to 846 miles to go and searching through AAA tour books and my huge atlas for possible places to camp somewhere in Georgia tonight. My friends from the bar in Whitesville KY said that the people Down South are just as unfriendly as the people Up North but they hate women more, so I’m spending my time hoping that they were wrong, or if not, that this will be a fast trip. Mostly the first one though – I’ve had a great time talking to all sorts of fun people so far.
Until next time,
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
So Nashville was really cool, and part of our great time is definitely due to the gracious hospitality of our fabulous hostess Sarah, who I was great friends with in high school. Let me just say that she just bought a (really REALLY NICE) townhome in Nashville and has a great job running the websites for some really big country stars. Definitely would love for my life to be in half as good of shape as hers when I’m 23.
It only took us about 5 hours to drive from St. Louis to Nashville, so we were able to get there in plenty of time ot go out on Friday night, even after stopping in Metropolis, Indiana to take a picture with an unimpressive “Huge Statue of Superman.” If only there had not been families around, we would have been ale to take lots more interesting pictures with the statues and props. But that was probably for the best, because who knows what kind of indecency laws there are in tiny tourist towns in Indiana and it was better that we didn’t have to find out the hard way. The slightly less exciting but ultimately more appropriate pictures will soon be posted up on the trip Facebook group.
So, after our Superman detour we got to Nashville around 9:30 p.m. and soon thereafter headed out to Dan McGuinness, a surprisingly expensive and DC-ish bar for Tennessee. Lots of dancing to Top 40 and club hits while the music videos played on a screen by the DJ. (Note – see gringanomad’s blog for interesting commentary on Nashville headgear.) It was a fun place to start but we decided that we would rather be somewhere a little more Nashville so we headed to Broadway, the main drag where all the big bars with live music are. Encountered a very unenthusiastic bachelor party (one guy was falling asleep – not passing out, actually falling asleep – at the table) and an awesome but intimidating karaoke bar where the bartenders were also some of the singers. What a fun life.
Headed home and the next day (Saturday) we went back to Broadway for the afternoon and had a great time drinking beer and listening to some great bands play country music. Highlights include magically appearing tequila shots, making friends with the band at Legend’s Corner, and accidentally telling the whole bar that my name was Peggy. Saturday night we headed back to The Stage even though we were both dragging a little and saw this ridiculous country band that thought it was some kind of fusion of country, 80’s hair rock and generic Top 40 rock. Some fun covers and some awful, awful originals (one chorus: “If I had wings I would fly away/If I had wings I would fly away/I would fly away if I had wings”), followed by some girl from NYC who sang a bizarre cover of “When I Think About You I Touch Myself,” a barely-acceptable song even in the best of circumstances. Sort of an odd evening but there were some fun moments and I’m glad we went out (also glad we each only had 1 beer, so the night cost a whopping total of $5).
After we packed up and headed out this morning, we stopped for brunch at the Pancake Pantry with my friend Erin, who I met at AU through Honors 101 and who was a Delta Gamma with me. The food was great and it was great to catch up and hear about life as a PhD candidate in economics at Vanderbilt (needless to say, I’m glad there are other people in the world willing to do it so I don’t have to). The food was great and despite the length of the line running out the door and around the corner, we were seated fast and the waitress took great care of us despite the crowds. Neat little place, and Dre and I got away with splitting a breakfast and each getting coffee for a total of $13.
This brings me to our current location, on I-24 East near (in?) Murfreesboro, TN. We’re en route to West Palm Beach, Florida to visit another friend from A.U. and go to the Harry Potter park in Orlando (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) while we’re in the area. This is the only place where we are spending money – it’s about $80 per one-day ticket. A review is definitely forthcoming.
By now we are down to 846 miles to go and searching through AAA tour books and my huge atlas for possible places to camp somewhere in Georgia tonight. My friends from the bar in Whitesville KY said that the people Down South are just as unfriendly as the people Up North but they hate women more, so I’m spending my time hoping that they were wrong, or if not, that this will be a fast trip. Mostly the first one though – I’ve had a great time talking to all sorts of fun people so far.
Until next time,
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Sunday, June 20, 2010
The Gateway to the West
"Well I'm going down the Mississippi River,
Yes I am, yes I am..."
I didn't go down the Mississippi River, but I did want to include some kind of fun song lyrics because it was a big deal to see the river!
I got into St. Louis around 2:30 on Wednesday and Dre's mom immediately fed me leftover brats and coffee... this is the moment when I decided I love the Midwest! Haha. Dre and her friends took me to walk around downtown and see the Arch and the river, and then Mr. and Mrs. Bachmann took us all to see the Cardinals play the Mariners! The Cards lost (it was close at the end though!) and then we went to Ted Drewe's and a cool little bowling and pool bar - apparently I am thoroughly Saint-Louised now.
Thursday we went to Grant's Farm and it was SO GREAT!! I saw zebras and yaks and buffalo (nom!) and camels and horses and I fed baby goats! Dre also fed baby goats but she had kind of a hard time - there were like 20 goats climbing over each other to get a bite of her skirt. Too bad I didn't get any pictures. Haha. We had a great dinner with Dre's parents and grandparents, and then headed out for a goodbye shindig for Dre! Ladies' night - all you can drink rails and drafts for $5. I wish DC had specials like that! (although not anywhere I work... haha)
Friday was a big deal because I had a life-changing epiphany. Dre's friends took us to Sweet Art, a "from-scratch bakery and art studio" serving local, organic, vegan and vegetarian food. Of course my first reaction to going to a place like this was to assume it was hippie B.S. BUT!!!! After having a grilled cheese - roasted garlic - broccoli - avocado sandwich on home made bread and an amazing cookies and cream cupcake.... my mind has totally been changed. It was SO SO SO GOOD and I will no longer immediately dismiss this whole local/organic/vegan movement as, well, hippie B.S. I mean it still definitely is, but it also produces some damn good food. Summary - 15 thumbs up for Sweet Art.
We left St. Louis around 4:15 and made it to Nashville around 9:30 after stopping at my first useless tourist trap of the trip. Tune in next time to see what it was and to hear all about Music City!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Yes I am, yes I am..."
I didn't go down the Mississippi River, but I did want to include some kind of fun song lyrics because it was a big deal to see the river!
I got into St. Louis around 2:30 on Wednesday and Dre's mom immediately fed me leftover brats and coffee... this is the moment when I decided I love the Midwest! Haha. Dre and her friends took me to walk around downtown and see the Arch and the river, and then Mr. and Mrs. Bachmann took us all to see the Cardinals play the Mariners! The Cards lost (it was close at the end though!) and then we went to Ted Drewe's and a cool little bowling and pool bar - apparently I am thoroughly Saint-Louised now.
Thursday we went to Grant's Farm and it was SO GREAT!! I saw zebras and yaks and buffalo (nom!) and camels and horses and I fed baby goats! Dre also fed baby goats but she had kind of a hard time - there were like 20 goats climbing over each other to get a bite of her skirt. Too bad I didn't get any pictures. Haha. We had a great dinner with Dre's parents and grandparents, and then headed out for a goodbye shindig for Dre! Ladies' night - all you can drink rails and drafts for $5. I wish DC had specials like that! (although not anywhere I work... haha)
Friday was a big deal because I had a life-changing epiphany. Dre's friends took us to Sweet Art, a "from-scratch bakery and art studio" serving local, organic, vegan and vegetarian food. Of course my first reaction to going to a place like this was to assume it was hippie B.S. BUT!!!! After having a grilled cheese - roasted garlic - broccoli - avocado sandwich on home made bread and an amazing cookies and cream cupcake.... my mind has totally been changed. It was SO SO SO GOOD and I will no longer immediately dismiss this whole local/organic/vegan movement as, well, hippie B.S. I mean it still definitely is, but it also produces some damn good food. Summary - 15 thumbs up for Sweet Art.
We left St. Louis around 4:15 and made it to Nashville around 9:30 after stopping at my first useless tourist trap of the trip. Tune in next time to see what it was and to hear all about Music City!
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The Beginning of the Adventure!
Hey Everyone!
So it's been a while since my last post, and I did indeed get a tent. It's the Big Agnes Lynx Pass 2, a 2 person tent that is actually big enough for 2 people! One reviewer said that between the tent and the vestibule created by the rain fly, they fit 2 people, 2 packs, and a dog. I'm betting their dog isn't as big as Rocky, but that's still pretty good capacity for a 2 man tent. I'm excited to use it!
So, the trip - I left on Sunday June 13 and made the short trip to Shepherdstown, WV to stay with my mom's parents for the night. It was a good chance to see them, sleep one last night in a real bed, and get some good food and coffee before the roughing it started. So far, sticking with my original plan.
Then Monday happened and I changed all sorts of things around. I had planned to take I-81 to I-64 through Kentucky and Indiana and get to St. Louis that way. However, I realized I had basically 2 and a half days of driving for a trip that would barely take me a day and a half. So then came my idea of taking I-81 South ALLLL the way through Virginia and spending my night in Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. So that's Plan B.
Made it all the way down 81, ended up in Tennessee trying to make it to Cumberland Gap. After a long time spent in the asscrack of nowhere in northeastern TN, a.k.a. the place where they probably filmed Deliverance, I finally made it to the park. By then I was a little creeped out (I don't think I've seen so many shacks and churches in one place in my life), plus it was only barely dusk, so I decided to push on and get over to I-75, where I could find civilization and a truck stop. (Can you believe that I just counted truckers in Tennessee as civilization?? This trip has changed me already... haha.) So I ended up following Plan C and stayed at a Pilot on I-75.
Tuesday comes around: I decided to spend some time in Kentucky on the Bourbon Trail, for obvious reasons. Drove 3 hours north to Versailles for the Woodford Reserve Distillery tour and free sample (guess which one I was more excited for?) and was disappointed - a 2 hour long tour that cost me $5, and only like a third of a shot at the end for my trouble. Where's your famous hospitality now, Kentucky? I'm just kidding, I'm still glad I did it and now I know that Woodford Reserve is delicious and I'll never be able to afford it. However, it did help me decide to skip the rest of the bourbon trail.
Eventually I decided to just drive as far west as possible before stopping, so I took the Blue Grass Parkway to the Western Kentucky Parkway. Apparently Western Kentucky is a wasteland, so I finally found a park and decided to stay there the night. Here's where the story gets good. So I drive 45 minutes off the highway on tiny roads and finally find the Rough River Dam State Resort Park. It's only like 6 pm (Central) so I figured I would find a bar to go to for a bit before I settled down at the park for the night. When I asked at the front desk at the lodge, guess what I found out - It's a dry county! And all surrounding counties are dry! And the nearest bar is 45 minutes away!
But of course, I had time to kill and wanted some company, and 45 minute drive has never been able to stop me yet, so I headed off to Whitesville KY (population: 623) and the Black Cat. I had a great time, $2 beers and lots of people shocked to see someone from as far away as Maryland and willing to tell me about how great Kentucky is. Headed home around 10 p.m. and camped out for the night. The best part was in the morning - I went to settle up with the campground and they let me go for free! All in all, a successful stop.
The next morning I headed to I-64 and St. Louis, but that's for another post!
To see pictures from the trip so far, check out my Facebook group Around the Country in 60 Days!! I'm working on making a Twitter so I'll keep you posted.
Next update: St. Louis Missouri - the Gateway to the West!
I leave you with one question - how the hell are I-81 SOUTH and I-77 NORTH the same road? Discuss.
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
So it's been a while since my last post, and I did indeed get a tent. It's the Big Agnes Lynx Pass 2, a 2 person tent that is actually big enough for 2 people! One reviewer said that between the tent and the vestibule created by the rain fly, they fit 2 people, 2 packs, and a dog. I'm betting their dog isn't as big as Rocky, but that's still pretty good capacity for a 2 man tent. I'm excited to use it!
So, the trip - I left on Sunday June 13 and made the short trip to Shepherdstown, WV to stay with my mom's parents for the night. It was a good chance to see them, sleep one last night in a real bed, and get some good food and coffee before the roughing it started. So far, sticking with my original plan.
Then Monday happened and I changed all sorts of things around. I had planned to take I-81 to I-64 through Kentucky and Indiana and get to St. Louis that way. However, I realized I had basically 2 and a half days of driving for a trip that would barely take me a day and a half. So then came my idea of taking I-81 South ALLLL the way through Virginia and spending my night in Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. So that's Plan B.
Made it all the way down 81, ended up in Tennessee trying to make it to Cumberland Gap. After a long time spent in the asscrack of nowhere in northeastern TN, a.k.a. the place where they probably filmed Deliverance, I finally made it to the park. By then I was a little creeped out (I don't think I've seen so many shacks and churches in one place in my life), plus it was only barely dusk, so I decided to push on and get over to I-75, where I could find civilization and a truck stop. (Can you believe that I just counted truckers in Tennessee as civilization?? This trip has changed me already... haha.) So I ended up following Plan C and stayed at a Pilot on I-75.
Tuesday comes around: I decided to spend some time in Kentucky on the Bourbon Trail, for obvious reasons. Drove 3 hours north to Versailles for the Woodford Reserve Distillery tour and free sample (guess which one I was more excited for?) and was disappointed - a 2 hour long tour that cost me $5, and only like a third of a shot at the end for my trouble. Where's your famous hospitality now, Kentucky? I'm just kidding, I'm still glad I did it and now I know that Woodford Reserve is delicious and I'll never be able to afford it. However, it did help me decide to skip the rest of the bourbon trail.
Eventually I decided to just drive as far west as possible before stopping, so I took the Blue Grass Parkway to the Western Kentucky Parkway. Apparently Western Kentucky is a wasteland, so I finally found a park and decided to stay there the night. Here's where the story gets good. So I drive 45 minutes off the highway on tiny roads and finally find the Rough River Dam State Resort Park. It's only like 6 pm (Central) so I figured I would find a bar to go to for a bit before I settled down at the park for the night. When I asked at the front desk at the lodge, guess what I found out - It's a dry county! And all surrounding counties are dry! And the nearest bar is 45 minutes away!
But of course, I had time to kill and wanted some company, and 45 minute drive has never been able to stop me yet, so I headed off to Whitesville KY (population: 623) and the Black Cat. I had a great time, $2 beers and lots of people shocked to see someone from as far away as Maryland and willing to tell me about how great Kentucky is. Headed home around 10 p.m. and camped out for the night. The best part was in the morning - I went to settle up with the campground and they let me go for free! All in all, a successful stop.
The next morning I headed to I-64 and St. Louis, but that's for another post!
To see pictures from the trip so far, check out my Facebook group Around the Country in 60 Days!! I'm working on making a Twitter so I'll keep you posted.
Next update: St. Louis Missouri - the Gateway to the West!
I leave you with one question - how the hell are I-81 SOUTH and I-77 NORTH the same road? Discuss.
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Gearing Up - Again!
This part of my blog is for my trip around the U.S. over the summer - June 7th-ish through August 15th-ish 2010! I'll be talking about my experiences with my friends, meeting people, seeing cool things, panhandling, and whatever ridiculous and unplanned stuff ends up happening on the road!
Currently I am looking for a 3-man tent (because let's face it, they're still usually barely big enough for 2 people) and lots of advice, suggestions, and places to stay over the summer!
Join my Facebook group, Around the Country in 60 Days!! It has a pretty complete list of stops along the way and a message board for suggestions, discussions, etc.
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Currently I am looking for a 3-man tent (because let's face it, they're still usually barely big enough for 2 people) and lots of advice, suggestions, and places to stay over the summer!
Join my Facebook group, Around the Country in 60 Days!! It has a pretty complete list of stops along the way and a message board for suggestions, discussions, etc.
Yours in Wandering,
Katie
Monday, March 16, 2009
More Pictures!
I've put up pictures on my album of my Spring Break trip to Vienna, Salzburg, and Prague, and then added pictures of me and Tom in London and Rome!
Unfortunately I'm almost completely out of money so I'm not sure how much more traveling I'll be able to do but hopefully I'll be able to get to Scotland and visit Luli.
To see the pictures, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/Katie.LaBarre/LondonPictures#
Hopefully I'll be able to take some time to write about Amsterdam, Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, and Rome with all of my free time now that classes are over!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I figured out how to show pictures!
Hi everyone! Ok, so since my internet is awful and I haven't been upload pictures for about 3 weeks now, I found a different solution. I have a web album at www.picasaweb.google.com/Katie.labarre/KatieinLondon?authkey=qVa2AEEK1Bg#
and that for some reason works much better than putting pictures on this blog. So I'll post here when I put pictures up and then you can check it out from here! I'm SO GLAD I finally figured out a way, I was getting so frustrated, I've literally tried to upload the same 5 pictures every day now for 2 weeks and it was driving me nuts.
An update on Amsterdam is still coming, don't worry! I'm in the middle of writing 2 papers that are due next Thursday and Friday since I'm going to be in Wales this weekend, but details on the Amsterdam are forthcoming (look at me using big words! Haha).
Alright, back to listening to Les Mis and talking about the financial crisis's impact on foreign exchange, short-term liquidity, and derivative markets. Fascinating. Haha. Enjoy the pictures!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
I refuse to root for either of the teams in the Super Bowl
Hello everyone, so I know I'm pretty terrible at keeping things updated on here so here comes a monster post! So the last time I posted I had just gotten back from Bath, and it's been 2 weeks since then. Ok. So everything has still been awesome, I'm still having the time of my life and classes have been going great. I've been booking all of my travel plans and I'm going to Amsterdam next weekend!! I'm so excited, my friend Jim and I are going and we're going to meet up with a few other kids that we've been getting to be really good friends with. So that's going to be awesome, and then the weekend after that is my trip to Wales! (So Mom, make sure you send my sneakers and bathing suit soon... haha).
So in the past 2 weeks I've kind of been getting into my routine, but I've still been doing a lot of touristy things and working my way through all the places that I'm "supposed" to do. My International Marketing class is basically just a field trip every other week with the excuse of doing projects on all of these places, so we went to Piccadilly Circus and Hamley's (GIANT awesome toy store), and the school paid for us to go to the Tower of London (which is 14 pounds so it was going to be pretty expensive). Tomorrow we're taking a tour of the Chelsea football stadium, and with my British Life and Cultures class we took a tour of Parliament yesterday! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside there unfortunately but I'll put up pictures from the Tower and other places. Other than that, I still have to get to Westminster Abbey and Speaker's Corner, but I've pretty much gotten to all of the big stuff. Friday I went to Camden Town which was AWESOME, it was like the goth version of Adam's Morgan in DC, just absolutely crazy, everyone there was like under the age of 27 and had crazy dyed hair and piercings. It was just really sweet. And yesterday Dana and I went to the Portobello Market, although we got there kind of late because we got distracted by a bunch of old vintage shops on the way, so we only caught the end but we're definitely going back because what we saw of it was really really cool.
Other than touristy things, I've mostly been going out at night to a bunch of different places, we want to meet as many new people as possible and try as many places as possible so we've been trying a huge variety of different places. For Inauguration we went to this place in Piccadilly called the Sports Cafe, it's really really really American but that was kind of where we wanted to be for Inauguration so it worked out well. That's also where we went to see the AFC and NFC playoffs, even though with the time difference here that meant we were there until about 3:30-4 in the morning! But I've been getting sick of Piccadilly, it's really just for tourists and barely anyone there is even British to begin with so I think we're going to start going to university student union pubs instead, we went to the one at Imperial College last night and it was so fun!! So I think that's the new plan, for a while at least.
I haven't been going out to eat very much since it ends up adding up so quickly, even though it's not too expensive, but today I went to this awesome cafe right around the corner from where I live and it was SO CUTE! Definitely the kind of place that I would love to go to all the time and be like a morning regular, if I could afford to eat out every morning. Their bagels were only a pound each and you could get a full English breakfast plus coffee or tea for 4 pounds 70! And they have really good coffee and a few tables, so I think it's going to be a good place to go and do homework and stuff. But I really only mentioned this cafe because we went there on our way out to go to the Chinese New Year celebration in Trafalgar Square! Apparently it's a tradition in London to celebrate the Chinese New Year on the Sunday after it actually happens, so we went today and it was interesting. They had a lot of speeches and not very much music or anything, which is what I was expecting and hoping to see, plus it was FREEZING out today and snowing!! So we didn't stay long but we saw them do the dragon dance thing and that was cool enough for me.
So other than that I've just been having an awesome time, I feel like I've figured things out pretty well and I can get around and not stick out too much when I want to, and I'm so excited to start traveling and going to less touristy parts of the city. I noticed I definitely feel comfortable now using the lingo, which is pretty cool, and I'm getting more used to the general sense of humor, which is definitely different but still funny. I miss things like ramen and Oreos and plumbing that works easily, but so many things make up for them so it all works out and I've really only been homesick like once in the 4 weeks I've been here. I just love it so much and I get so sad every time I think about leaving!
Alright, this is a ridiculously long post but the only other things I wanted to say is that I've been drinking (decaf) tea obsessively and I haven't had coffee the entire time I've been here!!! And I've had like... 1 can of coke. So my caffeine addiction is officially at bay.... for now... haha. Ok well enjoy the pictures and hopefully I'll update sooner than 2 weeks from now! Bye everyone!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
I'm Never Leaving This Country!
So I realize that I've been here for about 10 days now and haven't written anything yet, so this is going to be a ton of information all at once! First of all, I'm having an AMAZING time and I absolutely love everything about London and the UK and everything! Food is about the same price as it was in DC and I'm doing really well at sticking to my budget, so things aren't as crazily expensive as I thought they would be, although that's probably because the pound is dong so badly compared to the dollar at the moment. But I'm ok with that!
So I'm in 4 classes right now, International Marketing, International Trade, Fundamentals of Finance, and British Life and Cultures. All but the last will be over before our spring break in the first week of March, so I have 2 three-hour sessions of each class until the end of February. British Life and Cultures goes throughout the semester, and since I didn't end up doing the internship because my visa got screwed up I'm taking another class during the second half of the semester. A few of us had the same problem so we're taking International Business or something like that so that we'll have more than just one three-hour class a week for 6 weeks. I'm really enjoying my classes so far, there are only about 10 of us in each one. My Marketing professor is really cool, he's worked mainly in travel and tourism and he lives in the South of France, so I guess he flies back to London for Mondays and Tuesdays to teach class for 6 weeks. My International Trade professor is RIDICULOUS, he's Italian and he's the most radical person I've ever met, he legit thinks that 9/11 and all Muslim terrorism is sponsored by the U.S. government in order to keep Americans in fear so that they can keep military spending up and keep Lockheed Martin happy. Absolutely ridiculous, but the whole class is really just a big discussion and he really encourages people to debate, so I have a great time in it.
I haven't been doing too much touristy stuff yet, although last weekend our program took us on a bus tour of London so we could sort of figure out what is where and see things that we'll want to come back to, and we also went on a walking tour of Kensington on the same day. I've been going on really long walks when I have free time, I've been just picking a Tube stop and going there and wandering for a few hours and then finding the closest Tube stop and taking that home again, which I have really been enjoying because not only am I getting good exercise but it's also a way to really get to know the whole city rather than just the parts you see on tours and a good way to know where things are in relation to each other rather than in relation to just the Tube.
Yesterday we took a day trip to see Stonehenge and Bath, and it was probably one of the best days I've had here! Stonehenge was ok, I was kind of underwhelmed but then again it's just a pile of rocks that no one actually know what it is, so there's kind of a limit on the potential awesomeness. But it was still fun, I guess kind of one of those things you have to do. BUT the complete opposite was Bath, which was SO AWESOME!!! I seriously would love to just move there and never leave. Ok so after Stonehenge we drove through Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire about an hour to get to Bath, we took sort of a driving tour of Bath, and then took a tour of the Roman baths there. It all looks very much like Rome, which is kind of interesting because it's built on 7 hills and almost all of the buildings there are built in the same kind of stone in the same style. It's a city of about 100,000 people and way cooler than London in some ways, a lot of the streets are small and windy since it's built up around a medieval town, there are a lot of cobbled streets that are blocked off so cars can't drive on them, and the Bath Abbey is beautiful. Some friends and I are planning to take the train back for a day trip since we only had about an hour there to walk around and since we loved it so much.
We've been making a lot of travel plans and I'm so excited for this semester! I signed up to do an adventure weekend in Wales that includes sea kayaking, surfing, coasteering, rock climbing, so much awesome stuff. Also, when Tom come for his spring break we're planning to go to Rome for a few days, and for MY spring break, my friend Dana and I are going to Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Berlin! I really can't wait for that because it's like one of the main musical centers of Europe and I've been learning about these places since I was like 5 years old in all of my music history stuff, and also Dana is a music minor so she'll be able to appreciate the music with me rather than just being bored by all the classical stuff and not being interested. I want to get to Dublin and Paris at some point, and I'm also planning to go visit Snowdon's sister Luli (I think that's how you spell it?) with Dana, we'll probably take a long weekend and see Glasgow, Edinburgh and St. Andrew's. And I'm sure other things will come up too!
My living arrangements are awesome, I'm in a first floor flat with 4 other girls and the RA for the building. Her name is Leslie, she's from Nova Scotia and she's AWESOME!! She studies voice at the Royal College of Music and she's really chill and cool. So she has her own room and bathroom, and then me, Dana, Jackie, and Sarah are all in this HUGE room with our bathroom. The room is really big and our whole flat has 12-foot ceilings so it feels even bigger. Then we have a living room and a kitchen table and a separate kitchen, so it's almost better than my apartment last semester.
So that's kind of the brief overview of my time here so far, if you've made it all the way down here then congratulations! Hopefully I'll be better at posting more often but I just wanted everyone to know how amazing of a time I'm having and what I've been up to. Here are some pictures that I've taken so far, I hope you enjoy them!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Phone Number
Just a quick update - my international cell phone number is +44 7525 549 055. However, it will be super expensive, like $1.29 a minute apparantly to call me. So what might be easier is if you email me or instant message me and let me know when you want to talk, and I can call from my computer for about 2.4 cents per minute.
Just letting everyone know! I'm leaving tomorrow woohoo!
-Katie
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Gearing Up
Hey Everyone,
This is my first blog entry about my trip to London! I'm leaving in 6 days and wanted to set my blog and everything up before I leave.
I'll be in Kensington, London, and I'll be staying in a flat-type setup with a few other people. Luckily, I'm already friends with a good number of people in the same program with me, so I'll definitely know the people I end up living with. As far as contact information goes, I won't find out my exact address until I get there, but my username on Skype is KatieLaBarre (creative, I know).
I'll hopefully be posting an entry once a week or so, so look for more in a week, it'll be my first full day there!
Talk to you soon,
Katie
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