Think of how u would imagine Texan cowboys to be dressed..( Wrangler jeans,cowboys boats, checkered shirts, big belts with large belt buckles and ofcourse a cowboy hat) .. And you would have it exactly right! Now imagineabout a thousand in one place, along with cowgirls in the matching female equivelant! We arrived to an arena filled with cowboys and cowgirls only tofeel instantly out of place with our flipflops and Steve's manbag, but heywe're from England so its all ok!
The rodeo started with a local young country girl coming into the arena ona horse with a giant American flag, parading around as a country singersang the national anthem. This was followed by the cowboy compare gettingus all to bow our heads and pray to god and jesus and thank him that we were born American! Now those of u that know me well will know I am a definite atheist, and find it hard at the best of times when told to pray,but being told to pray and be thankful for being American... Well let'sjust say I couldn't keep a straight face and almost 'peed my pants' (said in deep south texan type accent).
After all the thanks to god and America it was time to get down to somereal action.. Bull riding! We watched Corey, Cole, Cody, jimmy, Joe and Jason and numerous other cowboys get battered around for less than 8seconds on big fat angry bulls! After the bull riding we saw some steerwrestling where cowboys gallup after the small cows and jump of their horses to wrestle the cows to the ground by their horns.. A real mans sport!!?!!
We had some more thanks for the top volunteers of the year..something aagree with (can't say I've ever volunteered for a Rodeo though.. Maybe Ishould add to my list.)
Inbetween events we were entertained by a clown and the cowboy compare whowere well a little less PC than you would expect in such public places, butwe are in the deep south! Jokes included the following..
Clown's joke - 'I got caught up in an armed robbery yesyterrday, the robberasked a guy if he'd seen anything to which he replied 'I saw it all' thenwas instantly shot dead. He then asked me and I said 'I saw nothing but mywife over there saw the whole thing!' - that was the joke.. Obviouslydidn't get on with his wife.
Other sexist jokes included 'wives say an average of 7000 words a day ofwhich approximately 6000 are ' are you listening to me?'
And the top unPC joke by the cowboy - 'they've been advertising missingchildren on milk cartons and it seems to have been working well. Do youthink if a tranvestite went missing they would advertise on cartons of halfand half?' - everyone laughed.. A lot! I was in shock!
Jokes aside the next event was definitely no joke! Ever seen any MuttinBustin? Know what it is? I'm guessin probably not. Muttin Bustin is a'sport' that children of between the ages of about 5 and 8 take part in.They basically get put on the bare backs of long haired sheep and have tocling on as long as possible as the sheep run around until they fall off!Yes this is actually a sport and yes parents get their small children to partake! - only in America!
Other sports of the night included the 'calf scramble' where slightly olderchildren are let loose with a bunch of small calves and race to be thefirst to catch a calf, battle it to the ground and drag it to the middle of the arena! All in the name of entertainment right?!!
We saw some bareback riding where a horse was injured, put to sleep anddragged off stage while the compare told us it was likely he would be putdown and that was the best thing and if it was your horse you'd want whatwas best and this doesn't happen very often and.. So he went on! Later hetold us the horse was put down.. Did we need to know? It started as just asprained ankle..was that really necessary?
And so we watched some more crazy rodeo sports, ate some more fried foodand then went home for the night! And that is how my first experience of areal American rodeo went.. Entertaining, shocking, educational!?! ... Aa you've got to experience everything once!?!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Day 15 - Battle of the the Flowers!
Woke up in Austin and got back on the road to San Antonio. Stopped at Starbucks for our usual breakfast of venti skinny, no cream iced frappucino with an extra shot or for me a tall hot chocolate, no whip with cinnamonsprinkles! Still doesn't beat a fresh basil hot choc tho mum :)
We arrived in San Antonio planning to stop for a quick bite to eat on theriver walk before heading to our next stop of Corpus Christi! However we just so happened to turn up on the busiest day of the year the day of the biggest parade in America.. Or so the locals say! After all everything is bigger and better in texas!?! Confirmation from my Texan friend, Adam confirmed that it is probably not the biggest parade but they will be sure to tell you it is.
We stayed for a while and watched the high school ROTC's go by, includingkids in huge walking bands and kids with rifles! - Only in America!
After the high school students it was time for the big guns, hundreds ofpolice, military, navy and firemen go by as the crowds cheer at those thatare serving their free nation! - only in America.
The parade continued with various different flower filled floats, thesheriff, the city judge, the rodeo queen, the king of something and many flower princesses with jewel encrusted dresses flowing over crazy boots andshoes which you were occasionally able to see. Exactly when did America get a monarchy!?!
Before jumping back into the car we had a brief tour of The Alamo - ashrine to those who died defending it in the Texas war for Independence.
We found our way back through the flower filled crowds of people stopping for some haagen dasz ice cream on the way and drove for another 3 hoursback to the Coast.. This time the Southern one at Corpus Christi.
Now the next experience on our trip deserves its own entry in my blog socontinue on to find out what a real deep south American rodeo is like..
We arrived in San Antonio planning to stop for a quick bite to eat on theriver walk before heading to our next stop of Corpus Christi! However we just so happened to turn up on the busiest day of the year the day of the biggest parade in America.. Or so the locals say! After all everything is bigger and better in texas!?! Confirmation from my Texan friend, Adam confirmed that it is probably not the biggest parade but they will be sure to tell you it is.
We stayed for a while and watched the high school ROTC's go by, includingkids in huge walking bands and kids with rifles! - Only in America!
After the high school students it was time for the big guns, hundreds ofpolice, military, navy and firemen go by as the crowds cheer at those thatare serving their free nation! - only in America.
The parade continued with various different flower filled floats, thesheriff, the city judge, the rodeo queen, the king of something and many flower princesses with jewel encrusted dresses flowing over crazy boots andshoes which you were occasionally able to see. Exactly when did America get a monarchy!?!
Before jumping back into the car we had a brief tour of The Alamo - ashrine to those who died defending it in the Texas war for Independence.
We found our way back through the flower filled crowds of people stopping for some haagen dasz ice cream on the way and drove for another 3 hoursback to the Coast.. This time the Southern one at Corpus Christi.
Now the next experience on our trip deserves its own entry in my blog socontinue on to find out what a real deep south American rodeo is like..
Day 14 - Keeping Austin Weird!
We arrived in Austin for a late breakfast.. Pancakes, omelettes and sausageand egg! Unless you order pancakes everything comes with eggs and cheese..In fact u can even order pancakes with eggs and cheese! Cheese mmm myfavourite!?! Or Not!!
After Steve had finished chatting up the waitress we headed towards BartonSprings a natural pool where all the locals hang out, recommended to us by locals. Unfortunately it's closed on Thursdays so we headed to the next best place.. A naturally filled swimming pool surrounded by perfect grassy sunbathing areas. It was like swimming in Evian water.. No chlorine orother chemicals! We stayed for the afternoon catching some rays and feeding the local squirrels leftover cookies!
We decided to stay outside of town for cheapness and I was designated driver so we could go back in to party on the famous bar filled 6th street!It is crazy how many people drink and drive over here..everywhere is sovast and public transport so crap there isn't really any other choice..Well actually yes there is Don't Drink!!
We went for dinner at a mexican grill and Steve and Jenny tried a vitamin filled margarita and our awesome waiter told us if u feel like u want tovom when u think of drinking tequila you've been drinking the wrong tequila.. I've obviously been drinking the wrong tequila!!
Austin is famous for all its live bands so after dinner we headed to one ofthe many bars with live music. Blues bars, jazz bars, rock bars, pianobars. We opted for a kind of 80's cock rock bar! We were instantly greetedby some big muscly American military guys who were excited to be meetingtheir second lot of English in two days. We ended up spending the eveningwith Barrett, Brian, Box and their sargent whose name didn't begin with Bso I don't remember. The scary looking dudes were actually some of thenicest guys u can meet and told us if we stick by them there would be notrouble. :)
We walked past many bars that were offering 1 dollar drinks but insteadopted for the Coyote Ugly bar where the drinks are 'slightly' more due tothe supposedly sexy women dancing and shouting on the bar (exactly like themovie). I thought I could do a lot better and so with some persuasion from the military guys I did! Dancing on the bar with Jenny and the bar girls! I'd like to remind you at this point that I was completely sober.. I think it's the Bothamley blood in me! (I can see dad cringing as he readsthis :) )
After mine and Jenny's crazy experience we decided it was Steve's turn. As Steve had treated us to dinner, we decided to treat Steve to a body shot. Iwon't go into details of what this includes but wait till u see thephotos!!! We think Steve enjoyed it!
We moved onto a couple more bars with the military men, hearing somestories of their trips to Iraq and stop off in Dublin! Jenny had somepublic snogs with Barrett before it was time for them to head back to camp. They had basically spent a week at camp beating each other up as theylearnt various fighting and protection techniques and were being tested onit all at 7am. We said our goodbyes and planned for them to visit us in England and then it was time for us to go to bed too.
After Steve had finished chatting up the waitress we headed towards BartonSprings a natural pool where all the locals hang out, recommended to us by locals. Unfortunately it's closed on Thursdays so we headed to the next best place.. A naturally filled swimming pool surrounded by perfect grassy sunbathing areas. It was like swimming in Evian water.. No chlorine orother chemicals! We stayed for the afternoon catching some rays and feeding the local squirrels leftover cookies!
We decided to stay outside of town for cheapness and I was designated driver so we could go back in to party on the famous bar filled 6th street!It is crazy how many people drink and drive over here..everywhere is sovast and public transport so crap there isn't really any other choice..Well actually yes there is Don't Drink!!
We went for dinner at a mexican grill and Steve and Jenny tried a vitamin filled margarita and our awesome waiter told us if u feel like u want tovom when u think of drinking tequila you've been drinking the wrong tequila.. I've obviously been drinking the wrong tequila!!
Austin is famous for all its live bands so after dinner we headed to one ofthe many bars with live music. Blues bars, jazz bars, rock bars, pianobars. We opted for a kind of 80's cock rock bar! We were instantly greetedby some big muscly American military guys who were excited to be meetingtheir second lot of English in two days. We ended up spending the eveningwith Barrett, Brian, Box and their sargent whose name didn't begin with Bso I don't remember. The scary looking dudes were actually some of thenicest guys u can meet and told us if we stick by them there would be notrouble. :)
We walked past many bars that were offering 1 dollar drinks but insteadopted for the Coyote Ugly bar where the drinks are 'slightly' more due tothe supposedly sexy women dancing and shouting on the bar (exactly like themovie). I thought I could do a lot better and so with some persuasion from the military guys I did! Dancing on the bar with Jenny and the bar girls! I'd like to remind you at this point that I was completely sober.. I think it's the Bothamley blood in me! (I can see dad cringing as he readsthis :) )
After mine and Jenny's crazy experience we decided it was Steve's turn. As Steve had treated us to dinner, we decided to treat Steve to a body shot. Iwon't go into details of what this includes but wait till u see thephotos!!! We think Steve enjoyed it!
We moved onto a couple more bars with the military men, hearing somestories of their trips to Iraq and stop off in Dublin! Jenny had somepublic snogs with Barrett before it was time for them to head back to camp. They had basically spent a week at camp beating each other up as theylearnt various fighting and protection techniques and were being tested onit all at 7am. We said our goodbyes and planned for them to visit us in England and then it was time for us to go to bed too.
Day 13 - Who shot JFK?!?
As we awoke up in the light we found we were in Fort Worth about 30 mins outside of dallas. We drove into dallas city centre for breakfast at alocal cafe. The sun was hot and I instantly felt like a was burning.. At90F it turned out I was!
We went for a tour of the 6th floor museum..what was th Dallas bookdepository, where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I decided to do it properly and took the audio tour.About half way round I had tears running down my face as I watched thevideo and saw the pictures of one of America's great Presidents being shot.I can see why many Americans have suggested that Obama may get shot.. not because he is black but because of his forward, different, liberal ways of thinking..there are a lot of similarities to the things jfk was saying over4 decades ago.
After seeing some of the evidence I can see why there are so many peopleand books suggesting it wasn't Oswald that let of the fatal shot.. But then I'm quite sceptical about a lot of these things.. Who is responsible for sept 11th, was Princess Diana's death an accident? Did aliens really landat Roswell?
Moving on ... After seeing the grassy knoll and the 'x' spot where JFK wasshot we headed to see some bronze cowboys for photo opps before heading tothe library to use the internet. You get 55 mins free, tho u have to sharethe space with some of dallas's more crazy crackers giving u funny looksand comments.
After getting our facebook fix we headed out of dallas to meet Steve'scousin, wife and daughter for dinner at a true texan steak house..which turned out to be australian, oh well the steaks were still bloody good! Despite the kind offer of a place to stay at Steve's family's place for the night we decided to get back on the road and as close to austin as possible.
2.5 hrs into the drive it was almost 1am so we stopped at a random motel just outside a town called Troy for the night and decided to drive the rest of the way in the morning.
We went for a tour of the 6th floor museum..what was th Dallas bookdepository, where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I decided to do it properly and took the audio tour.About half way round I had tears running down my face as I watched thevideo and saw the pictures of one of America's great Presidents being shot.I can see why many Americans have suggested that Obama may get shot.. not because he is black but because of his forward, different, liberal ways of thinking..there are a lot of similarities to the things jfk was saying over4 decades ago.
After seeing some of the evidence I can see why there are so many peopleand books suggesting it wasn't Oswald that let of the fatal shot.. But then I'm quite sceptical about a lot of these things.. Who is responsible for sept 11th, was Princess Diana's death an accident? Did aliens really landat Roswell?
Moving on ... After seeing the grassy knoll and the 'x' spot where JFK wasshot we headed to see some bronze cowboys for photo opps before heading tothe library to use the internet. You get 55 mins free, tho u have to sharethe space with some of dallas's more crazy crackers giving u funny looksand comments.
After getting our facebook fix we headed out of dallas to meet Steve'scousin, wife and daughter for dinner at a true texan steak house..which turned out to be australian, oh well the steaks were still bloody good! Despite the kind offer of a place to stay at Steve's family's place for the night we decided to get back on the road and as close to austin as possible.
2.5 hrs into the drive it was almost 1am so we stopped at a random motel just outside a town called Troy for the night and decided to drive the rest of the way in the morning.
Day 12 - Don't Mess with Texas
We woke early to get as close to dallas as poss in one day.. Driving times ranged from 8 to 15 hours. I say times as that's how people measure their driving over here, not in miles but approximations of how long the drivewill take. You can certainly tell this country isn't quite as old as ours..Whereas our highways were built after our dwellings here it seems to be theopposite with towns being built around the freeways.. You don't get purpose built motorway service stations but instead occasionally drive through small towns surrounding the freeway.
Did I mention yet how cheap the petrol..sorry 'gas' is out here? It costsus about 20 to fill up the car (about 14 quid) bargain! Though I'd say theaverage american drives a lot further to get to work or nip to the localshops so probs works out about the same cost each month.
And so we drove down more roads of nothing, taking photos of nothing andsoon passing the 2000 mile mark! We stopped in roswell to visit the localmuseum and see if we could spot ant extra terrestrial life.. I'm shocked tosay we didn't and was disappointed the museum didn't succeed make me'believe' in all those other life forms out there!
About 4 hours after roswell we left new mexico and passed over into texas.Steve had asked his mate, Jools, to check up on texan speeding laws as wehad heard differing opinions such as their super lax to instantly being putin jail for the night! Jools confirmed that they were indeed quite laidback so we continued at our average speed of 90 mph.. Peaking at about115mph on the downhill stretches.. Its really easy to pass over the 100mark as it feels like ur doing about 50 the roads are so straight.
About 20 miles into texas BAM we got pulled over by the police for speeding(luckily steve was driving.. Phew.. Don't want to ruin my chances of anamerican visa one day :) ). Texas State Trooper J Tims was not a friendlychappy.. The conversation went a bit like this..
JT - Do you know what speed you were doing?
SK - Yes sir, I'm terribly sorry sir, I must apologise sir (Respect for Mr Policeman)
JT - sorry doesn't cut it in this state(shining his torch in our faces),what if you had killed someone at that speed? Would you like to spend thenight in prison as I can make sure the judge can't see u until morning!!
SK - no sir, I'm sorry sir .. We are from england :) (steve's response to every American)
State Trooper Tims left to his car for a while ans after leaving us topanic came back and decided to give us a warning and a severe telling off..Then stopped to have a chat with us about our trip, asking us what wethought of texas.. We of course instantly showered him with praises abouthis fine lone star state!
We were soon on our way again.. This time not daring to go above the limit of 65.. Suddenly everywhere seemed twice as far away! We stopped for thenight about midnight at the Golden Gate Motel (I'm pretty sure we arerather far from the gg at this point.. Did we take a wrong turn?)
Did I mention yet how cheap the petrol..sorry 'gas' is out here? It costsus about 20 to fill up the car (about 14 quid) bargain! Though I'd say theaverage american drives a lot further to get to work or nip to the localshops so probs works out about the same cost each month.
And so we drove down more roads of nothing, taking photos of nothing andsoon passing the 2000 mile mark! We stopped in roswell to visit the localmuseum and see if we could spot ant extra terrestrial life.. I'm shocked tosay we didn't and was disappointed the museum didn't succeed make me'believe' in all those other life forms out there!
About 4 hours after roswell we left new mexico and passed over into texas.Steve had asked his mate, Jools, to check up on texan speeding laws as wehad heard differing opinions such as their super lax to instantly being putin jail for the night! Jools confirmed that they were indeed quite laidback so we continued at our average speed of 90 mph.. Peaking at about115mph on the downhill stretches.. Its really easy to pass over the 100mark as it feels like ur doing about 50 the roads are so straight.
About 20 miles into texas BAM we got pulled over by the police for speeding(luckily steve was driving.. Phew.. Don't want to ruin my chances of anamerican visa one day :) ). Texas State Trooper J Tims was not a friendlychappy.. The conversation went a bit like this..
JT - Do you know what speed you were doing?
SK - Yes sir, I'm terribly sorry sir, I must apologise sir (Respect for Mr Policeman)
JT - sorry doesn't cut it in this state(shining his torch in our faces),what if you had killed someone at that speed? Would you like to spend thenight in prison as I can make sure the judge can't see u until morning!!
SK - no sir, I'm sorry sir .. We are from england :) (steve's response to every American)
State Trooper Tims left to his car for a while ans after leaving us topanic came back and decided to give us a warning and a severe telling off..Then stopped to have a chat with us about our trip, asking us what wethought of texas.. We of course instantly showered him with praises abouthis fine lone star state!
We were soon on our way again.. This time not daring to go above the limit of 65.. Suddenly everywhere seemed twice as far away! We stopped for thenight about midnight at the Golden Gate Motel (I'm pretty sure we arerather far from the gg at this point.. Did we take a wrong turn?)
Day 11 - Driving down Route 66
We woke up early to make sure we got our free breakfast.. Only to be sourly disappointed by the unappetising cheese pastries and 3 hour old weakcoffee.. Well it was included in our 8 each a night hotel..your best scrapping the free breakfast and trying to get an extra couple of dollarsoff ur room.
We soon left and decided a drive through starbucks coffee and cake was moreto our standards! And so we headed to our next stop..alberquerque! Alongmore dust bowl roads as we watched the tumble weed roll down the roadalongside us. We drove along dead straight roads for miles..with our satnav making sure we were heading in the right direction 'turn in 350 miles'.It got to the point where a slight 20 degree turn would get us on the edgesof our seats with cheers of excitement.
One of my highlights was seeing a roadrunner run across the road in frontof me .. Those things actually exist outside the cartoons.. Meep meep!!
We stopped for lunch at a random little hippie gay cafe in the middle ofabsolute nowhere. A friendly guy/girl with colourful clothes, eyes andnails served us with a smile as we ordered our healthy organic homemade sandwiches and burritos. Jamaican chicken with beans, salsa, salad and some sweetcorn biscuit..all made with love and very tasty.. Washed down with afresh raspberry lemonade!
Once we had eaten and caught some time in the sun we jumped back in the carto the local ice cave and baranga volcano.. Having visited these local must sees i must say they sound a lot cooler than they really are..the ice cavewas kinda chilly!
We stayed in the route 66 hostel in alberquerque in a room that looked like something out of little house on the prairie.. Rickety little beds, arocking chair and enough light to just about see if u are standing on cockroaches. Jokes aside it was actually a fun place to stay and where akind gentleman called albert lent me his computer so a could start my blog! You could make as many free pb n j sandwiches as u like and chat away with people from all over finding out just why they were staying in this random town of alberquerque!
We soon left and decided a drive through starbucks coffee and cake was moreto our standards! And so we headed to our next stop..alberquerque! Alongmore dust bowl roads as we watched the tumble weed roll down the roadalongside us. We drove along dead straight roads for miles..with our satnav making sure we were heading in the right direction 'turn in 350 miles'.It got to the point where a slight 20 degree turn would get us on the edgesof our seats with cheers of excitement.
One of my highlights was seeing a roadrunner run across the road in frontof me .. Those things actually exist outside the cartoons.. Meep meep!!
We stopped for lunch at a random little hippie gay cafe in the middle ofabsolute nowhere. A friendly guy/girl with colourful clothes, eyes andnails served us with a smile as we ordered our healthy organic homemade sandwiches and burritos. Jamaican chicken with beans, salsa, salad and some sweetcorn biscuit..all made with love and very tasty.. Washed down with afresh raspberry lemonade!
Once we had eaten and caught some time in the sun we jumped back in the carto the local ice cave and baranga volcano.. Having visited these local must sees i must say they sound a lot cooler than they really are..the ice cavewas kinda chilly!
We stayed in the route 66 hostel in alberquerque in a room that looked like something out of little house on the prairie.. Rickety little beds, arocking chair and enough light to just about see if u are standing on cockroaches. Jokes aside it was actually a fun place to stay and where akind gentleman called albert lent me his computer so a could start my blog! You could make as many free pb n j sandwiches as u like and chat away with people from all over finding out just why they were staying in this random town of alberquerque!
Day 10 - leaving money town and onto no mans town!
So after a couple of totally standard early nights in vegas!?!.. it wastime to move on.
Steve and I woke up early to go and pick up our basic none convertible dodgy car.. A dodge calibre! We hired the car to memphis rather than DC as it worked out about $600 cheaper.. Tho we now still have to find a cheap way to get from memphis to DC.. We are thinkin rent a wreck.. Any other ideas?
After checkin out we caught a few more rays by the hotel pool and caught upon lost sleep in the sun before saying goodbye to nick and family. We triedto kidnap him to join us on the rest of the trip but his skydive was keeping him in vegas :)
And so we left another city that doesn't sleep..quite a few dollars downbut lots of crazy memories.. I will say no more.. Time for flagstaff down route 66
We passed over the hoover dam so steve could take another 500 or sophotos..stepping between nevada and arizona and back a few times.. Just for kicks.
About 3 hours later of nothing but straight roads and emptiness we arrivedin flagstaff to try and find a random motel to bed down for the night.After bartering the different motels against each other.. Sunshine inn,residence inn, cockroach inn, dodgy inn, I want to get stabbed in .. Weesettled for the days inn at the bargain price of 40 including breakfast.
We then jeaded out to 'granny's' for dinner.. A local sports bar withapproximately 56 tv's in the joint.. Each playin a differentsport..football (american), poker (too late already lost our money), bullriding at the rodeo (death wish) ..
After a couple of minutes of every kind of sport.. Except rugby or soccer we headed home for a good nights sleep before another drive through nothingness..
Steve and I woke up early to go and pick up our basic none convertible dodgy car.. A dodge calibre! We hired the car to memphis rather than DC as it worked out about $600 cheaper.. Tho we now still have to find a cheap way to get from memphis to DC.. We are thinkin rent a wreck.. Any other ideas?
After checkin out we caught a few more rays by the hotel pool and caught upon lost sleep in the sun before saying goodbye to nick and family. We triedto kidnap him to join us on the rest of the trip but his skydive was keeping him in vegas :)
And so we left another city that doesn't sleep..quite a few dollars downbut lots of crazy memories.. I will say no more.. Time for flagstaff down route 66
We passed over the hoover dam so steve could take another 500 or sophotos..stepping between nevada and arizona and back a few times.. Just for kicks.
About 3 hours later of nothing but straight roads and emptiness we arrivedin flagstaff to try and find a random motel to bed down for the night.After bartering the different motels against each other.. Sunshine inn,residence inn, cockroach inn, dodgy inn, I want to get stabbed in .. Weesettled for the days inn at the bargain price of 40 including breakfast.
We then jeaded out to 'granny's' for dinner.. A local sports bar withapproximately 56 tv's in the joint.. Each playin a differentsport..football (american), poker (too late already lost our money), bullriding at the rodeo (death wish) ..
After a couple of minutes of every kind of sport.. Except rugby or soccer we headed home for a good nights sleep before another drive through nothingness..
Day 7 - First Day at the Beach!
Woke up after my usual lie in to find lauren and steve cooking us up a british breakfast, having already been for a morning run with the dogs along the coast. I miss so much when I sleep sometimes. After a fry up, fresh oj and the first proper cup of tea since I arrived (I brought it with me for jake who has aquired a decent taste for yorkshire tea.. None of this american lipton tea rubbish!) It was time to head out to enjoy the sunshine.
I left them all with lauren while I scooted off on my own in the convertible to get some essentials from the shops. Drivin down the coast, through the towns with the hood down pretending to be a local.. Now this is the life I was born to live.. Any american chap sorry 'guy' reading this I will gladly accept any offers of marriage to get me an american greencard :)
I met everyone on the beach later for some sunbathing and smash ball before heading to a local mexican for some lunch. The mexican food here is fab..Being so close to the border its actually quite authentic..unlike most ofthe pretend mexican food we get back home.After eating our fill with another massive meal it was time to say goodbyeto lauren and jake and start the long empty drive to viva las vegas.
Missin u already california and all my wonderful friends within it.
I left them all with lauren while I scooted off on my own in the convertible to get some essentials from the shops. Drivin down the coast, through the towns with the hood down pretending to be a local.. Now this is the life I was born to live.. Any american chap sorry 'guy' reading this I will gladly accept any offers of marriage to get me an american greencard :)
I met everyone on the beach later for some sunbathing and smash ball before heading to a local mexican for some lunch. The mexican food here is fab..Being so close to the border its actually quite authentic..unlike most ofthe pretend mexican food we get back home.After eating our fill with another massive meal it was time to say goodbyeto lauren and jake and start the long empty drive to viva las vegas.
Missin u already california and all my wonderful friends within it.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Day 6 - Driving through LA!
The morning of Day 6 already ... where is the time going! Bloody fast as I am actually on day 13 as I write this (exactly half way through my trip). Currently say in Dallas Public Library... but I'l get to that later...
So we woke up and managed to time it so we could meet my long time friend Nicholas and all his family as they were driving the other way from LA to San Fran. We met at a local breakfast diner and caught up on each of our travels so far, while we ate monster American portions of pancakes, waffles, eggs (all those different ways) and refillable coffee! After our fill at brekkie we said our goodbye's to the Andrew family and promised to meet up in Vegas in a few days. I jumped in Lauren's car and we drove in tandem to San Diego through LA!
The traffic wasn't as bad as had been promised and we were driving down Sunset Boulevard in no time. First stopping off at a record shop to drop off one of Lauren's dads speakers. We met the 'coolest' LA guy in the shop, with his raybans, groovy blonde afro hair and local twang accent! What a dude!! After Steve took photos of the 'Cool dude' and many expensive guitars on the walls we walked up Hollywood Boulevard to see the stars... on the street that is, not actual famous people! This time it was Jen's turn to get suckered by people dressed up as Elvis and Monroe posing to take photos with us then expecting money in return... and not even just $1 either but $6 ... I'd want a framed photo for that, not just a picture I took on my digital. Steve managed to dodge people getting his cash this time as told the guy with the headphones and CD's that his music wasn't very good anyway to he wasn't going to pay for it! Me a seasoned traveller?!? walked straight through it all, head down until I reached the viewing point for that famous Hollywood sign... you know the one I mean! :)
Time running out at Dallas public library will continue later... bye for now folks! :)
OK back with ya, this time in New Orleans...
So after walking down Hollywood Boulevard (possibly the worst part of LA) and past the dodgy hostel I stayed in last time with Fed and Rob we headed back to the (still in one piece) and down Sunset Boulevard, Rodeo Drive and towards Venice Beach. The sight we expected on the beach of tanned bikini clad women and toned lifeguards wasn't what we were greeted by. Instead it was ridiculous winds blowig sandstorms across the empty beaches. Oh well... enough of LA (my least favourite part of California) and onto San Diego to catch up with Lauren and Jake.
We arrived in Carlsbad just North of San Diego and after being smothered by their dog Gus and roomies dog Oreo we headed out for a GIANT American Pizza! and it was GIANT!
So we woke up and managed to time it so we could meet my long time friend Nicholas and all his family as they were driving the other way from LA to San Fran. We met at a local breakfast diner and caught up on each of our travels so far, while we ate monster American portions of pancakes, waffles, eggs (all those different ways) and refillable coffee! After our fill at brekkie we said our goodbye's to the Andrew family and promised to meet up in Vegas in a few days. I jumped in Lauren's car and we drove in tandem to San Diego through LA!
The traffic wasn't as bad as had been promised and we were driving down Sunset Boulevard in no time. First stopping off at a record shop to drop off one of Lauren's dads speakers. We met the 'coolest' LA guy in the shop, with his raybans, groovy blonde afro hair and local twang accent! What a dude!! After Steve took photos of the 'Cool dude' and many expensive guitars on the walls we walked up Hollywood Boulevard to see the stars... on the street that is, not actual famous people! This time it was Jen's turn to get suckered by people dressed up as Elvis and Monroe posing to take photos with us then expecting money in return... and not even just $1 either but $6 ... I'd want a framed photo for that, not just a picture I took on my digital. Steve managed to dodge people getting his cash this time as told the guy with the headphones and CD's that his music wasn't very good anyway to he wasn't going to pay for it! Me a seasoned traveller?!? walked straight through it all, head down until I reached the viewing point for that famous Hollywood sign... you know the one I mean! :)
Time running out at Dallas public library will continue later... bye for now folks! :)
OK back with ya, this time in New Orleans...
So after walking down Hollywood Boulevard (possibly the worst part of LA) and past the dodgy hostel I stayed in last time with Fed and Rob we headed back to the (still in one piece) and down Sunset Boulevard, Rodeo Drive and towards Venice Beach. The sight we expected on the beach of tanned bikini clad women and toned lifeguards wasn't what we were greeted by. Instead it was ridiculous winds blowig sandstorms across the empty beaches. Oh well... enough of LA (my least favourite part of California) and onto San Diego to catch up with Lauren and Jake.
We arrived in Carlsbad just North of San Diego and after being smothered by their dog Gus and roomies dog Oreo we headed out for a GIANT American Pizza! and it was GIANT!
Day 5 - Coastal driving in a convertible!
Today's the day we picked up the convertible! Woooooo! The heat was intense, the wind was low and it was time to sunbathe while driving?? Ok actually it was bloody cold, the wind was ridiculously high and it was NOT perfect convertible driving! Booooo!
Vicente drove us to San Jose to pick up our car and we said our goodbye's, but not before he gave us some UCSC gifts to take away with us... soma banana slug chocolate, America quiz cards and best of all a fluffy vibrating banana slug, which we aptly named 'Vicente' and is travelling across America with us in the 'real' Vicente's place!
So it was finally time to start clocking up miles as we drive from West to East Coast America! Yaaahooo.
The coastal drive was gorgeous, the views of the cliff edges, the waves, the woodlands and big sur, the wharf at Monteray, huge houses on mountain tops. The views were simply breathtaking... quite literally, as each time we jumped out the car for a photo (there were many times) we were almost blown over the cliff edge by the strong winds. (Imagine photo of Jenny and Jen stood in front of beautiful coastal scenery hidden by crazy flying hair!)
About half way down we decided to brave the winds and take the hood down, after all that is what convertibles are for. In the drivers seat I was having an awesome time, sunning myself Thelma and Louise style, keeping warm by the heaters blasting out warm air on my feet. Can't say it was the same story for Steve in the back who was wrapped up for the arctic in fleese, windproof jacket, scarf, hat... the works! And still he complained of being cold... wus!! Hmm maybe not as my turn in the back seat was not so much fun.
About 6pm we arrived in Santa Barbara where we met my favourite West Coast American, Lauren, who took us to her beautiful house for the night. The views from her back garden stretched on for miles and we got to see one of SB's luminous sunsets before heading out to meet another Californian friend, Luke for dinner.
We headed to a fish restaurant where Luke's sister worked and were given lots of free starters and desserts, inlcuding a MASSIVE Chocolate Mud Pie! ... Thanks Luke's sis! :)
After dinner we headed home for an early night, so we could have an early morning. I got to sleep in Lauren's room, with Jenny and Steve in the spare room ... a night without Steve's snoring LUXURY!!!
Vicente drove us to San Jose to pick up our car and we said our goodbye's, but not before he gave us some UCSC gifts to take away with us... soma banana slug chocolate, America quiz cards and best of all a fluffy vibrating banana slug, which we aptly named 'Vicente' and is travelling across America with us in the 'real' Vicente's place!
So it was finally time to start clocking up miles as we drive from West to East Coast America! Yaaahooo.
The coastal drive was gorgeous, the views of the cliff edges, the waves, the woodlands and big sur, the wharf at Monteray, huge houses on mountain tops. The views were simply breathtaking... quite literally, as each time we jumped out the car for a photo (there were many times) we were almost blown over the cliff edge by the strong winds. (Imagine photo of Jenny and Jen stood in front of beautiful coastal scenery hidden by crazy flying hair!)
About half way down we decided to brave the winds and take the hood down, after all that is what convertibles are for. In the drivers seat I was having an awesome time, sunning myself Thelma and Louise style, keeping warm by the heaters blasting out warm air on my feet. Can't say it was the same story for Steve in the back who was wrapped up for the arctic in fleese, windproof jacket, scarf, hat... the works! And still he complained of being cold... wus!! Hmm maybe not as my turn in the back seat was not so much fun.
About 6pm we arrived in Santa Barbara where we met my favourite West Coast American, Lauren, who took us to her beautiful house for the night. The views from her back garden stretched on for miles and we got to see one of SB's luminous sunsets before heading out to meet another Californian friend, Luke for dinner.
We headed to a fish restaurant where Luke's sister worked and were given lots of free starters and desserts, inlcuding a MASSIVE Chocolate Mud Pie! ... Thanks Luke's sis! :)
After dinner we headed home for an early night, so we could have an early morning. I got to sleep in Lauren's room, with Jenny and Steve in the spare room ... a night without Steve's snoring LUXURY!!!
Day 4 - Santa Cruz it's not that far!
Finally I got a good nights sleep and woke up well rested on Vicente's ridiculously comfy sofa at about 11am... having slept through all his housemates waking up and going to class! Once we were all up and beautified we headed off up to campus so I could bore Jenny and Steve with all my stories of life at the ILC (International Living Centre) and on campus all those many moons ago. Actually I think my stories were pretty exciting as life was bloody awesome and I would go back in a flash... oh I am back! Woopeeeee.
So we got the free shuttle up to College 8, then walked our way around the different colleges, the hippies at Porter, the posh geezers at College 8 and of course all the international students at College 9 and 10!!! I went back to my old apartment and met an English girl that was living in my old room, obviously where they store the English! :) Due to our late wake up we skipped breakfast and went straight for lunch at Terra Fresca, the fancy restaurant on campus and I got to have the yummy sweet potato fries I was always so fond of. We sat with sun beating down on us eating our sarnies and fries before heading to the campus shop so I could purchase some UCSC memorabilia... as if I don't already have enough.
After campus Vicente dropped us off at the beach again and we met up with the boys John, Ant and Trevor for some chill out beach time! Later Vicente met us at the Boardwalk and we went on the 85 year old Big Dipper... seen in various movies, inlcuding ... living to tell the tale we then moved on home, but not before stopping to get some Salt Water Taffy and Candy Floss ... sorry Cotton Caaaanndy :)
Despite all the candy and taffy it was time for eating again (are you seeing a theme here) so we headed over to Shannon and Ant's house for dinner... burritos and donuts! YUMMYY! After two abnormally large bottles of wine we headed to 99 bottles to try some of the 99 bottles of bear... on the wall! Vicente is close to have tried all 99 and will then get to have a personal plack (sp?) on the wall. Now what happened next I can't blame the beer on as I don't drink beer... however I still managed to get up on the quiet empty karaoke floor and sing with Shannon. I enjoyed it so much that I sang again with Jenny ... 'Jenny from the block' nothing less! Can't say we were very good, I had forgotten just how much rapping was involved! Disaster!
Anthony definitely stole the show with his incredible Frank Sinatra singing... certainly put Dan's rendition of Inrique's Hero to shame! :)
Before long it was the early hours of the morning again and time for another night on Vicente's sofa... this time with ear plugs! Did I say how much Steve snores!?!? I cannot handle snorers! Luckily he has given me full permission to kick, shout and punch until he shuts up! :)
So we got the free shuttle up to College 8, then walked our way around the different colleges, the hippies at Porter, the posh geezers at College 8 and of course all the international students at College 9 and 10!!! I went back to my old apartment and met an English girl that was living in my old room, obviously where they store the English! :) Due to our late wake up we skipped breakfast and went straight for lunch at Terra Fresca, the fancy restaurant on campus and I got to have the yummy sweet potato fries I was always so fond of. We sat with sun beating down on us eating our sarnies and fries before heading to the campus shop so I could purchase some UCSC memorabilia... as if I don't already have enough.
After campus Vicente dropped us off at the beach again and we met up with the boys John, Ant and Trevor for some chill out beach time! Later Vicente met us at the Boardwalk and we went on the 85 year old Big Dipper... seen in various movies, inlcuding ... living to tell the tale we then moved on home, but not before stopping to get some Salt Water Taffy and Candy Floss ... sorry Cotton Caaaanndy :)
Despite all the candy and taffy it was time for eating again (are you seeing a theme here) so we headed over to Shannon and Ant's house for dinner... burritos and donuts! YUMMYY! After two abnormally large bottles of wine we headed to 99 bottles to try some of the 99 bottles of bear... on the wall! Vicente is close to have tried all 99 and will then get to have a personal plack (sp?) on the wall. Now what happened next I can't blame the beer on as I don't drink beer... however I still managed to get up on the quiet empty karaoke floor and sing with Shannon. I enjoyed it so much that I sang again with Jenny ... 'Jenny from the block' nothing less! Can't say we were very good, I had forgotten just how much rapping was involved! Disaster!
Anthony definitely stole the show with his incredible Frank Sinatra singing... certainly put Dan's rendition of Inrique's Hero to shame! :)
Before long it was the early hours of the morning again and time for another night on Vicente's sofa... this time with ear plugs! Did I say how much Steve snores!?!? I cannot handle snorers! Luckily he has given me full permission to kick, shout and punch until he shuts up! :)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Day 3 - Back to my old home town of Santa Cruz
Good Morning San Francisco! Managed to sleep in till about 7am today and then snooze for a couple more hours. We packed up our bags then headed for breakfast at my favourite Cafe Bean where I saw Chester... my pal who runs the joint... and he remembered me :)
I had one... no two of the best pancakes in the world... nutella and banana! Seriously good and even Steve said it was the best pancake he had ever tasted. After pancakes we headed back to pick up our bags and Steve got suckered by ANOTHER homeless person using ond of many ways to get some cash! After Steve had handed his days spending to half of San Francisco's homeless population (which by the way is well into the thousands) we went to catch the big double decker CalTrain to San Jose, followed by the Super busy and rickety 17 bus from San Jose to Santa Cruz.... I have arrived!
Stepping off the bus I almost shed a tear remembering the good ol days in Santa Cruz. Vicente met us at the bus station and within 10 yards of the station i bumped into the first person I knew... Guy from Alternative Spring Break in Mexico! Santa Cruz is a small place.
We went for a walk along the coast, past the surfer statue (yes Santa Cruz has a statue dedicated to surfers) and onto the boardwalk by the beach. I got to have one of the amazing funnel cakes, covered in dusted icing sugar (imagine photo of me eating funnel cake pulling angry face at Jenny who is trying to steal it... I don't share food very well :/ ). After a ride on the dodgems (sp?) we went back to our awesome host Vicente's house to rest before heading out for dinner with John at MoBo's... the best sushi ever!! ... My blog so far seems to have a bit of a food theme... that is soo unlike me!?! :)
After we had our fill at MoBo's we walked in the basking evening heat (oh no wait it was freezing cold winds) to The Red Room, where we met up with Shannon, Ant, Rob and Trevor for cocktails and catch ups! It was lots of fun to get up to speed with all the Santa Cruz gossip and reminisce of fun times gone by... memories of Roxy falling asleep and falling down stairs in the Red Room spring to mind first :)
Several cocktails later we headed back with Vicente in another crazy madman taxi to have one of our best nights sleep so far before waking up for Day 4...
I had one... no two of the best pancakes in the world... nutella and banana! Seriously good and even Steve said it was the best pancake he had ever tasted. After pancakes we headed back to pick up our bags and Steve got suckered by ANOTHER homeless person using ond of many ways to get some cash! After Steve had handed his days spending to half of San Francisco's homeless population (which by the way is well into the thousands) we went to catch the big double decker CalTrain to San Jose, followed by the Super busy and rickety 17 bus from San Jose to Santa Cruz.... I have arrived!
Stepping off the bus I almost shed a tear remembering the good ol days in Santa Cruz. Vicente met us at the bus station and within 10 yards of the station i bumped into the first person I knew... Guy from Alternative Spring Break in Mexico! Santa Cruz is a small place.
We went for a walk along the coast, past the surfer statue (yes Santa Cruz has a statue dedicated to surfers) and onto the boardwalk by the beach. I got to have one of the amazing funnel cakes, covered in dusted icing sugar (imagine photo of me eating funnel cake pulling angry face at Jenny who is trying to steal it... I don't share food very well :/ ). After a ride on the dodgems (sp?) we went back to our awesome host Vicente's house to rest before heading out for dinner with John at MoBo's... the best sushi ever!! ... My blog so far seems to have a bit of a food theme... that is soo unlike me!?! :)
After we had our fill at MoBo's we walked in the basking evening heat (oh no wait it was freezing cold winds) to The Red Room, where we met up with Shannon, Ant, Rob and Trevor for cocktails and catch ups! It was lots of fun to get up to speed with all the Santa Cruz gossip and reminisce of fun times gone by... memories of Roxy falling asleep and falling down stairs in the Red Room spring to mind first :)
Several cocktails later we headed back with Vicente in another crazy madman taxi to have one of our best nights sleep so far before waking up for Day 4...
Day 2... Saaaann Fraaaanciscoooo
The sun is shining, the homeless are a begging, the hills need a climbing and the delicious food needs a eating... time to wake up! Oh no wait it is still only 5am... jetlag argh!!
We tried to sleep some more, but soon decided it was best just to wake up and embrace the tiredness! Plenty of time to sleep when we get back to England!
We headed to a local breakfast cafe for some oatmeal with bananas and straberries... mmm mmm! Steve had eggs - scrambled (do you want your eggs sunny side up, sunny side down, over easy, scrambled, fried, poached... erm just eggs??!) with all thr trimmings, potato's bacon, muffin, coffee etc. Jenny tried to order plain toast (still not feeling well) but they didn't understand so instead she got a slightly warmed baguette :~
Once I had what I thought would fill me up for a while, Jenny headed back for a kip and Steve and I walked down Powell Street to the Saturday morning Fisherman's market where I was surrounded by delicious fresh food (mum you would be sooo jealous)! being the greedy guts that I am I had a second breakfast around 11am of eggs (again scrambled) with chicken sausage, potatoes, toast (they understood) and ruculla. We sat and watched the world go by with the sun beating down on us, while Steve drank his Blue Cafe Coffee (famous in SF). On the walk back to Union Square to meet Jenny, steve chatted to the Policemen so he could take photos of their awesome moterbikes (Imagine photo of 6 very large American cop bikes lined up on the side of the road with 6 large American black booted cops stood next to them)
We met Jenny in the Levis store, where I then left them to head to do some SHOPPPING while they went to visit Alcatraz (I already did all that touristy stuff with Kaz and Charl and saw Al Capones cell and all that crazy stuff). Mum, Dad... if you're reading this I chose a cheap $13 pair of jeans over the $90 pair from the Levis store... and yes I did need a new pair of jeans, in fact at $13 a pop I needed 2 pairs! :)
Later I met Jenny and Steve by Lombard Street, (imagine photo of famous wiggly road from numerous famous films including Vertigo and What's, Up Doc?) having got a free ride on the cable car due to being a lonely English girl... one of the benefits of pretending to travel alone!
We took LOTS of photos and then headed to the Presidio to see The Palace of Fine Arts (lots more photos taken) and walk along the windy beach towards the Golden Gate Bridge (ridiculous amounts of photos taken, expecially by our photo master Mr Stephen Kowalski)!!
On the bus back we met a random girl who invited us out with her and her mates to a battle of the bands competition... of course we accepted and later that evening after a madman taxi ride we met up with our new random American friends for a night of California fun. After the battle of the bands we all piled into Roxy's (new friend number 3) big truck and drove to a new bar on Polk Street... Steve was having a ball being surrounded by 5 women... though the tables soon turned and it was Jenny and I's turn to be surrounded by 5 HUGE tall Californian guys! We seemed to do a mega bar crawl across the city, jumping in a taxi each time we moved bars until I think we saw most areas of the city by night. At 11am English time we headed back to bed only to wake up again 4 hours later wide awake and ready for Day 3...
Steve's GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE PHOTO COUNT - 567843670000
TOTAL PHOTO COUNT - 567843670000 + 350
QUOTES OF THE HOLIDAY SO FAR
'That's so American'
'Must Take Photo!'
We tried to sleep some more, but soon decided it was best just to wake up and embrace the tiredness! Plenty of time to sleep when we get back to England!
We headed to a local breakfast cafe for some oatmeal with bananas and straberries... mmm mmm! Steve had eggs - scrambled (do you want your eggs sunny side up, sunny side down, over easy, scrambled, fried, poached... erm just eggs??!) with all thr trimmings, potato's bacon, muffin, coffee etc. Jenny tried to order plain toast (still not feeling well) but they didn't understand so instead she got a slightly warmed baguette :~
Once I had what I thought would fill me up for a while, Jenny headed back for a kip and Steve and I walked down Powell Street to the Saturday morning Fisherman's market where I was surrounded by delicious fresh food (mum you would be sooo jealous)! being the greedy guts that I am I had a second breakfast around 11am of eggs (again scrambled) with chicken sausage, potatoes, toast (they understood) and ruculla. We sat and watched the world go by with the sun beating down on us, while Steve drank his Blue Cafe Coffee (famous in SF). On the walk back to Union Square to meet Jenny, steve chatted to the Policemen so he could take photos of their awesome moterbikes (Imagine photo of 6 very large American cop bikes lined up on the side of the road with 6 large American black booted cops stood next to them)
We met Jenny in the Levis store, where I then left them to head to do some SHOPPPING while they went to visit Alcatraz (I already did all that touristy stuff with Kaz and Charl and saw Al Capones cell and all that crazy stuff). Mum, Dad... if you're reading this I chose a cheap $13 pair of jeans over the $90 pair from the Levis store... and yes I did need a new pair of jeans, in fact at $13 a pop I needed 2 pairs! :)
Later I met Jenny and Steve by Lombard Street, (imagine photo of famous wiggly road from numerous famous films including Vertigo and What's, Up Doc?) having got a free ride on the cable car due to being a lonely English girl... one of the benefits of pretending to travel alone!
We took LOTS of photos and then headed to the Presidio to see The Palace of Fine Arts (lots more photos taken) and walk along the windy beach towards the Golden Gate Bridge (ridiculous amounts of photos taken, expecially by our photo master Mr Stephen Kowalski)!!
On the bus back we met a random girl who invited us out with her and her mates to a battle of the bands competition... of course we accepted and later that evening after a madman taxi ride we met up with our new random American friends for a night of California fun. After the battle of the bands we all piled into Roxy's (new friend number 3) big truck and drove to a new bar on Polk Street... Steve was having a ball being surrounded by 5 women... though the tables soon turned and it was Jenny and I's turn to be surrounded by 5 HUGE tall Californian guys! We seemed to do a mega bar crawl across the city, jumping in a taxi each time we moved bars until I think we saw most areas of the city by night. At 11am English time we headed back to bed only to wake up again 4 hours later wide awake and ready for Day 3...
Steve's GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE PHOTO COUNT - 567843670000
TOTAL PHOTO COUNT - 567843670000 + 350
QUOTES OF THE HOLIDAY SO FAR
'That's so American'
'Must Take Photo!'
Day 1 - The beginning...
So it is day 11 and I have finally found some time to sit down and start writing about my epic roadtrip across the United States of America!
PLEASE NOTE: as you know I talk a lot and therefore I write a lot so feel free to skip bits just as you would stop listening to my ramblings! I also have a tendency to use lots of '...' and '!' (screamers) ... Imagine these to be my Umms and my high pitched voice in real life :) !!!!
Day One - The Jouney Across the Pond!
The morning finally arrived and at 7am on Friday 10th April we awoke for a last minute panic of packing and planning. Before getting the taxi I nipped to the shops to buy my final few bits for the Americans... Cadbury's chocolates, Yorkshire Tea, HP sauce... the usual :) ... then walked home to find Jenny and Steve had locked us out the house with all our suitcases inside... nice! So we woke up the grumpy neighbours and made our way back into the house and eventually to the airport.
Unfortunately we didn't get to sit next to each other on the plane as 'someone' forgot to check in online! No worries at least we got the first 10 hour without each other... only 26 days left of solid Jenny and Steve time!
I almost managed to make myself sick on the plane, after eating three of the Chocolate and Rasberry Gu puddings... AMAZING... I actually scrounged a couple of spares that hadn't been eaten from the rubbish the air hostess was collecting,! I managed to make quite a name for myself pretty quick as before long they were bringing me double the amount of ice cream and chocolate to everyone else on the plane! :) Despite my greedy guzzlings it was Jenny that ended up being sick and unfortunately this didn't end until the second day of the holiday... not a good way to start for her... but it did mean I got to eat all Jenny's left overs... NOTE TO OTHERS: Jenny eats very small portions, so she is a great person to share food with as you will always get the Lion's share ... mmmm!
So enough of the plane journey and onto America... We arrived into San Francisco at about 2.30 in the afternoon, West Coast time and headed into town on the Bart to our hotel near Union Square. (Kaz, Lotte... remember our first trip to San Fran started the same way?!?)
We then decided to walk up the ridiculously steep San Franciscan hills to Fisherman's Wharf so Steve could get his first view of the Golden Gate bridge and take about a zillion photos of the very cute, but very smelly sea lions! (Imagine photo of cute smelly sealions lying on wooden boards with view of GG Bridge in the background)
After all the photos we got the cable car (more photos) back towards the hotel and headed to the Cheesecake Factor for dinner (for those of you that don't know it does not just sell cheesecake and in fact sells everything so it takes about an hour to decide what you want... pasta, sandwiches, burgers, mexican, thai, italian, fish, meat, vegi... u name it). Jenny headed home, so unfortunately I didn't get to eat the food she ordered but didn't eat this time, but that was ok as my portion alone was definitely big enough!
Having been up for almost 24 hours we soon headed back to the hotel to end day one of Roadtrip USA!!
PLEASE NOTE: as you know I talk a lot and therefore I write a lot so feel free to skip bits just as you would stop listening to my ramblings! I also have a tendency to use lots of '...' and '!' (screamers) ... Imagine these to be my Umms and my high pitched voice in real life :) !!!!
Day One - The Jouney Across the Pond!
The morning finally arrived and at 7am on Friday 10th April we awoke for a last minute panic of packing and planning. Before getting the taxi I nipped to the shops to buy my final few bits for the Americans... Cadbury's chocolates, Yorkshire Tea, HP sauce... the usual :) ... then walked home to find Jenny and Steve had locked us out the house with all our suitcases inside... nice! So we woke up the grumpy neighbours and made our way back into the house and eventually to the airport.
Unfortunately we didn't get to sit next to each other on the plane as 'someone' forgot to check in online! No worries at least we got the first 10 hour without each other... only 26 days left of solid Jenny and Steve time!
I almost managed to make myself sick on the plane, after eating three of the Chocolate and Rasberry Gu puddings... AMAZING... I actually scrounged a couple of spares that hadn't been eaten from the rubbish the air hostess was collecting,! I managed to make quite a name for myself pretty quick as before long they were bringing me double the amount of ice cream and chocolate to everyone else on the plane! :) Despite my greedy guzzlings it was Jenny that ended up being sick and unfortunately this didn't end until the second day of the holiday... not a good way to start for her... but it did mean I got to eat all Jenny's left overs... NOTE TO OTHERS: Jenny eats very small portions, so she is a great person to share food with as you will always get the Lion's share ... mmmm!
So enough of the plane journey and onto America... We arrived into San Francisco at about 2.30 in the afternoon, West Coast time and headed into town on the Bart to our hotel near Union Square. (Kaz, Lotte... remember our first trip to San Fran started the same way?!?)
We then decided to walk up the ridiculously steep San Franciscan hills to Fisherman's Wharf so Steve could get his first view of the Golden Gate bridge and take about a zillion photos of the very cute, but very smelly sea lions! (Imagine photo of cute smelly sealions lying on wooden boards with view of GG Bridge in the background)
After all the photos we got the cable car (more photos) back towards the hotel and headed to the Cheesecake Factor for dinner (for those of you that don't know it does not just sell cheesecake and in fact sells everything so it takes about an hour to decide what you want... pasta, sandwiches, burgers, mexican, thai, italian, fish, meat, vegi... u name it). Jenny headed home, so unfortunately I didn't get to eat the food she ordered but didn't eat this time, but that was ok as my portion alone was definitely big enough!
Having been up for almost 24 hours we soon headed back to the hotel to end day one of Roadtrip USA!!
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