September 24th, 2009
I forgot to give everyone the brief overview of our trip. Shame on me.
Here’s the round-up:
Been – Grand Canyon, Roswell, San Antonio, New Orleans, Orlando and currently in Philly.
Going – NYC, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Knoxville, Memphis, Topeka, (fill in the blank/suggestions?), Boise, Seattle, Portland, home.
Suggestions for things to see/visit/eat? We would love any advice you have to give.
I swear at some point I’ll get us caught up. There are a *ton* of photos to edit. I might be a little trigger happy …
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September 22nd, 2009
So, Mike ended up joining us in Orlando. Which was awesome. He and Tyler are both former Disneyland employees so between the two of them we covered every bit of Disney trivia ever. It was awesome. I feel like I got a much more in-depth and personalized Disney World experience. Mike was a pleasure to have along and we were glad to have him.
Disney World was far larger than I had anticipated. We spent forever there. 3 days of parks and sun and humidity and fun. I got the *biggest* blister ever. Huge on the back of my right heel. I’ll spare you the pictures. Needless to say, it’s still healing. I also acquired 3 blisters on two of my toes, for a total of 4 blisters. I was a trooper and walked it off.
Mike and I got *soaked* riding in the front seat of Splash Mountain. Fortunately it was warm, but not warm enough to dry us off in a timely fashion. Hooray for damp underpants! The food was better than I expected. Tyler and Mike kept me laughing the whole time which gave my abs as good of a work out as my legs got.
I was amazed to see such consistent and thoughtful branding. Almost to the point of overkill, but I can appreciate the thorough implementation. It was great to see all the ride photos because I always had a stupid look on my face and Mike and Tyler looked calm, almost to the point of boredom.
I feel like there’s no real way to sum up those 4 days. Long hours, lots of sun, lots of laughter, my threatening to chop off my right foot … the normal sort of Disney World stuff.
Following will be a post of Orlando/Disney trivia. I will also update with photos once I have a chance to sift through and edit them.
Tags: blister, disney world, orlando
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September 17th, 2009
Holy humidity Batman! We are not friends.
I <3 New Orleans. Even with the humidity. We walked around the French Quarter, ate awesome food and walked through one of the graveyards. Hotels were inexpensive and food was reasonably priced. I enjoyed it despite the humidity, although I have never been so sweaty in public.
I look forward to going back and visiting when the heat has lessened.
(Click below for more photos)
Tags: cemetary, new orleans
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September 16th, 2009
This place was *so good* I decided it warranted its own post. I’m still drooling just thinking about.
We ordered the special (chicken and corn bread dressing) and “A Taste of Soul” Platter (Filé Gumbo, Red Beans & Rice, Jambalaya, Greens, Fried Chicken, Catfish Strips, and Bread Pudding.) This was *far more* food than I anticipated. These were not “samples” so much as half orders of everything. Cup of gumbo, cup of red beans & rice, pile of jambalaya, cup of greens, the biggest piece of fried chicken ever, two catfish strips and a huge bread pudding. We should have only ordered that. We ordered the fried chicken livers as an appetizer. We got a *pile* of fried chicken liver.
Also, this place is hella cheap. We got all that plus a beer and lemonade for $46.
If you are ever in New Orleans I would strongly suggest you go. We went back for lunch the next day.
Tags: food, new orleans
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September 16th, 2009
Tia and I will be staying at a time share in Orlando for the next 5 days (starting tomorrow, Thursday). We can stay up to 7. Want to join us at a pretty nice place for free? (Granted, we’re going to EPCOT, etc. so if you want to join us, you’d have to pay for *that*, but please come!)
Tyler
UPDATE: Mike (Tyler’s former Disneyland coworker) decided to join us. Statistics and trivia to follow.
Tags: join us, orlando
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September 15th, 2009
We stopped in San Antonio for two nights to visit Tyler’s friend Sean. He and his wife Jenn were kind enough to take us in and let me play with their 1 year old daughter. Tyler said I couldn’t take her with us, Sean seemed willing to bargain.
We had dinner and caught up with them. Spent Monday hanging out at the house and catching up on some things. (Like updating this blog and editing photos.) They were kind enough to cook us dinner and we were pleased to eat it.
Aside: I am more than willing to eat any and all home cooked meals offered along our trip. Eating out ALL our meals will get old really quick.
Sean dropped us off at the airport literally at the crack of dawn, which I had not seen in quite some time. (Click below for more photos.)
Overall it was wonderful getting to know them, lovely staying at their house, and awesome knowing we are totally going to take advantage of their hospitality again sometime. (They are having another little one soon and I figure the chances of them noticing one missing gets slimmer that way. Also, we should probably see the Alamo.)
Tags: friends, san antonio
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September 13th, 2009
Every once in a while, I hear something amusing over the radio while flying. I can’t remember the exact words, so bear with me.
Albuquerque Center: “Southwest XXXX, if able, I have a message to relay to one of your passengers.”
Southwest Pilot: “We’ll see what we can do, go ahead.”
AC: “This is for: XXXXX. We’d like to congratulate her on her acceptance to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.”
SP: “[laughs] Yeah, I’ll do that. I’m a Cowboys fan.”
Unidentified other pilot on frequency keys mic: “I’m a cheerleader fan.”
Tyler
Tags: albuquerque center, artcc, radio
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September 13th, 2009
So, we decided to stop in Roswell as our half-way point from the Grand Canyon to San Antonio. Turns out this is where airplanes go to die. So many airplanes in varying states of disrepair. I suppose they have to go somewhere, and they seem to have more than enough space there.
For more information about the airport click the photo below.
I love things that are all put away in nice neat little rows. As you can imagine, I was most pleased with the way the airplanes are parked in Roswell. (Click below for more Roswell Photos.)
Also, giant planes are neat. Tyler asked if they would take us for a ride on the golf cart to get a better look at them, but they said no. Something about golf carts not being allowed on the runway …
Tags: airplane graveyard, general aviation, roswell, travel
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September 12th, 2009
Holy crap!
We were woken up at 4 am (we had a 5:30 am alarm set) to the sound of thunder. Thunder! In SF! Incredible. Lightning that lit up the house, thunder that shook the windows, sporadic rain. If it had been any other kind of weather keeping us from leaving I would be *pissed* but this was totally worth it. Real weather in SF!
It delayed us by several hours, but then I got to see lightning out the window of the plane! (Don’t worry, it was like 30 miles away …) Super cool though. Several bolts of it and super bright and a little bit scary.
The Grand Canyon is amazing. We got to fly about as near as the guided tours do, only we didn’t have to share the plane with some random foreigners. Pictures were fun, if not somewhat limited by wanting to land before the weather got worse. (Click photos for a link to my Flickr)
The Best Western here is an experience all its own. It had the expected ‘aroma of Best Western’ but there was a bowling alley on the first floor. Don’t worry, one lucky winner will get the complimentary “Best Western” postcard. You are all dying in anticipation, checking your mail incessantly, I know you are.
The little town outside the Grand Canyon airport is about 3/4 of a mile long, so our food options were limited. Based on the airport shuttle driver’s reviews, we went with “We Cook Pizza and Pasta” where I had the unhealthiest salad since my excursion to Round Table with Miss Cari Turley. (Imagine this entire thing smothered in ranch dressing and including several kinds of cheese.)
After our clearly over-stimulating visit to Grand Canyon Village, AZ we headed off to San Antonio, TX. This is the closest I’ll be to the place of my birth (Houston, TX) since I bailed on the state at the tender age of 6. Even then I knew growing up in TX would be a bad idea …
Tags: general aviation, grand canyon, thunder storm, travel
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September 9th, 2009
Tyler and I are getting ready to embark on an epic journey. Or a “road trip” via the air. Whichever you prefer. Really, we’re getting ready to fly general aviation to Boston and back, mostly because we can. Being unemployed totally has some advantages.
Aside: I am the *luckiest person ever* but also super grateful for the chance to come along on this trip. It’s going to be to quite the adventure and super fun.
Over the course of this trip I fully intend to bore you with the details and inundate you with bad tourist photos (and hopefully a few good ones), but hopefully it just gives you a way to live vicariously through us.
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