End of the GART

Got a good sleep and woke up refreshed today (Nick, maybe not as much). We all did final packing of bags and checking of the room to make sure nothing was forgotten. All good, so we cabbed to the airport and went through security, which was very intense and only had full body scanners available for everyone. Once we got through we learned our flight was delayed by an hour, so we now had like 3 hours to kill. Went for a long lunch in the only restaurant we could find (super poor selection of shops and restaurants in the departures area here) and watched some baseball on the TV. Then just lounged around and tried continually to use the awful wifi here. At least the bathrooms had Dyson airblade hand dryers, so it wasn't a total loss. So all in all, a quiet, uneventful finish to the whirlwind journey that was the 2013 GART. Thanks for reading along with us!

Golden Gate Bridge and Giraffes

Nick was out late so he sleeps in, while I reorganize my suitcases, and Matt leaves to work on vows with Jamie over breakfast. Once Nick wakes up, we take a very long cab ride to the Golden Gate Bridge. We considered walking it but 8 KM one-way seemed like too much to ask this morning. So we snap some photos in front of the bridge (which is uncooperatively half concealed in clouds) while our cabbie waited, then we hopped back in and were driven way back across town to the piers by Fisherman's Wharf. This is where the America's Cup sailing races are happening today. So we stroll up and inquire where to view the races and learn that they finished 2 hours ago! We had been misinformed the day prior when we asked en route to the ball game. So instead we went in this video dome to watch a promo video about the races that gives a good history and touches on specifics of the boats. Sort of cool. Got our photos with the cup, which we lean is the oldest trophy in international sports. Grab food truck food with the last of our cash at the number 6 ranked food truck in the country. Delicious spring rolls and tacos. We start walking back to the hotel. On the way we come across Coit Tower, which is a massive stone column on the top of a tall hill. The view of the city and the bay from here are spectacular. Running pretty low on time now, we hustle back to the hotel to iron our formal clothes that have been sitting in the bottom of our suitcases for the better part of a month now. Get everything looking presentable (ourselves included) and take another pricey cab ride, this time to the San Francisco Zoo, where Jamie and Carissa's wedding is taking place.

We put our wedding gift inside of a rolling cooler, which we then wrapped in animal-themed wrapping paper and had to pull a long ways from the gate to the actual spot where the ceremony was taking place. Once we got there we saw that we were also the only ones that 1) brought a large gift, and 2) brought the gift to the wedding. Faux pas. Alas, the ceremony went off without a hitch; Matt performed well in his role as minister, and the self-written vows of the bride and groom were awesome. Behind them as they recited their vows were a variety of horned beasts, storks, and zebras. Fittingly, the groom and groomsmen all wore matching zebra pattern ties and belts that really popped.  Once the ceremony wrapped up, we all headed to the boardwalk overlooking the lemur exhibit for hot appetizers and an OPEN BAR. Then, in groups of 15, we were taken to the giraffe exhibit and got to feed them bananas and lettuce. Very cool looking creatures up close. After a couple hours of appies and drinks (in the freezing cold!) we all headed back to the groom's parents' rented house for more drinks and chicken still leftover from Friday. Once everyone has their fill, we a head of in cabs back to Union Square. Nick and a couple of the groomsmen go in search of some bars, while myself and Matt call it a night.

Prison and Baseball

Get up just in time to take a taxi to Pier 33. Nick and I meet the big group of others from the wedding (Matt stays at the hotel to work on his wedding speech) and we take the boat across the bay to Alcatraz. It turns out the tour is fully booked until mid August now, so thank heavens Carissa (bride) booked these tickets well in advance for everyone in the group. Took the self-guided audio tour and explored the prison. Pretty cool. It was a bit sad how extensive the gift shop is at a place designed to hold the worst criminals in American history. That being said, I still bought a deck of cards and a wallet (it would make more sense if you saw them). America's Cup is being hosted presently in SF and we see an Italian vessel doing the course while we are on the ferry. When we get back to dry land, most of us wander over to pier 39 (Fisherman's Wharf) for a late lunch/early supper. Have seafood at a place called Fog Harbor that was really good. The wharf is stupid busy though; up there with the most touristy and most packed place this whole trip.

Back at the hotel, Matt bought some tickets online for the baseball game tonight, so we meet him at the stadium and watch the Giants defeat the Diamondbacks. Showed up a couple innings late as the stadium seemed a lot closer than it actually ended up being... Unlike the Braves game, this one was packed! Sold out and the fans were seriously into it, which always makes it more fun. What worked against us though, was the fact that it got COLD AS HECK out. Matt brought jackets for Nick and I but we still had shorts on and everyone was shivering big time. Nick and a couple other guys from the wedding group head out to find a bar. Matt decides to call it a night as he officiates the wedding tomorrow and needs to be functional. I also call it a night so I can update the blog then go to sleep. Travel exhaustion has caught up with me a bit and I'm sure tomorrow will be a big night after the wedding so this is a preemptive strike.

5000 miles and a bachelor party!

Check out of our hotel and drive straight to the Santa Cruz boardwalk, which, much like the Santa Monica pier, is a huge developed beachfront area with an amusement park, boardwalk, shops and restaurants. We walk around the shops and down the pier then back to the car. It was quite chilly until the sun came out; the ocean breeze is fierce. I crush through an entire bag of freshly made saltwater taffy which was totally worth the diabetes that may result from it. We drive up a very cool twisty highway to San Jose and stop for lunch at In-N-Out Burger (we had to eventually...) which was good as always. Just outside San Francisco we see a NASA research center with massive metallic hangars and some sort of mega structure made of tubular piping. As we hit the edge of San Fran we hit gridlock traffic. At 2 PM! We crawl along in the car until we finally exit near downtown. Fill up with the most expensive gas of the trip (4.49/gallon) then carry on to our hotel. Unload the car fully and Matt takes it to the room while Nick and I drop the car off at Budget. Final mileage count: 5055. No damage, no tickets.

We walk back to the hotel and pop up to the room. Nicest room and hotel by far of the whole trip (and also 2 or 3 times more than any other hotel thus far) and our view of the Union Square area is fantastic. After a celebratory beer, we take the subway to the area where Jamie's (the groom at the wedding we'll be attending Sunday) family rented a house. Headed over there and had beer, KFC, and Pizza while meeting a whole array of people down for the wedding. I remember only a handful of names, but will recognize the people at the wedding now. After the dinner and socializing, the boys walk over to a karaoke bar for the start of the bachelor party. Matt and I get to belt out Bohemian Rhapsody for an appreciative crowd (remember what city we're in) and in our 4th state this trip. The guy running the songs though (a KJ as he called himself; for Karaoke Jockey) was like a soup nazi for karaoke. A song nazi? And would only let you have one song cued up to sing, would give you 3 seconds to get to the stage after calling out the next song (if you didn't make it he skipped to the next person), and would tell the crowd "THAT IS THE ONLY TIME THAT SONG IS BEING SUNG TONIGHT" when popular songs were sung. So after a few of us got to sing a song, we grabbed cabs and headed to the Broadway area of SF. Here we stumbled upon a bar hosting a beer pong night so we headed in and opted instead for flip cup. Went through a lot of beer, as they were $2 each. They sort of shut down for the night so we tried a couple other clubs on the street, but both were sucky, so we grabbed beer and headed to the hotel. Here the group sort of dispersed though, and after a few of us had cheeseburgers, that was the end of the night. Hopefully it was a strange/fun enough night for the groom to enjoy himself.

Chicken & Waffles, Pastries, and Wine, Oh My!

Today after checking out of the hotel and dumping the baggage in the car (still residing a block away in the public lot) we walked a pretty good length to find a restaurant recommended by Matt's girlfriend. Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles. Oh yes. And while we weren't the only white people there (there were also a couple hipsters) we were certainly very much the minority. Which was cool, plus the food was unbelievable. Wow. Worth the walk there and back. So now absolutely stuffed, we hop in the car and drive to the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and begin heading north.It's a beautiful drive along the ocean past a bunch of little beach communities. We stop about halfway to San Fran at a random little Danish village called Solvang. It's a little tourist spot filled with little shops and windmills and Norwegian style architecture. We pop into a cool little wine store and do a tasting. The girl pouring the wines says we absolutely have to go down the block and try a famous Danish pastry called Aebelskivers. It's like a pancake ball covered in jam and icing sugar. So we share a few over coffee then browse the town a bit more. We go through a cool cuckoo clock shop and a year-round Christmas store. Very eclectic little town.

Back on the road we make another stop a few miles north at a place Nick stopped at when he was here for work earlier in the year called Los Olivos. It's two streets with over 40 wineries/shops. We see an interesting looking one called Alexander & Wayne and stop in for a tasting. Nick and Matt buy bottles so we all get vouchers to go for another tasting at their sister winery next door called Arthur Earl. Here it's moreso Italian and Spanish wines, and we do a tasting here too. Bathroom break then back on the road north again. We hit a place called King City once we are very hungry so stop for pizza and arcade games at a little local pizzeria.The sun sets and it gets very very dark out. The GPS takes us down some single lane back roads to get to Santa Cruz and we finally arrive at our motel around 10. "Hey, is that an Aspirin under the edge of the bed? Nope, looks liiiiike...oh, a hypodermic needle! How fun!" The cap was on and it appeared unused so we maneuvered it into the trash can using tissues. Matt wasn't feeling well (Roscoe's coming back with a vengeance!) so he hung in the room while Nick and I headed out to Pacific Avenue to check out the nightlife. We find only 2 bars on the whole stretch; one of which is a dodgy looking hip hop club and the other is an Irish pub. So we opt for the latter and head in. It's four separate rooms inside; one main one with a long bar playing 80s music and Goonies on the TVs. Next to it is a billiards room with 2 tables. Behind that is an empty room with disco lights playing 80s electro-pop. Across from that is another dance room playing 80s nu wave music. Bizarre. We get beers and go back to the billiards room. End up playing doubles against a couple travelling Brits and play a few games. One we bet on beers (and lose), while another we play for Canada's independence from Britain (which we also lose, so sorry about that folks).There's a random guy in a corner of the billiards room painting watercolour paintings. Mid-game at 1:40 the bar kicks everyone out. Apparently they need the place empty by 2 AM. So we chat a bit more with our British pals then walk back to the motel.

Roller Coasters & Comedy

Up at 9 AM today and ready but then things got delayed; it took a while to book Six Flags tickets with their website, then we had to ask for the front desk to print them which took a solid 30 minutes so by the time we hit the road it was nearly 11. We take the freeway over to Valencia where the park is located, park and walk into Six Flags Magic Mountain. Shortly after entering and seeing the lines we realize that a FlashPass is a necessity. So we go to rent buy them and encounter not one for 46.99 as is advertised everywhere, but 3 different levels of FlashPass. Regular for the 46.99, Gold for more than that and platinum for more than that. All the regular does is book a ride for you for later (one ride at a time) and you don't have to physically wait in line but it would still say come back in two hours to ride this. So that seemed dumb. But the gold and platinum were significantly more expensive. We mulled it over and bought the 3 gold passes which cut wait times in half. So they give us this little device that clip to the belt and looks like a Tamagotchi. It has a list of the rides and what time you could book them for. You select one and once it hits the acceptable time, you go up the back entrance (skipping the line) and ride the ride. Then you book your next ride. It ended up being worth the money. On most rides we had no wait at all. Our longest was maaaybe 30 minutes for a popular one. When I went to this park in 2010 I was there for half a day with no FlashPass and rode a total of 2 rides. Super long lines and very frustrating. This time we rode 10 coasters and could have ridden more if we hadn't gotten our fill already. So after some Panda Express for lunch, here is what we rode:
1. Tatsu. This puts you in a Superman type position and blasts you around the track.The world's tallest, fastest and longest "flying" coaster.
2.The Riddler's Revenge. The world's tallest and fastest "stand up" roller coaster.
3.Batman the Ride. Feet dangling roller coaster.
4. Superman: Escape from Krypton. Blast backwards at 100 mph up a track that leaves you suspended hundreds of feet in the air, then zoom back down.
5. Scream. Floorless coaster.
6.Colossus. Old sketchy wooden coaster.
7. Goliath. Monster coaster with a 255 foot drop into a 120 foot tunnel at 85 mph.
8. Viper. Get turned upside down 7 times.
9. Ninja. The West coast's fastest suspended coaster.
10. Apocalypse. A wooden coaster that went very fast around a lot of corners and drops. Didn't look great from the outside but probably my favourite of the day.

So all coastered out, we grabbed dinner at a BBQ place in the park. I got to have a massive old-timey leg of turkey while the other two opted for BBQ sandwiches.

We walked a couple miles back to our car and drove back to Hollywood. Got cleaned up then walked to Meltdown Comics for a comedy show. There is a room in the back of a comic book store with folding chairs and a little stage. Two guys from the Nerdist podcast do an intro and some banter then bring on a series of comedians for 12 minute sets. We see maybe 6 different ones, two of whom I recognize but all quite funny. First is Anthony Jeselnick who is a well known comic that has appeared on Comedy Central Roasts (as a roaster) and has his own show now called The Jeselnick Offensive. He tells us he has 17 jokes for his opening monologue for his show on Thursday and needs to trim it to 10 so we are his test audience. He fires off the 17 topical jokes based on news stories and writes which ones do the best. Now we'll need to watch his show to see the product of our work. The other notable act was the Sklar brothers. Look them up on IMDB. You probably have seen them in something before. The show wraps up after a couple of hours and we walk back to Hollywood Blvd. Stop at a karaoke place for a drink but it is not our crowd at all. So we carry on and grab a bucket of Coronas at a busy hookah bar and have some birthday shots for Nick's bday once it hits midnight. We head back to the motel to book the hotel tomorrow in Santa Cruz then hit the hay.

Beach & Hollyweird

Got a relatively early start today, then drive out of Vegas. We're running low on gas so we stop at a spot about 20 miles out then see it is right next to an outlet mall so we pop in there and tour the stores. Matt and Nick stock up on some dress clothes, but nothing catches my fancy. Grab some Carl's Jr. for lunch, snap a photo with the Welcome to California sign then carry on heading West. We power through straight to Santa Monica, park and walk to the ocean. Dipping our feet in the water completes the Atlantic to Pacific journey! We walk the beach, then the pier and hit up the arcade for some old school fun. Then we grab dinner at the Mexican restaurant right on the end of the pier. It's only about 75 and windy so the beach is not too busy.

We drive to our Motel 6 in Hollywood (through rush hour traffic...ugh), which ends up being one block off Hollywood Blvd. However we have to utilize overflow parking a couple blocks away for $12 which is a hassle. We unpack then set out to wander the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We go one way until it gets dark and sketchy, then turn around and start walking back the other side. As we are coming up to a bar/restaurant this big group of shall we say "urban youth" pushes their way into the back door of this place. Maybe 30 of them pile in then rush out and run past us towards the dark sketchy area. Several security guards run after them and people inside the bar are yelling "My phone! My wallet! They stole everything!" So basically they bum rushed a bar and robbed everyone in there then bolted. Wow. Sketchy. We carry on back into the busier, touristy, bright area of Hollywood Blvd. A couple blocks from there we see a crowd gathered and a ton of police cars blocking a street as a building is on fire. Exciting! We walk to the Chinese Theater and see all the impersonators. Two of the better ones are Axl Rose and Slash posing together for photos. So evidently they aren't that good of impersonators. Not finding any good bars, we walk back to the motel. Plan out our day tomorrow, then flip on the TV. Breaking news story: "Flash mob responsible for dozens of robberies on Hollywood Blvd. being sought by police. They've gone into a bunch of businesses and robbed people, grabbed cash registers, smashed windows and carried on."
Holy crap! We saw their first robbery and walked literally right through the group of them! Close call! Hollyweird indeed. Maybe Sketchywood is a more accurate nickname though... Anyway, tomorrow we ride roller coasters.

Sleep, Pool & Magic!

Slept in past noon today, which seems fair given the late hour we returned this morning. Matt and Nick headed down to get an early start on their gambling while I opted to update the blog and get things organized. Met them downstairs for a buffet breakfast (we got 2 free vouchers so seemed like a good deal to only have to pay for one meal between us) that served as more of a lunch. Matt figures he needs a nap so Nick and I go to the hotel pool. There is a lounge pool, a wave pool and a lazy river. We decide the lazy river sounds about our pace so floaty tubes are purchased and we float the circular river for the next 2 or 3 hours. Matt arrives post-nap and takes a few laps in the river as well. Dry off in the scorching sun then go back to the room to change into "evening wear."

For dinner we try PF Changs but it has a long wait so we wander a bit more and settle on Panda Express. Then we walk to the Rio hotel and casino which ends up being a decent little hike as it's a couple blocks off the strip. We pick up our Penn & Teller tickets and have about 45 minutes to kill until show time. Sooooo we sit down at a table. On my recommendation we try another 3 card poker table. We play for the 45 minutes and all come out ahead. The theatre where the show happens is conveniently located close to the gaming floor so we wander over there and sit through a very enjoyable Penn & Teller performance. There was great crowd interaction/participation, big enough tricks to be seen from the second level (where we were) and a good amount of social commentary mixed in. After the show both magicians waited in the lobby and anyone that wanted a free photo with them. So there were a lot of selfies being taken as Teller would take a cellphone and snap a photo of himself and a couple people. However, this also meant a long line which I'm never a fan of. Nick and I headed back into the casino and Matt waited and got a photo with Teller. Then we all payed more 3 card poker and all came out ahead again. Decide to stop while we are ahead and walk back to the hotel. Grab a late night snack, book our next hotel for Los Angeles (San Diego got nixed) and call it a night. 2:30 AM end to the night; early by Vegas standards...

A Grand View and Viva!

Grabbed some awful motel danishes and coffee and hit the road before 8 today. We drive north and grab another coffee at the Grand Canyon Village McDonald's. The village feels and looks a lot like Canmore or Kananaskis Village maybe. We stop at the gate for a park pass and drive in to the visitor center. Here we park the car then get out and follow a trail that goes along the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We spend over an hour taking in the views, snapping photos and walking to different observation points. I had heard from several people before that the Grand Canyon was in fact not that impressive, and that you go up to it, say okay cool and leave. Not the case. Very easy to spend hours there and a spectacular sight. Once we have had our fill, we go over two route options with a guide; north of the canyon and down to Vegas or backtrack south where we started today and across then up to Vegas. It turns out option one is over double the distance, so we opt for the short route.

Off the I-40 we detour onto the old historic Route 66 and drive the very quiet road for about 100 miles. At the start of the interstate detour we grab lunch at a place called Road Kill 66 Cafe which sounds like everything I want in a restaurant and manage to get a salad bar with the various meat sandwiches. The town we are eating in is called Seligman and claims to be the birthplace of Route 66. One stretch we hit had torrential rain and crazy multiple lightning strikes every few seconds. The weather on this whole trip has certainly been interesting. Just past a little town called Valle Vista we saw a roadrunner hustle across the highway! At the last town before we get back on a main highway called Kingman we stop in at the Route 66 museum. It was very boring. Matt put it best: "it was just competent enough to be boring. Any more and it would be educational and any less would make it funny." We carry on north until the Hoover Dam where we stop and walk across for photos and also walk halfway across the massive bypass bridge. Obligatory photos snapped and pouring sweat (it was 111 degrees and sunny) we hop back in the luxury of the air conditioned car and roll into Las Vegas. Vivaaaaaaa Las Vegas...

Check in at our hotel (Monte Carlo) and ask about upgrading to a suite. No dice, they are completely sold out. Wow. We grab some beers and walk the strip. Play some roulette in Caesar's Palace. I'm wearing a Roughriders shirt and as we are walking out a big black dude stops me and says "hey Riders! You fans are everywhere man!" He goes "I'm Joe Mumford" and I say "cool, I'm Vaughn Turnbull." At this point Matt and Nick walk up and Matt goes "whoa, Joe Mumford, awesome!" Apparently he was a CFL player for the Ti-Cats for a number of years. We chat a bit then carry on walking. Earlier we had done some research on casinos that didn't have high table minimums, as $15 per hand adds up pretty fast. One we found is called Casino Royale so we go in when we track it down. It's old, not flashy like the big casinos and has a lot of, shall we say, character. Find a $5 table of 3-card poker and sit down to play. We are joined by 3 guys from Toronto that are down for a tobacco/cigar show. Two owns cigar shops and one carves custom tobacco pipes. End up spending a couple hours at the table with the TO guys losing their money, Matt and Nick finishing a bit down and me finishing a bit up. Walk back outside and get flagged down by one of the common street club promoter guys. Limo ride to club, couple drinks, etc. in the sales pitch. Sure, what the heck we say. He makes a call and says the limo is quite far away so he decides he'll just drive us. We hop in his old Jeep Cherokee, pour some drinks and cruise over to a club. What followed that was a whirlwind tour of other clubs til the wee hours of the morning. Walked back into the hotel room just before 6 AM. Then sweet, sweet sleep.

World's Longest Tramway to Route 66

This morning we drive to Budget in ABQ to see if I can be added as a driver on the rental now that I'm 25. They say yes, but for $13/day. Well what about swapping with Nick? No. Swapping with Matt? No. Okay then, thanks for the help. Looks like I get a full 24 day break from driving (which is actually kind of nice given how much I drive for work back in Calgary). We head to WalMart and stock up on snacks and juices, but not beer because for some reason this one doesn't carry beer. Not sure if that's just this location or all of New Mexico. So we carry on and stop at a little Mexican restaurant called Burrito Time for a delicious, fresh lunch and watched the movie Matilda dubbed in Spanish while we ate. Up next we stopped at Sandia Peak for the world's longest tramway. Take a gondola ride to the top of the mountain range and get to look out over the whole valley and it feels like we can see pretty much all of New Mexico. Apparently there is skiing here for about 4 months a year with an average snowfall of 120 inches, which is a surprisingly large amount for the desert. Unfortunately the hiking trails are closed due to very high fire risk/warnings. So we walk around the little boardwalk then take the gondola back down.

Back on the road we head west and run into a torrential downpour just before the Arizona border. Luckily the rain clears up in time for us to get a dry photo with the Welcome to Arizona sign. We stop at  a little place called Geronimo for a picture with the world's largest petrified tree, which is just as unimpressive as it sounds. Stop for Subway at another little town. Anything to break up the monotonous driving across these two states is welcomed. The drive here is seriously more boring than across Saskatchewan. I didn't think that was possible. Eventually we get to our destination for the night: Williams, AZ. It's a quaint tourist town that has the tagline "Last town on Route 66 bypassed by the I-40" which is hilarious and sad. As it turns out it's sort of a charming little place and we wander the one main road and pop into the shops for Route 66 souvenirs. I stock up on some retro looking American-brand gasoline signs to decorate my cubicle back in Calgary. We turn in early and plan to head to the Grand Canyon bright and early before carrying on to Las Vegas.

Caves, Aliens and Karaoke

Got up early today and drove to the Carlsbad Caverns. Opted for a self guided tour which goes through two main caverns and takes close to 2 hours. What a spectacular place. The caves are massive inside with so many cool formations and features. We grab coffees and hit the road north. Our next stop is Roswell, NM. We grab lunch at a UFO shaped McDonald's for lunch. Who ever said dreams can't come true? We walk to a little gift shop/museum of sorts called Alien Zone and went through their cheesy alien displays, which ended up being a good laugh and yielding some funny pictures. Grabbed the necessary trinkets and carried on our way to Albuquerque (ABQ). Didn't see the air force base where the alleged UFO incident/crash happened in the 40s as it was south of town and we were going north now. Overall Roswell was disappointing; it could be a quirky, charming town where everyone acts like they're in on a secret, but instead it's just a dump of a town and the little shops also stock some alien souvenirs along with the usual wares. We had planned to take a UFO Tour hosted by a "researcher" that has been around since the 40s but it was booked solid for the whole month when we checked availability from Austin. On the way to ABQ we drive through the village of Vaughn, which is the shittiest little dump of a place I think I've ever seen. But at least it was spelled right (unlike Vaughan, MS). About 25 miles outside ABQ we hit a patch of heavy rain, because thunderstorms in the desert make sense, right? We later learn from a cabbie that they are getting more rain than they have seen in years. Seems to be following us.

We check into our hotel in ABQ and catch up on our internet. Our hotel is probably the nicest thus far with enough soap and towels for everyone, a working tv, a quiet A/C... It's the little things that count. we investigate things to do and there appear to be not many. There is a Breaking Bad tour that brings you around to different locations from the show, but it was basically all houses and the tour was 3.5 hours for $65. Seemed like a waste, even though it's one of my favourite shows. We eventually find a place in town that is a bowling alley/arcade/karaoke combination. Otherwise known as the best place ever! So we call a cab and take it to the spot, which ends up being over 10 miles (and a very pricey cab ride) away. It's a bit of a dive and the crowd is a weird mix of people but we ten pin bowl, sing some karaoke, shoot pool and play some arcade games. Oh and slug back beer and jello shots at a rapid pace. Overall a fun time. We cab back to the hotel after waiting over an hour for said cab and the driver tells us it's free. Confused we ask for clarification and he explains that the government covers cab rides home from bars there to curb drunk driving. Well right on sir, here's a tip and have a great night!

Best BBQ ever, a run-in with the law, and hours of endless desert

Today we got up and drove to a highly rated BBQ place called John Mueller Meat Co. It's literally a backyard BBQ in a vacant lot in a somewhat sketchy neighbourhood. They only cook a certain amount of meat each day and once they sell out of something, it gets crossed off the menu board. We get a combo platter to share of beef short ribs, brisket, and pork ribs with some bottled sodas to wash everything down. This place is rated nearly perfect for a reason. I never want to eat any meat again because it will pale in comparison to this amazing BBQ'd meat. It was the best thing I've ever eaten. The other 2 guys had similar opinions. A perfect finish to our journey through Texas.

We clean up and hit the road to New Mexico. Along the way we pass through a little German town called Fredericksburg which looks super neat and quaint however may be built as a tourist town. Then we hit a long stretch of highway. Car set to cruise and just logging miles. On the plus side, the speed limit here is 80 mph so that helps cover distance quicker. At one point we drive past a sheriff SUV parked in the meridian who pulls out and starts to follow us. We were a couple miles over the limit but nothing warranting being pulled over. We debate what's going on but can't figure it out. The SUV pulls up right beside us and the cop looks into our car and at us then drops back and flicks on the lights to pull us over. Nick pulls onto the shoulder and stops and up walks a surprisingly attractive female cop to the passenger window. She asks for Nick's license and the car registration then asks which of us are carrying guns. We say none of us. She says "okay what about concealed weapons? I'm going to need them taken out and to see your registration for them." We go uhhh none of those either... She doesn't let up "Well knives then, y'all must have some pocket knives on you or something right?" Again, no, we have no weapons. She seems shocked by this (We are in Texas, I guess) and tells Nick to step out of the car and go stand back at her SUV. So he does and Matt and I can hear her interrogating him, asking about the car, what we were doing here, where Nick was from/born, where we had been and where we were going next. A few minutes later she comes up to our car again and asks for mine and Matt's licenses. She checks them then quizzes us with similar questions to maybe see if our stories matched Nick's I guess? We have nothing to hide so tell her where we had been and what was up next. She goes "So what, it's like a lifelong dream of y'all to drive across America or somethin?" We go uhhh, I guess? She returns everyone's IDs and tells us to watch our speed and have a good trip. We get driving again and Matt and I ask Nick what she said when he was back at the SUV. Apparently she told him he was going a little quick but that we looked suspicious as did the Florida plates on our rental car. Very odd. So we set the cruise control at exactly 80 (which realistically is plenty fast) and carried on.

Then came a long boring stretch, only mitigated by a good selection of music, including our trip song "I Love It - Icona Pop ft. Charlie XCX" which we play at LEAST once per day while driving. It's a good pump up song. Sadly, there are no longer any waffle houses in this part of the country so that road game has ended. Still working on replacing it with another equally common chain. We stop in a little place called Fort Stockton for dinner and randomly choose a Mexican place called Mi Casita. We learn as we go inside that it's been voted the best restaurant in the county for several years running, so we lucked out with some very tasty Tex Mex. We fuel up and notice gas is the most expensive besides Miami on the whole trip here. Odd considering all the oil in Texas. We carry on through to Carlsbad, only stopping for a photo at the Welcome to New Mexico sign, which is riddled with bullet holes. At the hotel in Carlsbad we plan the next few nights and gets hotels booked. Tomorrow we head through Roswell up to Albuquerque then West from there.

A Day on the Water, A Night in the Bars

Sleep in late today and eat some leftover pizza for lunch. There's still so much! We plan our next couple of days then drive to a place called Barton Springs, which a bartender recommended last night. It's a freshwater spring that runs through Austin that has two little dams so it creates a natural pool with a twist; it's filled with weeds and algae and such and the ground is slimy and slippery. It's cool and gross at the same time. We cool off there for a while then drive to Austin's lake called Lady Bird Lake. Here we take the bartender's second recommendation and rent some stand up paddle boards for an hour. We paddle out to a little island and drag our boards up onto shore. On the island we find wooden swings in the trees, a fire pit, a big painting and a pogo stick. On a tree is a large painted sign proclaiming this Indico Island. Very cool hippie vibe to the place. We paddle back onto the lake and back to the dock to wrap up the hour. A good mix of relaxing, sunshine and exercise. We sit on the dock to dry off in the 102 degree heat. Then we drive to a BBQ place recommended by the same bartender last night called Iron Works BBQ. We get our fill of tasty BBQ and knock Texas BBQ off our list of things to eat.

Head back to the hotel to shower and change then walk to the Congress Street bridge to watch the flight of the bats. Each night at sunset, thousands of bats fly out of the trees surrounding the bridge and off into the night sky to feed. It was quite a sight and looked like the swarms of cedar waxwings back in Saskatchewan. Like thick black clouds in the sky. We walk up Congress Avenue which was also recommended but don't see any cool spots so we pop into a cafe and ask for recommendations. The barista is super helpful and he recommends we go to East 6th Street which is further down 6th where we were last night but past an interstate overpass. We walk over that way and the vibe is much sketchier but also cool and artsy. We stop at a little Mexican place called Papi Tino's for a beer, then begin a walking pub crawl. Up next we go to a rooftop patio at a place called the Brixton for a beer, then just up the street from there is this odd looking gothic-decorated bar that has old furniture, weird animals like boars and tapirs heads mounted on the wall and an old electric organ on display. Have a beer there and wander out the back door to the big open patio that also houses food trucks. Also backing on the patio is another bar, so we wander into it and there's a live band. We grab more beers and listen to this band that sound like The Smashing Pumpkins. Once their set finishes we grab some amazing pulled pork/avocado tacos from one of the food trucks out back then back in for another beer and to watch a new band.This band plays psychedelic rock and utilizes an overhead projector with various liquids poured onto it to form their lighting and backdrop display. Once they finish we wander further up the road and into a random bar. Here we load some songs on the jukebox, play pool and play a game of darts.Head back to the last venue for more food truck snacks and see most of the set of band #3. Satisfied with East 6th, we walk back to 6th and into the place we sang karaoke at last night. Turns out it isn't a karaoke bar but rather has one karaoke night per week. The same bartender is working and remembers us and she is thrilled that we took every one of her recommendations. She gives us free rounds of shots then another round of doubles. We all hang out chatting until the bar closes then Matt, Nick and I walk back to the hotel. Along the way a random Austin dude starts chatting with us and wanders most of the way back too until we part ways near the hotel. A full day and night of activities has tuckered us out and thus concludes the night.

Jump on it!

Today we made it to 3/4 of the cities mentioned in the first verse of the song Jump On It by Sir Mix-A-Lot (Houston, San Antonio, Austin). The clothes we hung to dry overnight were still damp due to the humidity so we popped them in the hotel dryer but the thing broke when Matt put in the quarters. So we loaded up into the car, checked out and drove to a nearby little town called League City and threw the clothes in a dryer at a laundromat then grabbed Starbucks while we waited. Once the laundry was dry, we tossed it in the trunk and hit the interstate to San Antonio. About halfway there we hit a highway traffic jam due to road work which was a mess but once we got past it we hit 75 mp/h speed limit. Yeehaw! We stop at Buc'ees for gas which has 60 pumps and 30 lanes. Biggest set-up I've ever witnessed and the largest, nicest gas bar bathrooms ever as well. Anyway, we carry on and get to San Antonio and go straight to Big Lou's Pizza. This is a famous place featured on the show Man V. Food and their featured menu item is a 42" pizza. So we got one to share. Half pep&mush, half pep&pineapple. The pieces were as big as my arm and surprisingly delicious with a soft, chewy crust. We finished just over half of it then packed the rest up to have for dinner tonight...and lunch tomorrow...and dinner tomorrow...

Then we drove downtown and toured the Alamo. It's a free historic site, so all it cost us was $10 parking... The buildings were cool and the gardens and greenery around them were gorgeous. From there we walked around the river walk, which is a river canal through hotels and restaurants much like Venice. Spectacular and so unexpected in the middle of a city in Texas. 

Hopped back in the car and headed on to Austin and checked into our hotel which was one of the nicest to date.We walk over to 6th for drinks which is the busy nightlife street of the city. We go into a bar for one dollar tall boy beers. End up playing beer pong against two girls from San Fran who crush all combinations of Matt, Nick and I. They take off and we go to an arcade bar so we get 2 dollar tall boy beers and play old video arcade games and skee ball for a couple hours. Great fun. However eventually the place fills up with popped-collar college kids that are absolutely unbearable so we mosey on down to a karaoke place and belt a few tunes until closing. Walk back to the hotel and call it a night.

Baton Rouge to the moon

Got a surprisingly early start to the day today considering the festivities of the night previous. Drove straight to Baton Rouge, which is a cool (albeit quiet) looking city. They have a state building that looks like the Empire State Building and a big paddle-wheeler steam stacked riverboat casino. Too early for such pleasantries, however. We carry on to Lafayette to a restaurant recommended by a coworker of Matt's dad. Tasty char-grilled oysters to start (these I can handle; cooked they are fine) then seafood pasta for me and red snappers for the other 2. Good meal, and I think we have all had a sufficient amount of seafood for a while. Once we leave Lafayette, the landscape looks a lot like Hwy 1 between Calgary and Banff. We get a short burst of torrential downpour (seems we can't escape the rain in any state) just before Lake Charles. Lake Charles appears to be more of a tailings pond for the multitude of industry and refineries surrounding the body of water. We drive over a crazy high/steep bridge that takes us to the other side of the lake and into Texas shortly thereafter. Right at the border is a massive visitor center where we take photos inside a metal star and next to the Welcome to Texas sign. One thing I have forgotten to mention thus far is the unbelievable amount of "adult" stores advertised on billboards on the interstate highways. Not sure who is driving the huge supply but evidently there must be a big demand for such places, as they number even greater than the fireworks stores. Near Houston the refineries start appearing and suddenly are all you can see in any direction.

We still play our game of who can see and call out each and every Waffle House sign first along the way. We're at well over a hundred by now I'm sure. We drive to the Johnson Space Center in the Clear Lake/Webster area (just outside of Houston) with 3 hours to spare before they close. Hustle in, get tickets and start exploring. First is a large museum/interactive type place with heaps of kids, but we soon find a tram tour that we hop on. This tour takes us to the astronaut training center where they learn skills for space and the hangar houses a full scale replica of the entire International Space Station. Learn some cool things about what goes on there and then the tram takes us to the Saturn V building. This massive structure houses the Saturn 5 rocket, used to send astronauts to the moon. Not a replica; the real thing. And it is MASSIVE. Along the wall are photos and write ups and quotes from each Apollo mission. Pretty inspirational. 

The tram takes us back to the museum building and we go into a theatre to see a 4D video of a rocket launch, complete with bass loud enough to feel and smoke pouring out at the point in the video where the rocket engines fire up. Then a guide tells us all about the ISS, the astronauts, and their roles. Informative and interesting. We wander around other stationary exhibits including one of the evolution of space suits. It finished with the suit worn by Felix Baumgartner for his Red Bull Stratos jump along with video and storyboards to accompany it. Hit the gift shop then drive back to the hotel. Matt stays to give the missus a call while Nick and I opt to drive to a pier amusement park. We get there and it looks unimpressive; like a smaller version of Callaway Park in Calgary. But they have a big wooden roller coaster so we each grab a $6 ticket for the thing and take it for a spin. Absolutely terrifying and amazing. So borderline unsafe, and also so thrilling. The guy didn't take our tickets (almost the end of the night combined with not caring) so we rode the thing again. $6 for two coaster rides? Bargain! Went back to the hotel and did laundry at the poolside machines and had beers in the coolish "hot tub" while waiting for that to finish. Booked our next 2 nights in Austin and turned in for the night. Tomorrow we go through San Antonio then head up to Austin. 

HO-HO and Spotted Cat

Slept in today then drove to a place that has famous Po boy sandwiches. Po boys are like a sub with deep fried seafood on them, which got their name from a restaurant owner during the streetcar strike many years ago. She said of the striking streetcar conductors: "these po' boys ain't got nothin' to eat" and promptly made them these easy-to-transport southern sandwiches and delivered them to the hungry striking workers. Anyway, apparently everyone else heard about this place too, as when we walked up, there was a line of over 100 people. So we detoured and wandered until we found a decent looking place called Felix's. Nick and I have Po boy sandwiches and Matt opts for a catfish platter. They had some enormous oysters, but I'm not an oyster lover so passed on that delicacy. Our waitress tells us it's busier in town than usual for this time of year because there is a hip hop festival called the Essence Festival happening at the Super Dome this weekend.

After lunch we head back out for a walk in the French Quarter, which regardless of time of day or night, smells heavily of vomit and urine. We grab tickets for a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city (or HO-HO for short). This takes us through the French Quarter, along the river, and through the Garden District. All the neighbourhoods are built in old Spanish style. French Quarter is actually a misnomer; and refers to the former large population of Creole French-speaking residents. We go past Harrah's Casino, which was grandfathered in as a "gaming establishment" while the state banned "gambling" everywhere else. We saw Mardi Gras World, where they build and store all the Mardi Gras floats. See inside at a wide array of them. We hop off at Jackson Square and walk around the riverfront area on the Mississippi then into some shops. There are a bunch of street buskers and artists around this area and Nick picks up some cat art. We walked over to the famous St. Louis cemetery number one but it closes at noon on Sundays. So we just peek through the iron gate at the old crypts and tombs. That's enough exploring for today, so we locate the car again (after a good amount of searching - it's easy to get lost in the French Quarter) and drive to a Starbucks for some good wifi to plan our next days (our hotel's wifi is mediocre at best). Our drive to the nearest Starbucks takes us past the Superdome, which is massive and oddly shaped, and through a ghetto (Matt suggests we invest in the song "in the ghetto" to play each time we go through one, which seems to be getting more and more frequent on this trip). Spend a good while sipping coffee/tea in Starbs and then head back to the hotel to change (getting caught in the rain + humidity = need to change clothes often).

We catch a cab to Frenchman Street and have dinner at a place the cabbie recommends. Frenchman Street is the artsy music district of the city, and is where the locals and tourists in the know go for entertainment; far from the noise and craziness of Bourbon St. Tonight it's chicken burgers for Nick and I and a huge burger for Matt. With sides of salad. Mmmm, so rare to get some greens down here that you need to take them whenever you can find them. We learn that the burger is the top ranked one in the city and Matt says it is in fact amazing. Missed out on that but needed a lighter meal, so probably for the best in the end anyway. After dinner we go across the street to a little dive bar called The Spotted Cat for several hours of beers and fantastic local jazz from two separate bands. Wander down the road to another jazz club called Maison and see a few songs from a soul band. Nick and Matt decide to go down to Jackson Square to a bar recommended by some other Canadians we met. I opt for a dodgy cab ride back to the hotel. They arrive back shortly after me as apparently one place was too lined up and another they had to exit abruptly after a spilled beer incident. Great night in NOLA.

From Graceland to Bourbon Street

Woke up and felt TERRIBLE. That was too much meat consumed lately. Anyway, got ready and drove to Graceland to tour it. The private plane and private jumbo jet were cool albeit very dated, but you could tell they were once top of the line in their time. Wood paneling is laughable now, Elvis. Next was the Vegas exhibit which featured a bunch of flamboyant outfits. The Tupelo exhibit was odd; it featured a tribute to Elvis' Mississippi hometown and talked a bunch about his stillborn twin brother. The auto museum had an amazing collection of Elvis' vehicles and motorized toys. Next was the mansion tour, which we had to line up and take a shuttle bus to as it's across the street. It was an audio tour with headphones and was interesting as the estate was very eclectic. We wrote our names on the wall around the mansion (as do nearly all visitors) with a #GART to commemorate our trip stop there. Popped into the Hawaii exhibit quickly then got back in our car and drove back to Beale St. Parked and then took a tour of the Gibson guitar factory. This is the newest Gibson factory and only makes hollow and semi-hollow body models here. All are made to order. There's still a surprising amount of hand-done stuff instead of using machines. Looked and smelled much like a big high school shop class.

Got back into the car and got dollar coins as change from the parking machine, which looked suuuuper fake (like arcade tokens) but after checking around apparently they are legit and are typically used for/dispensed by parking machines but are accepted anywhere. Drove to a WalMart to stock up on supplies and booze and realized we were the only white people in the whole store. Got a few confused looks from other shoppers. Oh, scratch that, the on-site police officer was also white. Stopped off at a Subway for a veggie-loaded sub (thank heavens, after all that meat) and then like Johnny Cash sang, we were going to Jackson. Mississippi was only two lanes per side on the interstate and the road was in poor shape. After a section of swamp, it surprisingly looked exactly like the area between Saskatoon and Prince Albert or even a little north of there. Wide open skies and lush forests. However, any rivers we crossed over looked murky, brown and probably gator-filled. Twenty miles north of Jackson is an enormous Nissan manufacturing plant and water tower. Seemed like a strange spot for it. Cheap land, I guess. Into Jackson we drove around but didn't see much so went for a photo at the state capitol building. Beautiful old stone building. Very quiet around there. Was hot but seemed odd that people weren't around. Around the other side we saw a wedding party of 15 bridesmaids and 15 groomsmen and then the bride and groom arrived. Weird. Got back in the car and drove all around downtown. Ghost town. This is a city of like 175,000 people. Barely a car to be seen. Stopped at a gas station. Closed. Did we miss some sort of mass evacuation ordinance? This is spooky. Hop back in the car and carry on south into Louisiana.

There is a bridge of maybe 20 miles over the swamps as you head into New Orleans. Such a cool site off either side; you see swamp shacks (reminded us of Waterboy) and shrimp boats and such parked out front of them. Then the rain started again. Really looking forward to Texas, which will hopefully have dry climates. Pull up to our hotel in a pretty ghetto looking neighbourhood. This was the only one remotely close to the French Quarter for a halfway decent price. And despite this, we were overcharged. Big time. I'd say the place has character, but that's where the good ends. Half the lights in the room don't work, red stains on the shower curtain (please be paint, please be paint), drapes hanging half off the bar, with sketchy dudes peering at us from across the street in some sort of project housing. Drug deals happening on the street below. So basically a nice, welcoming family place... It does feel authentically New Orleans though. We take a cab further into the french quarter and walk onto Bourbon Street. Wow. I have never seen a busier, crazier stretch of road than this. Overwhelming. People packed into the endless bars, flooding onto the streets, walking every which way with drinks and shouting. We duck into a place called 424 seafood for some late dinner. Matt opts for a Po Boy sandwich, while Nick and I each try the Taste of New Orleans combos (crawfish etouffee, seafood gumbo, red beans and rice) with a locally brewed beer each. Tasty. Wander back out into the street and walk around. We stop in at a place called Famous Door that has a jazz/funk cover band that absolutely belts out groovy tunes. Two singers, two keyboard players, guitar, bass, a full horns section. Looking around we realized this was also what we are now referring to as a "Wal Mart situation" in that we are the only white people. Didn't matter. Had a great time. They have a tricky tactic here with shots though. Nick buys 3 beers for us and the girl goes "oh comes with shots, here, here" and pours them in your mouth. Then says "extra 3 dollars please." The next one that came around we had to physically push away to refuse a shot. Band takes a break so we wander down the road again into some random shops. Head back to Famous Door for a couple more songs then cab home. Cab driver hears where our hotel is and goes "oh that's where y'all are staying? Haha, okay then..." so that's reassuring...

Walking in Memphis

Had a much needed sleep in today. Said goodbye to our MN neighbours and then hit the road with some Starbucks to start the day off right. Drove to Memphis and checked into the hotel then drove to Graceland. Weren't sure where to go for tours and whatnot so we just sort of circled the perimeter and ended up driving through all these beautiful old neighbourhoods around the area. We saw the Memphis visitor center so we stopped there for recommendations. We booked 3 tours through them and then headed to the first of 3; the Memphis Rock N Soul Museum. This museum has headsets with a bunch of displays that cue up an audio recording of the story behind each exhibit. Spent an hour and a half going through that and learning about the music history of Memphis. We exited and grabbed a beer and wandered Beale St. which is the main drag of busy bars in town. One shop we wandered into had a box of assorted license plates for sale. The one on the top of the pile? Saskatchewan. We asked the girl working where they acquired it and she said her boss just picks them up randomly from wherever. We spoke with a lady selling beer on the street about where to go in Memphis and she recommended Midtown as that's where the locals all go. She said Beale St. Is just for tourists, and all the musicians you hear have to pay a permit to play there and are only allowed to play cover songs; nothing original. We headed into People's Pool Hall for an hour on the tables and some locally brewed beer. Then it was about time for dinner so we went to Blues City Cafe which seems to be quite famous. Nick and I had catfish and ribs each while Matt opted for just a full rack of ribs. We all ate to excess and then went home to sleep off the ensuing meat comas we inflicted upon ourselves. Tomorrow we'll head south into Mississppi.

Happy Birthday America

Today began later than most days thus far. Slept in til nearly eleven then slowly got ready for the day. Put on shorts, sleeveless shirts, sunblock and opened the door. Rain. Crap. So re-did the wardrobe in rain gear and walked to Jack's BBQ on Broadway for lunch. Pretty tasty plate of meat. Was still raining heavy so we cabbed to Third Man Records, which is Jack White's studio and record shop. It was a cool spot with lots of little displays and a very eclectic mix of records. It was still raining and it felt too early for drinks yet so we walked over to the country music hall of fame and toured it. It was okay, despite none of us being much of country fans. Walked back to the hotel through the rain and grabbed the car. Went over to Opry Mills shopping mall to find some American gear for the festivities tonight. The mall is right near The Grand Ole Opry concert hall but we'll swing by that tomorrow if we have time. We all picked up matching sleeveless American flag shirts and Matt got red shorts to match Nick and my red jeans we had both brought along. So we went back to the hotel and donned our patriotic garb.

With Budweiser beers cracked, we got chatting to our neighbours at the motel. They were two couples around our parents' ages from Minnesota on a motorcycle trip. We chatted a while with them and then the group of us headed across the road to a pub for drinks. Tried deep fried peanuts, which means eating the shell and all courtesy of our new friends and they were surprisingly good. We all walked over to Broadway and had some beers at a random bar with live music then caught the fireworks show, which was somewhat obscured by the low cloud cover from the rain all day. Not bad of a fireworks display but a little weak for the 4th in America. Then we all migrated next door upstairs to a karaoke bar. Here there were a crowd of folks that were singing country songs, as is to be expected in Nashville. We decided to go a different route, however, and belted out Bohemian Rhapsody, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls and other such wonderful musical selections. Seemed to be quite a hit with the locals. At least I assume that's why there were so many phones recording us while we sang... Met two wonderful gals from Mississippi who chatted with me for quite some time and then 3 ladies from the Nashville area that we sang with until nearly the end of the evening. We all had plenty to drink and eventually called it a night (once the bar closed and told everyone to leave). A very memorable 4th of July in Nashville.

Alabama Slamma

Today began with breakfast at a restaurant chain that we have seen at literally every single interstate exit while driving, so it must be good; Waffle House. Waffles, biscuits & gravy, hashbrowns and whatnot and we were sufficiently full. Loaded back into the car and set our course for Alabama.

Not long after we hit the road, it began to rain so hard that our wipers couldn't keep up. Traffic on the interstate slowed to a crawl and vehicles all put on their 4-way flashers. There was a ton of lightning and the thunder was very close and strong. We could feel the thunder on the floorboards of the car. If Charleston gets this weather, there will certainly be flooding there, so skipping it was probably for the best. As we crossed over into Alabama, the rain slowed. Didn't get a chance to try a Georgia peach unfortunately.

As we proceeded through Alabama en route to Birmingham we saw a sign for a Nascar speedway. We looked at each other and asked "is that like the one in the movie?" Yes, yes it was. It was the Talladega Superspeedway. Went in, took some photos, bought a sleeveless shirt as a souvenir, and headed down the side road back to the interstate. Just before we got back, we stopped for gas at a little station that was conveniently located right next to a 2 for 1 fireworks store! So we bought an arm full of firecrackers and asked the lady where we could set these off legally. She said "Well we usually send folks down the gravel road behind the place but the last guy we sent there accidentally started the forest on fire, so we aren't recommending that spot anymore. Tell you what, we own that abandoned lot over there with the burned down building on it, so go use that spot." So we went over there and set off a buttload of firecrackers!!! AMERICA!!!

Shortly thereafter we reached Birmingham and had a couple spots picked out from extensive research (Googling things to do in Birmingham at the hotel this morning) so we went straight to spot number one, the Sloss Furnaces. This is an abandoned iron mill turned historical site. You get to go in and tour around to old, creepy, eerily quiet buildings and walkways by yourself. Very creepy vibe, very cool thing to see. We got back in the car and headed to spot number 2, but along the way saw this little roadside BBQ shack and stopped because it was near lunch and this place looked awesome. And so it was. the BBQ combo plates at Lo Lo's BBQ were quite possibly the best BBQ each of us have ever eaten. A gem of a find in the middle of Birmingham. We asked the girl working where our next spot to visit was (a huge statue on a mountain overlooking the city) and she said that despite living there her whole life, she had never gone to the statue and wasn't really sure how to get to it, but there will be signs that will "follow you there." Luckily our GPS had it as a point of interest so we went up to the top of Red Mountain and visited the Vulcan statue. This is a character from Greek mythology who was the blacksmith to the gods. Chosen for Birmingham based on the iron working history of the city. So we took an elevator up to an observation deck that let us look over all of Birmingham and off in all directions over the thick forests of Alabama. We were all surprised with both how beautiful Birmingham/Alabama are and how much forest there is. Also, here was the first spot that we encountered friendly, southern hospitality from everyone we spoke to. All genuinely incredibly nice people. We went through the Vulcan museum which was like the Western Development Museum back in Saskatoon; lots of little displays about the iron working history of the place and key people in the story of the city. As we got back on the road to Nashville we discussed how difficult it is to not imitate the accents of people in Alabama. It is such a fun, cool-sounding accent that halfway through speaking to a local, you realize it's starting to sneak into your words.

On the I-65 we crossed the Tennessee river, which is absolutely massive. Equivalent to maybe 4 Bow Rivers of Calgary put side by side. We decide spur of the moment to go through Lynchburg to see the Jack Daniel's distillery. Ends up being disappointing. We didn't want to do the tour so just saw some big buildings and took photos with a barrel. The gift shop had no magnets or shirts or anything; just bottles of Jack. So we carried on, seeing a Jack Daniel's employee credit union bank as well as a Co-op gas bar (which I might need to discuss with my boss when I get home)...

We finally get to Nashville, check in to our motel and walk over the Broadway, which is the busy nightlife street of the city. We tried a BBQ place but it had just closed for the night so we went next door to the Tequila Cowboy for some grub and beers. Live music on stage here, as there was at almost every single bar along this strip. We then chose a place called the National Underground, which offered a "hipster special" of a pint of PBR with a double shot of whiskey on the side for 6 bucks. So had a couple of those specials... There was good live acoustic duos on stage. Wandered up the road to another spot, which was much busier, called Paradise Cove, where for 6 dollars each, we each got a pitcher of beer. Night ended around 2 for me passing out on the bed, but Matt and Nick stayed out much later than me. Nashville is a fun city.

Georgia on my Mind

Early start again today. Stopped for gas at a roadside Florida Orange Center and got some fresh orange slices. When in Florida... The vegetation changes quite drastically from Orlando area palm trees, to dense forests of northern Florida to low tropical forests and open fields in Georgia. It's still very hot in Georgia (around 90 F today) which apparently is cooler than it was in Canada today, but the humidity here is still a major factor.

A few hours and several pit stops later, we were in Atlanta. Seven lanes on each side of the highway in. I thought Atlanta was only a couple million people, but looks like as much as 7 in the metro area, thus the crazy amounts of traffic. Our GPS took us through some unsavory neighbourhoods, which our hotel ended up being just on the edge of. Checked in and asked if it's safe to walk around to the stadium and museums. "Yeah, only thing is that it might rain on ya" was the response of the lady at the front desk. So we hoofed it over to the World of Coca-Cola museum a couple miles from the hotel. Quite a large building and right next to the Georgia Aquarium, which apparently is the largest indoor aquarium in the world. Odd place for that. We got tickets and went through the metal detectors into the lobby of the Coke museum. The fellow in front of us hand to check his pocket knife at the door...('muricah!). We were shuffled into a secondary lobby where we got some history on the brand and a bunch of heritage pieces displayed in this room. Then we entered the next room which was a theatre to watch an animated movie showing the new advertising characters for Coke. After this we were free to wander the exhibits.

We checked out a couple of museum type rooms of nostalgia Coke machines/signs, etc. first. Cruised through there quite quickly. The line to look at the Coke vault "containing the secret formula" was too long, as was the one to get a photo with the animatronic polar bear, so we went upstairs to the taste testing room. Here we each got a cup and got to sample 8 Coke products from each of the following regions: Africa, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Europe. Some very interesting ones in there, some great, and some awful. Notably a couple from Britain were terrible. So with our teeth sufficiently rotted, we went to the 4D theatre for a little movie about the joys of Coke. It was 3D plus moving seats, plus wind and water, and even  a bit that jabbed you in the back (which seemed unnecessary but was part of the 4th dimension evidently). That seemed like enough marketing for the day, so we exited through the gift shop, which meant needing to load up on merchandise first. Coolest gift shop with the best product selection I have ever seen. Got a pretty good pile of things and then caught a cab back to the hotel.

Changed (heat and humidity = sticky clothes), had a couple beers and cabbed to Turner Field and watched the Atlanta Braves absolutely crush the Miami Marlins. Just need some apple pie to go with the baseball game and Budweiser beer and that's about as American as it gets. Caught a cab outside the stadium and asked for a recommendation of a cool bar to check out. Cabbie had zero suggestions. So we went back to the hotel and planned our route for tomorrow then retired for the night. Tomorrow sees us travelling through Alabama up to Nashville, where we plan on spending the 4th of July.

Wet N Wild

Now that's a title that must have you intrigued. Unfortunately for you, you will need to wait until the next paragraph to learn what it means... We got up early today, checked out and hit the interstate northbound. Nick has been doing the driving thus far as the rental place in Miami would only allow one driver and one alternate, but the alternate has to be over 25 so that's Matt. Once I hit 25 mid-trip I can get added on too, but only if one of the others get dropped off the rental. So maybe I'll get added and Nick will get dropped, given that he will drive most of the first half of the trip. Semantics. Anyways, we drove all the way up to Orlando and headed straight to....

Wet N Wild water park! (In the journalism business, that's what they call burying the lead)

Much like the water park in West Edmonton Mall, we decided this was the best use of our time. We originally wanted to go to Simpson's Land, but it's the only good part of the one Universal Park it's housed in and the other Universal Park wasn't amazing either. So we voted water slides. Always vote water slides when given the chance. Spent a solid few hours there, which included torrential downpour rainfall. This thinned out the already small crowds even further so wait times were quite reasonable. Bunch of wuss tourists "ahh it's raining, let's leave the water park!" But all the better for us.

Once sufficiently waterlogged, we drove to our hotel, checked in, changed into dry clothes and went out for dinner. Another American fast food classic; Sonic. It was a drive-in style like the old A&W restaurants and they bring the food out to the car. The food, however, was nothing great. "Sonic: Come Hungry, Leave No Longer Hungry" could be their slogan. Went to Wal-Mart and stocked up on cheap beer, lunch food and a cooler for the coming days on the road.

Back to the hotel to sort out our next few nights. Looked up weather for 4th of July in Charleston, SC, where we plan to be lighting fireworks on the beach during that festive day. "90% chance of heavy rain. Risk of flash floods." Uh oh. Beaches are no fun in the rain. And floods aren't desirable, especially as we just went through that in Calgary. Scrambled to find another place that would be fun for the 4th. Savannah, GA is on the way. Same forecast/warning. Crap. So we spent the next hours re-jigging our route. Seem to have it sorted out now, with going straight to Atlanta, then through Tennessee. We'll be early arriving at all the remaining places, but can choose some other random places to visit further down the line now. This is the challenge and fun of planning a trip as you go.

Key Largo, Montego, Baby why don't we go on a gator tour

Today started bright and early.

On the bus by 9:30 and shuttled off Miami beach, up through Miami proper (past two islands where the rich and famous live, which also had the house used in Scarface) up to the indian reservation that encompasses the everglades. The reason we were here was simple: fan boat tour to see some gators. This was one day trip that had some serious bite...(Cue CSI Miami YEAAAAAAAH!).

So we hopped on a massive open steel boat with about 15 rows that seated maybe 6-7 each. Was close to full. Tour guide fired up the two massive fans on the back and off we went. Toured out through the glades, saw a couple gators and returned. What surprised me is that the everglades are not all waterways through tight forested areas (though that is some of it) but rather mostly what look like flooded grasslands. Average water depth ranges from 10-17 inches apparently. The gators we saw tended to be in the closed-in treed areas and shied away from the boat as we approached.

We all filed off the boat and went into a little hut that had a glass viewing area of several alligators. A handler came in, spoke about the animals and fed them. Then he got a 2 year old gator and we got to hold the little sucker and take a photo. It was a couple feet long and not very heavy but it still felt like a bad idea to have a gator that close to you. Once the group got their photos, we went inside and ate some alligator bites. A bit weird to hold one then eat one... And just as people say, it tasted like chicken. For all we knew it was chicken though, as it was battered and deep fried and looked like chicken nuggets. However I think it was a bit more rubbery; sort of like calamari. Overall though, with a squirt of lime and some hot sauce to dip it in, it was downright tasty.

Took the bus back to Miami Beach and grabbed the car. Swung by a Checkers for some true American food (fast food burgers). It was okay. Then we headed off south to the Florida keys, which are a chain of little land masses connected by 30-some bridges. Passed through Key Largo (mentioned in the Beach Boys song Kokomo) and went about halfway to Key West, which is the southernmost place in the keys. Stopped for a dip in the ocean just off the roadway, where dozens of locals were BBQing and swimming and kite boarding. Very cool island vibe. Hopped back in the car and back up to Key Largo for dinner. Fresh seafood and fresh key lime pie. Can't beat that meal. Back into the A/C paradise of the vehicle (the humidity hits you like a wet blanket every time you are outside) and back to the hotel. Figured out our next couple days of travel and hit the hay.

We're in Miami, Beach

Calgary to Houston was the first leg of the journey, which was a rather bumpy flight. A short layover in the George Bush Intercontinental Airport and off we were to Florida. Surprisingly, taking off from Houston, there was thick forest as far as I could see in either direction. Just expected all of Texas to be desert I guess.

As the 1998 single from Will Smith proclaims "Welcome to Miami."

Took a tram over to the rental car place and got our full size Volkswagen Jetta. A fine specimen of automobile for this adventure. GPS on and tunes cranked, we rolled down to South Beach. It appears that South Beach is in fact a moniker for the area in that it is south of Miami and a beach, but the proper name for the peninsula we now inhabit is Miami Beach.

Got to our very old school art deco hotel entitled Greenview and checked in. Behind the front desk they still have the old style cubby holes for each physical room key, which you can leace back a the desk when you go out and about.

We strolled next door and booked a tour for tomorrow then headed down the main drag of Washington Ave. to find some grub.

Settled on a kitschy Cuban place called Havana 1957 and had some Cuban food (which seemed to be like bland Mexican food, but luckily there was hot sauce) and traditional drinks of these fine people (sangria and cuba libres...).

Once finished, we walked to the beachfront Ocean Ave. and toured down it. It was quite busy with tourists of all sorts mixed in with suuuuper sketchy locals (like face tattoo levels of sketchy). No clubs or pubs along this whole stretch of many blocks though; all little restaurants that also put tables on the sidewalk. Different than what I had been led to believe South Beach was like (mostly from CSI Miami, mind you). So we got double beer-garitas (head sized margarita with two corona bottles stuck into it. Crushed one of those each and stumbled back to the hotel, thus ending the night.

And so it begins. Again.

Hello friends. It's been a while. Over two years in fact. A long stretch of adulthood and responsibilities. Ugh. But here we are once again. Finally. On the cusp of another grand adventure.

Last we spoke, I toured the wonderful continent of Australia.

This time, somewhere much closer to home. America. The land of the free and home of the brave.

So tomorrow, Saturday June 29, 2013, myself, Matt and Nick will embark upon a road trip adventure of over 5000 miles from coast to coast of the United States of America. Miami to San Francisco and every wild southern state between the two mighty cities.

Florida-South Carolina-Georgia-Alabama-Tennessee-Arkansas-Mississippi (thanks to Alvin and the Chipmunks for teaching me the spelling on that one)-Louisiana-Texas-New Mexico-Arizona-Nevada-California.

13 glorious united states and surely countless adventures and interesting characters along the way.

Not a very detailed plan for activities, but rather the option to participate in anything of interest we happen upon during the journey. However one thing that is absolutely imperative is to sample the delectable BBQ of each state along the way. And alligators. Anything to do with alligators. And likely some baseball and apple pie anywhere possible. Because when in Rome...

Stay tuned for daily tales regaling our stories along the way.

Talk soon, friends.

>>Vaughn.