Alicia & Rich's Roads to Everywhere 08/09

DC

rich — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:07:00 GMT

We’ve got a bit of a drive this morning, we’re headed to the Nation's capital and new home of one Barack Obama; Washington DC. It’s a 3-hour drive, and we arrive around noon.

It’s a hot, sunny day in DC and perfect for sightseeing. We spend the day walking around the touristy stuff, taking pictures and taking in the history (all 200 years of it). Since we’re only in town for a few hours, we only get to one of the museums, but we do also see the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the White House...albeit from a distance. It's enough to keep us busy.

Later we drive back to Delaware to meet up with my cousin, Nicole. We go out for dinner at a hot spot near her former university campus and we hang out and catch up.

Philly

rich — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:42:00 GMT

One of the great things about Delaware is its close proximity to big cities. Having grown up here, I’ve been to all the interesting tourist sights and today I get to take Rich to see the sights of Philadelphia.

Well we finally find parking after driving around Philly for about an hour... First stop, a greasy cheesesteak joint.

This is my first experience of cheesesteaks. It turns out there's even a specific way of ordering these things - they're clearly pretty crazy about them here. I go for cheese whiz with onions. It's good and I am converted to the Philly way of life.

After we’re sufficiently stuffed, we head for the Liberty Bell and walk around Independence Hall and Ben Franklin’s house. We even drive by the Rocky statue, but unfortunately don’t have enough time to run up the steps.

After a great day in Philly, we head back to Kina’s house for dinner with another one of my childhood friends, Shara. I haven’t seen Shara since I was a kid and once again, we spend all night catching up and reminiscing.

East Coast

rich — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:53:00 GMT

Our stay in Atlanta has been short but sweet. This morning Aunt Nelia takes us to the airport and we say our goodbyes. She was a fantastic host and kept us entertained for the duration of our stay.

We hop on a plane and head to Newark (one of New York's airports). From here we’re supposed to catch another flight to Philadelphia but because we’re coming back to New York in a few days anyway, we decide to rent a car from Newark and drive down to Delaware. It turns out our flight to Philly gets canceled anyway, so the car turns out to be the only option. A 2 hour drive later, and we’re in Delaware! My childhood home.

I haven’t been back here in years and everything looks smaller. It's like going back to your elementary school, this place used to be huge. The biggest reason for our visit here is to see my very first friend who I grew up with; Kina. It’s been 5 years since we’ve seen each other and we have a lot to catch up on.

I last saw Kina at her baby shower but now I get to meet her 5 year old son, Kalen. We arrive at their house in the evening. Kalen is so adorable and gives us both a big hug. Kina, who is now 7 months pregnant with her second child, looks amazing and its so good to see her and introduce her to Rich. She cooks us a lovely dinner and the adults spend all night catching up, while Rich and Kalen play in the living room.

Georgia Wine Country

rich — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 10:08:00 GMT

Who knew Atlanta's a hotbed for some great tasting North American wines? Not me, that's for sure. Since our South African wine tour, we have become experts in wine and what better way to prove ourselves wrong than to go tour some local wineries...

It’s a bright, sunny morning and we pile into Aunt Nelia's convertible and head out. It’s beautiful and quiet out amongst the vineyards and since it’s a Tuesday we have the places pretty much to ourselves.

At our first winery we get a souvenir glass and we try several different wines. I even drink a dessert wine out of a chocolate cup, yum. There are a few vineyards around here, but because it’s the middle of the week most of them are closed for tastings.

After driving around for a while we finally find one amazing looking winery. It’s new and swanky and the wine is fabulous. We even have the honour of being able to talk to the man responsible for the wonderful wines. He's a German and clearly knows his grapes.

All in all it’s a great day out in wine country and we end the day with homemade burgers and a couple of wines from Aunt Nelia’s cellars.

Exploring A-town

rich — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 09:59:00 GMT

We get up early because we only have 2 more full days in A-town and we want to see everything. It’s Monday and Aunt Nelia is working today so we’re touring on our own. But she has left her car for us to borrow.

So we download a map of the city to the iPod and hop in the car. After successfully navigating our way into the city we find ourselves at the Coca Cola factory. We spend a few hours learning about all things Coca Cola, watching their 4-D movie and trying Coca Cola sodas from all over the world. There’s even a soda called Beverly and it’s probably the most disgusting soda they make.

Now that we’re full of caffeine, we head over to the Martin Luther King Jr memorial. We go on a tour of his childhood home and learn about his history in the MLK museum. These two tourists sites have taken up our whole day and now its time to pick up Aunt Nelia. She takes us to the wine store where she also works and gives us a mini wine tasting.

Afterward we head out for a lovely meal. We should get an early night because tomorrow, we’re going to the wine country! (course Rich and I have to stay up for a few games on the Wii - naturally I win)

Hot-Lanta

rich — Sun, 7 Jun 2009 09:51:00 GMT

Today is a lovely day, it's sunny and we're in hot-lanta! Aunt Nelia picked us up from the airport last night and despite her best efforts, we survived the ride back to her place. She's been taking care of us since though in her lovely new home. (i.e. she plied us with rum punch and cooked us dinner :)

There's a festival on and we hop back into the Deathmobile, drop the top and cruise into town. After walking around and checking out the arts and crafts, we treat ourselves to a chilled glass of wine. Then Aunt Nelia gives us a tour of the city and we end up downtown. Rich spots a hotel he stayed in when he was a kid, so he takes a picture and then bores us with a story from when he stayed there. Geek.

We have a lovely dinner in town and afterward we try to watch the Lakers game at a popular bar, but the place is too packed. So we go home to watch the game, brush up on our Wii skills and enjoy more of Aunt Nelia's homemade rum punch.

Adios to Tejas

rich — Sat, 6 Jun 2009 11:46:00 GMT

^{After 3 weeks its time to repack
our backpacks. Today we have to say goodbye to Texas. Only problem
is, we bought so much new stuff, we can't fit it all in our bags!
Luckily, Bryce and Andrea are meeting us in Chicago, so they can
bring us the stuff we can't fit.}

^{We say bye to Andrea and Mia and
go head to Vi's to drop off her car.}

^{We say bye to Vi, Lu and Tessa.}

^{Bryce then lets me drive his car
to the airport! After ruining the clutch and testing the brakes, we
make it there in one piece.}

^{We say bye to Bryce and head off
for another flight.}

Last few days in H-town...

rich — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 11:43:00 GMT

^WednesdayToday we meet up with my mate Charles. We meet in a downtown park and hang out until dark. Then we go for dinner at an English pub, its lots of fun and Rich and Charles get along so well, I think they forget I'm there sometimes. Men!

^Thursday We go to a near by bar and have drinks with Loi, Amit, Anthony and Charles. It's a fun night and it's the last time I'll get to see these guys for a long time.

^Friday Andrea's mate comes to town, we all go out for dinner. Vi, Lu, and Charles also join the party. After downing muchos margaritas, we go to a club to meet with some of Bryce's mates. The place is chic and music is good, but the place is empty. It's Friday, where is everybody? We don't worry about it too much because Bryce's friends arranged table service and we get pampered with drinks. After that we move on to a club that's still jumping and stay there until it closes. It's a great way to spend out last night in Houston.

What's next?

rich — Tue, 2 Jun 2009 11:40:00 GMT

We've been in H-town longer then planned. It's been so nice and comfortable here, we're not really in a hurry to move on, but I'm sure Bryce and Andrea don't want us to move in permanently. So we decide to book the next leg of our seemingly never-ending journey. We've been trying to decide the best way to get to Atlanta, our next stop, and we've finally figured out that flying is the cheapest option. So we book tickets for Saturday.

Tonight we go to visit my friend Loi and her husband Amit. They cook us a lovely dinner and we spend hours and hours catching up. It's great and we don't realize how long we've been talking until someone checks the time and we find out its 1am. Ooops its a school night!

Amigos and Baseball

rich — Mon, 1 Jun 2009 11:37:00 GMT

It's June and our time in Texas is running out. It's our last week and I still have friends I'd like to visit. Mia wakes me up around 11am and after trying to get her to stop running around on the bed, I give up and jump in the shower.

At 1pm, we go to meet Vi and my old college mate Adriana, for lunch. It's great to catch up and meet Adriana's adorable baby boy. We introduce him to Tessa and I think there may have been a spark. After a great lunch, we head to the Chocolate Bar, where everything is decadent chocolate. I fall in love. Yum!

Tonight we head to an Astros game. Frances has been kind enough to give us tickets and Rich is super excited because he has never been to a live baseball game. The seats are great and we have a good time eating pretzels and drinking beer. To top it off, the Astros won!

Despite how boring baseball is to watch on TV, it's actually a fun night out...even when you're watching the Astros against the Rockies - not exactly the World Series! We get to see a couple of homers and I make sure I use the phrases "bottom of the ninth" and "the bases are loaded". I'm such a local. -Rich

San Antonio

rich — Sat, 30 May 2009 09:33:00 GMT

It's an early start. We're up at 6am and in the car by 7.

Today we're heading out of town for a weekend in San Antonio. First stop is to Schlitterbahn water park. It's a 2 hour drive and Bryce is the designated driver (not that he'd let anyone else drive his car), so the rest of us grab a quick snooze. Before we know it, we're standing in a long line with inflatable tubes, waiting to go down the slides. We spend all down slip sliding around and floating down the lazy rivers. After hours of water and sun, we're all ready to head to San Antonio for dinner and Margaritas!

Our mates Vi and Lu are already in San Antonio - they declined on the water park because Tessa (5 months) isn't quit old enough for tubing yet. They're staying in a haunted hotel and are keen to get out and meet up, so we hurry to our hotel and change from swimwear to dinner attire.

We have a lovely evening, going around the river walk and eating great Mexican food. We even get a little culture and walk by the Alamo.

Sunday morning we get up and have breakfast on the river walk. After walking around town for a couple hours, we decide to head back to H-town.

Another great weekend in Texas!

Texas - Week 2

rich — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:08:00 GMT

Tuesday - I take my driving test and pass with flying colors! Yes! I can finally drive again!

Later we meet up with Frances - a university friend of Alicia's. We last saw Frances in London about a year ago while she was traveling around Europe with a couple of friends. This time the roles are reversed. Frances knows the best places to eat and she takes us for a great Tex-Mex meal, where the only things better than the food are the margaritas. It's really great to catch up with Frances and we spend all night chatting.

Wednesday - We go shopping and I enjoy driving around.

Thursday - We go to the Holocaust museum. I've lived in this city for years and never been here. It's really interesting and worth a visit. Later we meet up with my old pal Anthony, and end up drinking lots of margaritas again. Anyone see a theme? Anyway it's great catching up and we spend the night swapping stories and listening to good music.

Friday - We go out for drinks with friends at a cool bar nearby. But we don't stay out too late because tomorrow is an early start...

Memorial Day Weekend

rich — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:53:00 GMT

It's Sunday and we go to the lake - Lake Conroe to be precise, where one of Bryce's co-workers is having a party at his parents' place. They've just got a new boat and his dad is keen to race off round the lake towing whoever's stupid enough to get on the tubes behind him - that'll be me and Bryce then. Despite it being my first time and ingesting gallons of filthy water, the tubing is a lot of fun, but unbelievably tiring! We deservedly rest up for the remainder of the afternoon with liquid refreshments and BBQ galore.

Monday we all wake up late (Mia is at Andrea's parents house and we don't get our usual early wake up call) We all decide to go to Kemah today. I remember it being a nice place to walk around and have a meal and Rich hasn't been there. It's only an hour away, so we head off around 1pm. 3:15pm we pull into the parking lot. Who would've thought that on a holiday weekend, other people would have the same idea as us. Now we're all very hungry, so we quickly pick a restaurant, Joe's Crab Shack or Joe's Crap Shack as I like to call it after this trip. The drinks, meals and service were all pretty crap and we're happy to get outta there. Now that we've driven all this way, lets check out the rest of the place. There's the kiddie ride area, the horrible band on a stage, a few expensive shops...uh what exactly is there to do here. Any ideas, anyone anyone? We take this trip as a loss, head back to the car and drive home in defeat.

1st full week in Tejas

rich — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:48:00 GMT

Monday - We get an early morning wake up call from Mia, who has learned how to break out of her gated area and likes to whimper at our door. This starts the week long routine of me letting her in, putting her on the bed to wake up Rich, who's happy to play with her and then kicking them both out of the room so I can go back to sleep. (a sleep that lasts about an hour, after Mia gets bored of Rich and comes back to wake me up)

I take the first part of my driving test, the written portion. This is what I've been studying for over the weekend and I pass it with flying colors. Now just gotta pass the driving part and I'll be behind the wheel again.

Tuesday – It's time for me to fix my hair but I'm not sure what to do with it. I don't want to pay loads of money to have new braids put in now, because I want to have them put in right before I leave the States, in 5 weeks. I don't want to have it relaxed because I'm attempting to go natural. Decisions, decisions... Rich is tired of hearing about it, so I phone around and find someone who'll braid for cheap. Now the fun part, we get to take out my braids. It should only take a couple hours. 10 hrs later we're still not done!

Wednesday – We finish taking my braids out and then find out that the “cheap” hair braiders are actually very expensive and decide to find somewhere else. After much searching I find a lovely hairdresser named Sunshine, who'll twist my hair into something decent. But she can't do it until Saturday, so I've got a few days of wild hair.

Thursday – I cancel my driving test because I don't want to take my new drivers license picture with my crazy hair. (??? - I know)

Friday – Rich, Bryce, Andrea and I all go to Vi and Lu's house for dinner. They cook up a craw-fish feast and we stuff ourselves on the little buggers. There's so much food, we can't even finish. We do find room for desert when they bring out the miracle fruit. These little berries are amazing and magical. You chew on one for about a minute and then everything you taste afterward is sweet. We ate lemons, drank some vinegar and it was so good, so sweet. Even food that is normally sweet had an extra kick of sugar. Amazing.... After our “sugar” high, we took turns going for a ride around the lake in their boat. Also the Lakers won tonight, so it was a lovely evening.

Saturday – I finally get my hair done! I spend about 6 hours in the salon and come out looking like a, well me, but with a new hairstyle. They call it kinky twists, not sure why, but they're supposed to be much easier on the hair than braids and they were cheaper, I ignore the fact that I don't think they look that great. Tonight we go to Tony's, an great tex-mex place with vicious margaritas.

Houston way of life

rich — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:52:00 GMT

The next couple days are all about settling into life in Houston. We don't have a car yet so we mostly hang out in the house with Mia and watch American TV. This spurns the start of a bad eating habit, because you gotta have junk food to watch day time TV (that's the excuse anyway). Bryce and Andrea are so healthy, they don't have any junk food in the house, so we take it upon ourselves to go shopping for chips, cookies, ice cream.... and we become a bad influence in the house. (soon Andrea will start baking cakes, brilliant!)-Alicia

Our friends Vi and Lu come round and show off their beautiful new baby Tessa. They're all wearing masks, joking that we should be quarantined after being in Mexico - they think it's hilarious! And their baby - what a temperament. She has to be the best-nature'd baby in the world and doesn't stop smiling the whole time! Lucky them.-Rich

And Luckily, they have a spare car and offer us the use of it while we're in town. Sweet! Now I just need to get my new driving license. (it expired 5 years ago) Guess I'll be studying for the test this weekend... -Alicia

Friday comes and we all head out for after-work drinks at happy hour. We visit a couple of places and end up in an "English Pub" called Baker Street, or Sherlocks, or something like that. There's nothing particularly English about it, although they did have Newcastle Brown Ale which was a nice touch. -Rich

Saturday we decide to check out the new outlet mall, Andrea, Rich and I are up for it, but we all have to convince Bryce to come along. He ends up buying more then all of us combined, and he says he hates shopping?

We replenish our energy with some much needed BBQ at the Goode Co. restaurant and Rich has his first taste of brisket. I think he likes it...Stuffed and tired we surrender ourselves to a movie theater, Angels and Demons...the book is better.

Everything is bigger in Texas!

rich — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:33:00 GMT

SUV's litter the airport pickup area and there's no doubt about it, we're back in the US of A.Houston, Texas to be exact. It's good to be home, if I can still call it that - it's been a few years since I was last here.

We're greeted by my brother, who quickly jumps out of his flash new car to help us with our bags. He zips us into Houston and I can see all the changes and developments made to the city. More houses, more shops, wider highways...I barely recognize the place.

We arrive at La Casa de Bryce y Andrea (my bro and his novia) and their three story townhouse looks awesome. They've put in so much effort on our guestroom, it looks like a little boutique hotel. Wow, luxury! We're only supposed to stay here for 3 weeks, buuut maybe we can look at extending that...

Bryce opens the pet-proof gate and we are attacked by a gremlin! Oh no wait, thats Mia, their new shitzu puppy. She's adorable and quickly takes a liking to us. And amazingly, Rich, who doesn't really like dogs, takes a huge liking to her. He can't get enough of her and allows her to walk all over him, literally. With that, Bryce leaves us to settle in and is off to play a round of golf. Doesn't he work anymore?

Adios to Swine Flu invested Mexico!

rich — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:27:00 GMT

We spend our final 2 days in Mexico on the beach, soaking up the magaritas and marvelling in Rich's new found ability to tan. Finally!

It's all been a bit bizarre, with the swine flu - empty towns, closed restaurants, and worried locals, who can't make any money from the tourists who aren't here. But as always, it's been an experience.

We fly from Cancun airport at 6am, Next stop - USA.

Certified!

rich — Sun, 10 May 2009 07:18:00 GMT

The American couple from yesterday's dive are back at the dive shop and the four of us will go out today. The dive instructor is really nice and has gone through everything with Alicia to help her with her ear problems. He's suggested a slightly different technique that we're all hoping is going to work for her!

It works. Wahoo! Wahey! Wahaa! Alicia at the bottom of the sea - I never thought I'd see the day.

Finally she too is a certified diver!!

Open Water

rich — Sat, 9 May 2009 06:58:00 GMT

We get up early to move to a new hotel and prepare for our dive. We've got four more days in Mexico which gives us plenty of time to complete the last two dives of our SCUBA course, and then chill out before we leave.

I'm a bit anxious when we get to the dive shop and find that we're going out to do a drift dive. Because the current is so strong, we'll be drifting with it while we're underwater. This is a pretty challenging dive and not normally recommended for trainee divers. But our dive master assures us it'll be fine... We get on the boat with 5 other people who are experience divers, two of which are Americans and they give us lots of encouragement.

When we jump in the water and things start to go pear shaped. Everyone's descending further and further down into the ocean and when I start to have trouble with my ears. I can't equalize! I sign to the instructor that I'm having problems and he motions that I should keep trying to pop my ears. Then he descends with the rest of the divers.

So I'm alone at 11meters under the sea, while the group is down at about 30m. Because the current is stronger at the surface, I begin drifting away from the group. Now I'm alone in the middle of the ocean, unsure of what to do. Rich, my diving partner, my partner who is never supposed to leave me, is busy looking at turtles at the bottom of the sea and doesn't even realize I'm not around. Hmmm I guess all that safety talk didn't stick in his head. The dive master finally realizes that I'm not gonna make it to the bottom and send up a balloon to alert the boat. I have no choice but to head back to the surface. I get stuck on the rocking boat for the next 40 mins. Rubbish!

Rich comes up looking triumphant on completing the dive with the rest of the party, and he is apologetic when I explain that he wasn't supposed to leave me alone to get eaten by sharks.

The water's pretty rough and the American woman from the dive party isn't feeling too well, so we return to shore to drop the two of us off before everyone else heads back out for their second dive. And apart from a minor equipment malfunction, this one goes well and Rich is now a fully certified diver. Finally! Unfortunately, I will have to wait...

Chichen Itza

rich — Fri, 8 May 2009 06:42:00 GMT

Playa del Carmen is a ghost town. The first day we were here, you could look down the street and see hundreds of people walking around. Now there are only handfuls of "brave" tourists. Again this works in our favor and we are able to book a tour to Chichen Itza at a reduced price.

We head out early in the morning and our van gets us there in a little under 4 hours. The ruins are empty and we explore this new wonder of the world for a couple hours. After a quick lunch we take a dip in one to the nearby Cenotes. These are underground caves, filled with cool, clear, fresh water. The one we visit is also filled with hundreds of little fish that enjoyed nibbling at our feet.

By the time we get back to Playa, its dinner time and we eat quickly and head to bed. We've got another early morning tomorrow.