RoadSide Project

Flagstaff & Grand Canyon

swatson11 — Sun, 6 Feb 2011 11:12:00 GMT

An incident free drive to Flagstaff with pretty scenery saw us arriving to warm afternoon sun and looking forward to the drive to the Grand Canyon South Rim the following day.. alas.. oh snow, why do you taunt us?? Flagstaff had been one of the few places to not see any snow this Winter.. the day we turn up.. inches upon inches of snow!!

So our days plans were changed and instead of driving the hour and a half to Grand Canyon Village we instead took in a movie at the local cinemas (everyone i beg you to go and see '127 Hours' an incredible film!) and wondered around our little area of Flagstaff before finding exactly what we needed.. a sports bar.. with trivia!! So our afternoon was complete with electronic trivia and plush toy skill testers..

The next day we packed our bags once again and THIS time headed towards the Grand Canyon South Rim, an extra 3 hour detour before Las Vegas but definitely a detour worth making. Except for the EXTREMELY cold wind, i think everyone should do themselves a favor and see the Grand Canyon in person.. it's not only an incredible view but just an amazing show of what this planet is capable of. Unfortunately it was so bloody cold that we couldn't spend more than 20 minutes or so taking in the view, so a few quick snaps on the camera and bloggie and we were back in Frosty on our way to Las Vegas to meet Ash!!

The Big Texan.. Novelty Foam Hats.. Dead Things..

swatson11 — Sun, 6 Feb 2011 10:54:00 GMT

Oklahoma City had been beautiful, for me a real highlight of our trip so far.. however we were back on the road again heading West again. A one night pittstop half way between OK City and Albuquerque was needed.. Amarillo it was to be!

On our way we dropped in to the The Route 66 Museum. An interactive trip through six decades of Route 66 history. A very funky and fun little museum.

My trusty USA Lonely Planet guide had suggested that a trip to 'The Big Texan Ranch' for dinner should be a must on your visit to Amarillo.. so as we were asking our friendly hotel clerk the address of 'The Big Texan Ranch' she suggested instead that we leave our car at the hotel and take advantage of their free limo service.. now really, how can ANYONE say no to free limo service?? So 15 minutes later we were being driven down the highway in our very own bull-horned limo by our friendly limo driver Harold!

'The Big Texan' lives up to its name.. it's big.. and it's Texan.. and there's lots of dead things on the walls.. which i have come to expect from most establishments in the mid south and south west america.. in saying all that, dinner was good, the live hilly-billy band sang us a Johnny Cash song and the waitress with 20 tonnes of blue eye shadow was entertaining!

Oh yes.. and i bought a big green novelty foam cowboy hat.. what of it?

Another day on the road with little of note we were in Albuquerque for another one night pit stop. Another pool and another spa later.. we were in for an entertaining night watching Community Television.. may your eyes never be subject to what we witnessed that night.. my soul still aches..

"We're going to Tulsa! .. oh and Oklahoma City"

swatson11 — Sun, 6 Feb 2011 10:31:00 GMT

We were lucky with the weather driving out of St Louis, it has snowed fairly heavily the Sunday previously and there was more expected.. Our destination was Tulsa.. and it was much more exciting than you may think.. why you ask? Because it's a 'Friends' reference so shut up!! We also drove through Springfield so it was a fun day for everyone's favourite TV shows!! Turns out Tulsa is just as boring as Monica thinks it will be so we ordered delivery and had a relaxing night in front of the TV.

The drive to Oklahoma City was another short one, but we deterred off the highway and on to Route 66 for a change of pace. We stopped off at POPS for lunch which is just out of a tiny little town on Route 66 only about half an hour out of Oklahoma City. It bosts the biggest Soda Pop Bottle in the world.. and it's pretty cool.. even if it isn't made out of glass and actually has soda in it!

POPS has over 500 varieties of Soda available.. it was pretty incredible.. also what was pretty incredible was my Cookies & Cream Shake.. i want more!

Arriving in Oklahoma City mid afternoon we had a chill afternoon by the pool and spa before heading across the road to Cracker Barrel. I dub this chain of restaurants the most American and homely chain of restaurants in the world!! Also the most frustrating.. so.. they put this little game on every table (most likely to keep the children occupied) where there's holes and golf teas and it just makes you sit there longer and eat and drink more.. good ploy Cracker Barrel.. good ploy!

For our full day in Oklahoma City we were off to the Cowboy and National History Museum and the Oklahoma City Memorial.. The museum was far more than the name gives it credit for. It's a lovely, in-depth look in to the history of America and the impact Europeans had on Native Americans.. along the way there's plenty of beautiful artwork to see and statues to take funny photos in front of.. there's also a lovely room of death that i ran through.

The Oklahoma City Memorial was one of the most humbling places i have ever been. This is a memorial to the people who were killed and injured by the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The Field of Empty Chairs is a chilling yet beautiful reminder of the lives lost that day. The museum itself has been so well crafted that you not only walk through the events of the day but you are also given a sense of what it would have been like for those there and how terrifying and unbelievable something like this would be. If the 9/11 Memorial is half as well done as this on it's completion it will be a mammoth emotional effort to get from one end to the other.

Another dinner at Cracker Barrel saw us COMPLETING THE FRIGGEN GOLF TEA PUZZLE.. hooray!!

Love xx

St Louis and beyond..

swatson11 — Sun, 6 Feb 2011 10:17:00 GMT

Hello Team!

Now i would apologise for having been so slack with my blogging however this thing happened where i was recruited by the CIA and have spent the last few weeks jetting around the globe saving the world.. OR.. a more accurate version of the truth is that because we were mega hungover the day we left Memphis we left our computer charger at Diana's house and have since been relying on crappy hotel internet connections and our phones..

So.. to make a short story long and a long story short. After enduring what could possibly have been one of the finest house parties in history (made only better by the 100 odd jelly shots created by yours truly that sent everyone that little too far over the drinking barrier) Nick and i left Memphis early afternoon heading for St Louis. It was an emotional goodbye, much more so than any of us predicted. There were tears and hugs and Mario sunk to his knees in despair (I may have made that bit up), either way it was sad and the car drive was depressing and felt like it would never end..

It did end..

We arrived in St Louis just after sunset and made our way sluggishly to our room where we proceeded to collapse.. stood again only to go downstairs and eat in the sports bar that was conveniently attached to the hotel lobby before collapsing again.

Then it was Sunday morning.. and it was going to be an amazing day.. mainly for me.. Nick feigned excitement for my sake. Idina Menzel concert.. need i say anymore? Without going in to mushy details about how amazing the experience was and how much i got out of it and how much i LOVE that woman and how extremely talented, humble, hilarious and gracious she is (even while in bare feet and snorting) i'll just say that it was a concert I'll never forget and one that has left me a changed person :)

We had another day in St Louis so we trekked the streets of downtown St Louis for most of the afternoon. The city itself is really very pretty, but after about 3 hours of walking.. we kinda found that there wasn't much actually going on.. we even failed to find a shopping centre.. it was a bit odd. Either way the buildings are beautiful and reminiscent of Boston. The Arch is rather impressive and makes for some lovely photos.

St Louis had been three nights of ups and downs and too much thinking (good and bad).. getting back in to Frosty on Tuesday morning felt good and we were back out on the road ready for the next leg of the trip..

To be continued.. dun dun dunnnn

Memphis Town..

swatson11 — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:25:00 GMT

There's many stereotypes that we Aussies like to play on when we think of the American South and 'The Bible Belt of America'.. well let me tell you, as one of my favorite English teachers would have said "stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason". Ain't that the truth.

Our first night in Memphis saw us arriving pretty much right on time. The drive had been less adventurous than our previous two trips with a pretty clear road the whole (long) way.

We were looking forward to settling down in Memphis for a couple of weeks and meeting people and really getting a good look at "true American living". Naturally our first night here we went out for Chinese. As Nick mentioned we were all severely disappointed at the lack of Dancing Panda but enjoyed the food and company nonetheless.

Our host, Diana, is quite possibly the most hardworking person i have met in a very long time.. a full-time music teacher by day and a part-time department store manager by night. This woman works none stop most days of the week.. which made me feel incredibly lazy for a few days while i slept.. ate.. slept.. ate.. slept.. and then when we ran out of food reluctantly drove the whole 5 miles to the closest Wal-Mart to buy more food. This guilt lasted a whole two days until Diana explained to us the "norm" that is living in The South.. now i don't feel so lazy.

DRIVE THU ATMs!! America!! What are you doing!? Nick and I were at first amazed.. followed by intrigued.. closely followed by disgusted.. and finally back to amazed again.DRIVE THRU ATMs!! I mean how lazy does one have to be!? In saying that.. we love you Memphis and you've done well to put up with us for this long.

A few Memphis highlights include the Memphis Zoo.. oh no wait, i take that back.. "America's #1 Zoo" my ass! It was a nice stroll through an empty park.. however there were three Grizzly Bears that kept me entertained for 10 minutes or so.

We also ventured to Graceland and after being yelled at my security (who may i mention need better signage) we experienced the self guided tour of the house and grounds. It was informative, moving and i will admit i shed a tear or two at Elvis' grave.

Today we were dragged out of bed early to accompany Diana to school to be her Show & Tell to students. We arrived at the school at 7am! 7AM!! It was still dark.. personally i don't believe children should start school until the sun rises but these crazy Americans do it all backwards! The school is made up of mostly African/American kids (K to Yr5) and is located in a lower socio-economic area of suburban Memphis, for this reason alone it was incredibly interesting to witness a school day. With only 360 (approx) students it's a small school but with a lot of.. attitude.

While 90% of the students we saw in Diana's class were incredibly well behaved, polite and curios of the two strangers sitting in their class it was also obvious that there are kids who know no other way of surviving but to have an attitude fit of a Kardashian sister. I would also like to say on the record here and now that Diana Zimmerman has to be one of the most amusing and captivating junior school teachers i have met. For a white, female teacher she had those kids in the palm of her hands every minute and as i am sure we can all appreciate that isn't an easy task in the best of schools.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Memphis before we hit the road again back up to St Louis (Idina Menzel concert!! Can i get a "hell yeah"?). However we have one last hoorah tomorrow night which is a house party Diana is hosting in honor of both her's and Nick's birthday.

A special mention to Mr Mario Williams for accompanying us around Memphis for a few days!!

Love & puppies to everyone xx

CHICAGO!! You're outta there!!

swatson11 — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:00:00 GMT

Hey Team!!

So after demands from the parentals wanting "MORE BLOBS!" i've finally succumb to the idea that i will have to catch you up on everything that has happened over the last two weeks.

Apologies for the long break.. however as Diana keeps pointing out, we're in the South now and to fit in you just gotta be extra lazy. Personally i think we've done a pretty good job so far!

So way back two weeks ago saw us leaving Boston on a cool morning with bright sunny skies. We were on our way to Chicago. Boston to Chicago in one day would have been crazy, so we had booked ourselves a room at a little town off the highway called Brookville which was pretty much exactly half way between Boston and Chicago. It should have been an easy (but long) drive along the highway.. alas no.. Mother Nature had other plans. After commenting on how lovely the day was (and forgetting to then touch wood) it soon turned dark and grey.. and then came the snow.. no wait i take that back.. not snow.. blizzard!

For our first real day driving on the wrong side of the road it sure was an experience. The slow moving traffic probably added about an extra hour and a half to our already long enough drive and little incident involving a sliding truck in front and the uselessness of breaks on ice proved to us how easy it is to have a minor bingle. However all was safe and well in the end and we finally made it to Brookville where we chose to have a vending machine dinner before well deserved sleep.

We arose early to grab our free brekky before venturing to the car and thanking those Hertz gods for the snow scraper they provided in the back seat of the car. After clearing thick snow from every inch of the car and making a stop at every Truckers Stop we could see in search of a MP3 jack (the three cheap CDs we bought in Boston got REAL annoying after about 6 hours of straight driving) we were finally back on the snowy/blizzardy road.. next stop Chicago!

We got in to Chicago just before night fall. The first thing you notice driving in to Chicago is just how incredibly industrial it is. Miles and miles of nothing but train tracks, power poles and factories blaring out something dirty in to the ozone. Driving closer to the city i flippantly commented on how strikingly similar Chicago seemed to look to Gotham in the latest Batman movie.. that comment would seem less flippant in the hour to come.

As we made our way though the maze that is the Chicago road system our trust GPS (dubbed Homer) decided Chicago wasn't it's favorite place and dropped out.. so.. left to nothing but my instincts i told Nick "Just go straight" to which Nick replied "It says 'local traffic only' and there's construction stuff" ... "We're local now.. drive on!"

Ooops.

Turns out we took a little scenic tour through what actually was part of the set for the latest Batman film 'The Dark Knight'. After a few miles of industrial road works and strange looks from workmen in hard hats we finally navigated our way back to above ground roads and eventually to our hotel!

Unfortunately Chicago didn't get the treatment it properly deserved. After two full days of driving and only two nights in Chicago we saw as much of the central city area we could but we were weary travelers. I did however get to see 'Wicked' on tour in Chicago at the Cadillac Theatre. It was lovely to notice the small differences to the Australian production and both Jackie Burns and Chandra Lee Schwartz (Elphie & Glinda respectively) were standout performers.

Another early night saw us preparing to return to Frosty for our longest journey for the week.. a 9 hour non stop drive to Memphis Town where our adoring host, Diana was awaiting us!!

Memphis blog to come..

Love & Kisses & Hugs & Puppes

Final Day in NYC & Boston

swatson11 — Fri, 7 Jan 2011 13:02:00 GMT

Hello Team!

Well it's 9pm(ish) Thursday 6th Jan here and American Joe's has fed me good!

Monday morning saw us joining our good bud Gary on a NYC TV/Movie Locations Tour which was quite enjoyable. Gary (like every other person you meet in NYC is an actor and therefore a tour guide) was quite hilarious and quickly got used to the fact that any Seinfield or Friends trivia question would be hastily answered by my companion sitting in the thid row.

We saw some pretty interesting locations and learned some interesting but useless knowledge, like how much the most expensive penthouse in NYC sold for (Bruce Willis' very own not so bachelor pad). I must say the highlight was probably the Friends apartment building... Nick and I both posed for 'Chandler-Smile' photos but we won't be showing them to the public.

For our final night in NYC we went over to Brooklyn to visit our director friend Johnathan Stack who was very accommodating.. forcing a shot of whiskey down our throats to prepare us for the walk across Brooklyn Bridge after dark. It was very very pretty. We then headed up to the Upper East Side to the Comic Strip Club for a night of hilarity.. although slightly ruined by the drunk and obnoxious (other) Australians we were sitting next to.

Tuesday morning saw us boarding the Amtrak train to Boston. I will admit, the first two hours were spent sleeping (for me at least) but when i did awake i found the surroundings to be very very pretty. Very flat and snowy but all the trees were all different shades of red and brown and gold which made for a very beautiful ride among small towns all along the north-west coast.

We arrived in Boston about 3.30pm and checked in to our hotel straight away (which was conveniently about 50meters down the road.. and we were won over by the fact that we had.. dun dun dun.. our own showing with working HOT water! We ventured out in to the icey cold and found American Joe's which was a lovely restaurant with lovely wait staff (here's to you Allesandro!).

Wednesday we walked literally ALL over Boston following the Freedom Trail. It was beautiful (and cold!). So much of Boston is like a little Irish town with the original cobblestone roads and buildings. After an exhausting day we ordered in Chinese and had a quiet night in our hotel room.

Thursday morning (today) we picked up the car (a pretty white corolla) and Nick braved the right (or wrong) side of the road and successfully navigated his way back to the hotel (let's be honest.. it was about 3 blocks). Harvard was next, where i liked to pretend i was incredibly intelligent.. until a small mishap with a door put me back in my place. Note to all.. Havard = huge! We had a quick squiz around The Museum of Natural History which basically had me thinking of Night at the Museum and quoting Ace Ventura for two hours ("This is a lovely room of death!).

So team, the next time you here from me we'll have started the epic driving part of this adventure and hopefully we'll have some more hilarious pictures to prove to you that Nick looks more and more like a seedy Italian every day and I will some day learn to operate a door correctly!

Love to all. Miss you xx

United Airlines Eggs, LAX & NYC Cont:

swatson11 — Mon, 3 Jan 2011 11:59:00 GMT

Well team, it's Sunday evening and I'm here at the Westside YMCA (which may I point out has had no hot water since we arrived). It's a cosy little cupboard of a room that reachers somewhere between 35 - 43 degrees celcius at night.. and everyone kept telling us we'd be freezing our pants off! Wrong! More than anything we have been complaining about the heat! (It reached a full 6 degrees today! I was sweating while hiking through Central Park)

So we've been in NYC for four days now. It's been wonderful. The whole town was completely snow covered when we first arrived, it's slowly melting away off the streets now but the parks are still all white. Our first day was spent walking (without any exageration) literally about 250 blocks up and down and around Midtown and Downtown. We walked the length of Broadway twice explored SoHo, NoHo, China Town etc etc but the emotional highlight was the 9/11 memorial. It's only small now, inside the chapel that is around the corner from where the buildings were. Very humbling.

New Yrs Eve was spent in Ruby Tuesdays, a restaurant only meters away from Times Square itself.. i would go in to details.. but lets just say that a good night was had (by nearly all) and on New Yrs Day I didn't have the stomach to see daylight.

Today Nick saw his very first professional musical (Yay!) 'American Idiot' and we were lucky enough to see Billy Joe himself on stage. It was a bit of a "nothing" show in that there really was no existent plot line.. but the performances, choreography and staging were pretty brilliant.

Tomorrow we're off on a TV/Movies location tour around the city and then on Tuesday we're off to Boston for three nights where we pick up the car and officially start the road tripping part of this road trip! Hopefully we'll get a few photos up soon and check in with you all in Boston.

Love to everyone and miss you all very much! xx

United Airlines Eggs, LAX & NYC

swatson11 — Sun, 2 Jan 2011 14:22:00 GMT

Well team, only a quick up-date as I have less than 5 minutes left of internet time.

I'm still alive!! (hooray!) although no thanks to United Airlines and their "eggs".. which i don't believe were really eggs at all. In New York City and loving it! Simply an amazing place to be. I'll feel you in with all the details next time, but let's just say that I didn't see daylight on the 1st day of 2011!

Love to all, a more detailed catch up soon! xx

Two Nights and Counting..

swatson11 — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Well Team, the time has almost arrived! We'll be heading off from dear old Armidale tomorrow morning at 7am and head to Sydney for our last night in Aus before our flight to NY (via LA) on the 29th!

Bon Voyage! Don't do anything i wouldn't do!

Photos: Pre RoadSide Project

swatson11 — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 15:44:00 GMT

Ah the intensities of trip preparation!