TravelStream™ news feed for member ladyjady on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ladyjady en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:48:24 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ladyjady/1/1214608860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ladyjady/1/1214608860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ladyjady/1/1214608860/tpod.html Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:48:24 -0400 We're The Kids in America - ooh woah oh

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San Antonio, Texas, United States

After leaving Little Rock at 5pm yesterday, we got in to San Antonio at 8.10am this morning and ruhed to get breakfast, Tex Mex style. Best. Breakfast. Ever. Bacon, scrambled eggs, rolled up in flour tortilla with a bit of refried beans to scoop up. It was immense, and super cheap! I wish I could remember the name of the place but it was right across from the Greyhound Station and along to the left a little. We managed to check into out hotel a few hours early and we were so shattered that we crashed out around noon and got up at 6pm. Once again, our thoughts turned to food! We went to Iguana Lounge on the Riverwalk and had a proper Mexican feast, it was nothing short of amazing. Enchiladas with tacos, and mexican bean soup (best thing I've ever tasted) and salad. I also tried Orasa's quesadillas and some chicken thing in a wrap that was deep fried....my belt hurt so bad afterwards but I wasn't even sorry. I'd do it again. Right now. We headed into a so called British bar and were highly amused to find guys with kilts on working there. We then headed to an Irish Bar (American bars just aren't as fun as faux United Kingdom joints) and they had a couple of guys doing music, who were hilarious. Everyone was really enjoying themselves, we struck up a few friendships and had much banter, so much so we ended up back there the following night and it was even funnier. We were disappointed to see that everything shuts up at 2am. 'San Antonio is a 2 o'clock town. Texas used to be a dry state.' Aye, well it's not anymore, by my reckoning they should be making up for lost time. After Orasa trying to get into the San Antonio River with my hat and my monkey, and harassing passers by, we got into a taxi where she shamelessly flirted with the old fat taxi cab driver all the way back to the Radisson, where we broke into the pool for a swim (I still refused to take my hat off) and were joined by some Mexicans and got a wee small hours pool party going. Magic.
So the day after that we visited the Alamo, where around 200 people fought a whoel Mexican army for the freedom of Texas. Davy Crockett and all that jazz. It was originally built as a mission thing, it's beautiful. I was very overwhelmed, I'll tell you. A brave 12 day fight and then they fell, every single one of them killed except a couple of women and children who were released with a couple of dollars and a blanket, sent to tell the rest of Texas what would happen if they resisted. Heartbreaking, truly. A now famous quote that's engraved at the site reads, 'I would rather be slain in these trenches than surrender the freedom of Texas'. And slain they were, he doesn't look so clever now huh? I don't know if it's the Scottish thing, but I felt some affiliation with these poor hopeless chaps. It was very moving. Oh, and if I needed any cheering up after that, there was a fair right outside the site with..........Texas rodeo! Proper bull riding and stuff too, or whatever they call it. It was absolutely scorching, I had no sun block on, but I didn't even care. I sat out anyway. I swear, the sizzling sound still haunts me in my sleep. Then it was another night, another stolen pool party at 3am. We went back to the Irish bar on the riverwalk and met some extremely good company. Strange, oh yes, but amusing. We met a couple who were 20 and had been married almost a year. He had no legs because he lost them in Iraq. And he loved cider. He convinced me that his family are from England, I didn't have the heart to tell him I wasn't really a fan. SO he spends the rest of the evening mimicking my accent, trying to tell me that this is how he talks really (bear in mind he's from Mississippi) but he has to put on an American accent because his wife doesn't understand him, but he's so glad he can finally be himself now he's met me. Weirdo. His wife by the way, is spending her time kissing her way through all the other girls in the bar, her husband was very encouraging. 'She can kiss any girl she wants, but if it's a guy she has to ask first'. Wtf. Absolutely fascinating though! Later in the pool I spoke to some guy (white trash) who was 21, and had just gotten a divorce after a four year marriage to a 33 year old. Eee. Some people, eh?
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Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

So after dinner in Little Rock today, and with a couple of hours to kill, we decided to indulge in one of Americas favourite pass times. Okay, American teenagers favourite passtime. The Mall!
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Memphis, Tennessee, United States

Unfortunately, we had to leave Nashville and head down to Memphis, which is also in Tennessee and is about four hours away from Nashville. Well, what a nightmare. The A/C was duffed, the bus was absolutely packed, and we were travelling between 10am and 2pm which is of course high sun. So we felt a little sick after that, but after a wee nap after finding where were staying (some hostel in a church in Midtown) we hit Beale Street and caught some great jazz and some hilarious karaoke. The next day it was up and off to the legendary Sun Studios which was amazing. The atmosphere inside was truly electric, and we paid homage to some all time favourites that made their names in that studio such as Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, I could go on but I reckon you get the picture. I got some ace pictures too which I can't wait to flaunt. After this we hit the Rock n Soul Museum which was again, amazing. Here we got more than a taste of the birth of the Delta Blues, but a great history about Memphis and the South in general from the beginning of the last century. We had a great time. But, we had to get going because I was meeting a friend called Andrew who was driving in from the next state to see us for a while. Or at least that was the plan....
After chatting for a while, he decided to take us round the neighbourhood he grew up in which was just outside of the city, and which I will always remember as it was my first Taco Bell experience. And probably the most hilarious I will ever have. We then drove back to Midtown and after hanging out a bit more, we decided it would just be too sad to say goodbye......so instead we had ourselves kidnapped. That's right. We busted into the place we were staying, packed up all our stuff at 2am in the morning and left a note saying 'We're done here' basically. From there, it was on through the night and into the horizons of Arkansas. The Natural State. They're not lying, they've got more trees than air space down there. We had a slight disaster when we finally managed to get out of Tennessee, only for me to realise I'd left my hat in the bar we'd been sitting around in. I tried to be brave about it like a big girl, but I was distraught and it must have showed because Andrew decided that there was just no way that I could leave it there, and he turned around and we drove all the way back in to Memphis to get it. What a sweetheart. So anyway, we stayed with his family for the night (or morning, if we're being precise) and then got up and had lunch after meeting the rest of his family when we got up. My word. These are without a doubt the nicest people I have ever met in my entire life. I mean, I like my own parents and stuff but these guys are amazing. Even their dogs are nice. But John Snuggles isn't. Okay, maybe he is, he's just misunderstood.
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Nashville, Tennessee, United States

We arrived in Nashville at 7.30pm and headed straight for food. Some great, proper, Southern barbecue. To top it off, we were on the main street where every bar has live music and the whole street has a fantastic atmosphere, everyone is awesome there too, its completely true what they say about Southern hospitality. We had a great night but in order to get a decent start the next day we had an earlyish night.
The next day we hit up the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was awesome. They had collections on everyone from Dolly Parton and Elvis Presley, to Hank Williams and Tim McGraw, it was pretty epic. I loved it! Then we wandered around in the most ridiculous heat ever before grabbing a couple of very cold beers and listening to some bands, which weren't hard to find considering every bar on the main street has bands on from about 4pm onwards. It's like one big country and western party......and I love it! I got right into it, I was so cool, sitting at my table ignoring my beer in favour of scribbling down as many lyrics from songs as I could, so I can google them when I get home and build myself a wee country music collection.
So not only was that ace, but everyone down there was so nice. Like, really, really nice. I stayed out listening to music almost all night, and managed to steal me a super hot black, Jack Daniels stetson. Oh my, if I didn't feel cool before, I definitely felt like the epitome of the very word after that. Strutting about...me and my Jack Daniels hat. Some guy was wearing it and I kept seeing him about all day, then later we were all dancing around like idiots, two stepping and cutting shapes and what not like a proper hoedown, and he chores my sunglasses. Golden opportunity. I yoinked his hat right off there, and it has barely left my head since. I love it. Mum, if I happen to err...be ended somewhere before I get home, your mission is to track down my hat because if I go down it is definitely coming with me. I'm not kidding. I will haunt you. I ain't scared.
The next day after that, we were on the road again and on into Memphis with an absolutely killer hangover after getting back to Music City Hostel at 4am absolutely wrecked. To boot, the A/C on the bus was broken down and it was absolutely packed, travelling through Tennesse at high noon. Gosh, if I ever wanted to die.......but I'm glad I didn't, because Memphis was epic.
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Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Indianapolis is cool, it has a really nice downtown area with a big river park and a few cool, big museums. We stayed at the Indy Hostel which seemed nice enough. It was quite a bit out of time, about a $20 taxi ride from the Greyhound Station which is in the city centre. They had on live music and a wee buffet and things but we only had a night though, so we strolled about a bit downtown instead, and got something to eat at a place called Alcatraz Brewing Co, which, if you're ever in Indianapolis you should check out. They are decked out like an actual prison, bars on the doors and windows and all. The walls are plastered with pictures of San Francisco, which got me excited about actually going to San Francisco. The food was great too, and they had a lovely long list of home brewed ales, lush for Jady. Oh yes. The next day, we got up reasonably early and headed out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which only cost $3 to get into and it was fantastic. As well as the hall of fame for the Indy 500, they had a museum with hundreds of pretty cool cars from the very first ones made to the newest models. We also watched a video detailing the history of 'The Brickyard' as they call it, which was great. After the full track tour it was back downtown for an afternoon bus into Nashville, Tennessee.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ladyjady/1/1214006400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ladyjady/1/1214006400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ladyjady/1/1214006400/tpod.html Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:30:12 -0400 We're The Kids in America - ooh woah oh

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Baltimore, Maryland, United States

I arrived in Baltimore, Maryland last night after oh, around 30 hours travelling. We flew Aberdeen to London with BA, and ensured our luggage would be transferred to a Continental flight from Heathrow to New York, then were told when we tried to check in that we were too late because our luggage had to be rechecked. Lies, all of it. British Airways were adamant that our luggage was going right through so they had a carry on trying to stop it so that it wouldn't be on the flight that we weren't on. Anyway, long story short we had to wait in Heathrow for an extra 6 hours. This wasn't too bad, however when you consider that we missed all buses to Baltimore from New York, so that by the time we got into Newark and through border control, (who asked absolutely no questions), we had to get on the 10pm train from New Yorks Penn Station to Baltimore, and didn't arrive until 1am. We'd already called ahead to say we would be checking in extremely late and when we got there they were fabulous. The room was really nice, the bed was the comfiest I've ever been in, it was lovely and clean, the shower was amazing. They also gave us late checkout at no extra charge so we could sleep for ages and chill out, which helped out a lot. Many thanks to them!
We hung out around Baltimore today, mostly around the Inner Harbour. After the best lunch ever, fluffy crab omelette, we hit the Baltimore Aquarium, apparently the largest on the continental US. We saw lots of fishes, a 3 limbed sea turtle, sharks, crocodiles, snakes, frogs, dolphins, etc, etc. It was fairly smart. Wandered around an area called Federal Hill in the evening which was nice, and it was absolutely boiling. All 19th century architecture, and an indoor food market, and wee cafes and boutiques and such. Baltimore is famous for its seafood, so we got stuck in with things like oysters, crabcakes, and crab omelettes. Awesome. All we've heard so far from people is, "Whey' y'awh fruuum, talkin like that?" This happened in the first place we stopped for a drink, and after telling the bartenders we were from Scotland, we had a full hour of banter going with them. When we asked for the check, all we recieved was a slip of paper that said, "$0.00....we love you ladies!" Score. It pays to be as cool as me. Proven.
So after Baltimore, it was overnight to Indianapolis to arrive late afternoon the next day. After being cautioned by a police officer (the biggest and blackest guy you've ever seen.....I was terrified) for taking my shoes off in the station we were off. Okay, so I wasn't actually properly cautioned, but I was wandering around the vending machines and he shouted me over and exclaimed, "Dahlin', you gots to keep yo shoes awn". Whitever. Thats what I say. I surprised myself by not being bored in the slightest the whole journey. We left at 2am, after a trip to the local Hooters, hahaha. I slept until breakfast the next morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then again until lunch in Columbus, Ohio. The last few hours I stuck my music on, and gazed out the window. I love it. Watching the rolling fields, laughing at the funny road signs, passing through exotic towns called Sugar Grove and Cave City, counting deer carcasses. Awesome. When we were about 100 miles from Indianapolis, the most hilarious thing I've ever seen passed by. A massive sign advertising some vehicle sales centre, with a picture of someone too smug looking for his name, that proclaimed, "Welcome to Tom Raper Country". I don't know how you would feel, but I was a bit scared. A further 15 sign later advetising, Tom Rapers RV's....Tom Rapers Caravans....Tom Rapers Trucks.....and it was a lot more funny. Can you imagine? Not only is this guy a perve by name, but he's well proud of it. I'd have changed it as soon as I was able to. "Yup! That's me! Proud to be a Raper!" Oh no. "Hey Jim, thats a nice new truck. Wait, isn't that a Rapers truck?" Hahahaha. Oh, I can't get enough. Of course, after this episode, I spent the whole remaining 90 miles or so singing Blue Oyster Cult, 'Don't Fear the Raper'. Reaper. Whatever. Hah. Oh, I also passed what claims to be the biggest fireworks warehouse in the world. I don't know if I'm buying that....it wasnae even that big. Although, I suppose there aren't many fireworks warehouses in the world for it to contend with.....still, I challenge them to prove it.
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