On the road again....

Soooooo, just a quick one, the last few days have been fun! New York, a wedding, a nice Sunday and two manic days of packing and errand running.

However, they main attraction.... we leave tomorrow!!

Tonight we're spending at Jen's bro, Skip's house in Jersey City and we leave at 5am for our flight to Mexico City, absolutely bloody crazy!

See everyone on the flip side!

The calm before the storm

So, to catch everyone up to speed, as we have been a little belated in these posts, we are still in Jersey, and we leave for Mexico City on Wednesday, October 1.

Last Friday was a mellow, at home kinda day, other than visiting mom at her school. The rest of the day was spent just catching up with family, doing a little hiking, great curry dinner and lovely wine. On Saturday and Sunday, we were at our beach house in Long Beach Island, cooking, drinking, laughing. My mom and I went on a 12 mile bike ride on one side of the island, and then the following morning we went kayaking out to the little islands in the bay. So beautiful!

Monday was a shopping day for all the bits and pieces we still needed. We also had to go and figure out some financial stuff, as Capital One informed me that we were no longer eligible for their account since we would be out of the country for more than six months. Great timing, eh?, Tuesday was mom's birthday, so basically a bit more cooking and drinking! Anthony and Roger came over, as did Skip and Lauren, and we had a great time shooting the shit all night. On Wednesday I CHOPPED OFF ALL OF MY HAIR!! I have heard awesome reviews such as pixie like, peter pan-like, and "better than I thought it would look!", which are all amazing. However, I love it!

Yesterday we headed into the city to drop off my application for my Brazilian visa, and to meet up with Skip and Lauren. We went to lunch at John's pizzeria, and then hung out in Bryant Park until it was time to leave for the Mets/Cubs game at Shae. It was a killer game!! It looked bad for the Mets until the end, where they caught up and kicked ass. Lauren had never been to a baseball game before, and they are about to tear down Shae Stadium, so it was even more fun to be there. It started pouring during the 4th inning, but thankfully we were in loge seats under the overhang, so we kept dry. Such a fun night! We got back to their place in Jersey City around 11:30, where Skip and Oli proceeded to drink unmentionable quantities of wine. I am sick as a dog, so I took some Nyquil and passed out. I think Lauren went to bed early too.

Today we are off to pick up my passport at the Brazilian Embassy, grab some lunch, and back to Morristown! Time is becoming surreal, and we are so excited to leave. We miss everyone, and please email us your address if you want some postcards! xoxo

Yesterday we headed into the city to drop off my application for my Brazilian

The Five Meat Treat

We arrived in North Carolina early last Wednesday evening. We were ahead of schedule, and unfortunately were going to miss my friend Nick's big birthday bash the following two nights. When we arrived, we caught up a bit and then headed out to a local barbecue place so that Oli could try a real Southern pulled pork sandwich. After he saw the menu, he decided he couldn't stop at just that, he wanted to try the five meat treat! Pulled pork and ribs and sliced beef and all kinds of goodies. He was in heaven! We were there with Nick, his roomie J.P., and J.P.'s girlfriend Avery, who were awesome! We got on the topic of accents on the drive home, and Oli got to experience all the different accents of the South. They, in turn, got to experience Oli's "American" accent, which is a treat in itself. When we got home, we played guitar hero for a bit, and then Nick, being such a southern gentleman, gave us his huge, insanely comfortable bed to sleep in for the night.
The following morning, we woke up and took off really early to head towards Philadelphia to move my sister Jess into her dorm room at Drexel. It was about a 7.5 hour drive, and we pushed through and made it by lunchtime! It was so great to see how her dorm looked and what her roomie was like, and to get the grand tour of campus! We met up with the whole family and wandered around for a bit before going to grab an awesome cheese steak, another American treat which Oli got to experience for the first time! Around mid-afternoon, we headed to Morristown, my hometown, for a nice, relaxing 10 days before we set off to see the world!!

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

Every state we have been in has been hit with rain at some point during our stay. Amazing! Georgia was lovely, we drove straight on to Atlanta to meet up with Jen's old friend Caroline, whom she had backpacked around Australia with in college. We had a great lunch and catch-up, then headed over to the World of Coke and the Aquarium to kill some time. We also had time to drive out to the Stone Mountain, and do a bit of light hiking within the park. We then drove out to meet our friend Tyler for dinner with her family. We had an amazing dinner, then went back to her place, which is breathtaking. Watched a bit of Pearl Harbor in her gorgeous cinema, then stayed the night in her guest house.

In the morning, we headed out to Athens to meet up with another old friend of Jen's, whom she also backpacked around Australia with. We had a great lunch at this vegetarian place (I know, it sounds like we are eating and drinking our way across the country... and we are. It's awesome), then Amy took us for a bit of a tour around the town. It is so cute! Great college town, and seemingly in the middle of nowhere! We grabbed a quick pint, then said goodbye to Amy and once again, hello to the road.

We drove from Athens to Augusta to visit with our friend Vanessa, whom we both know from living in Brighton (she was an exchange student as well). We went to dinner with her and her gorgeous daughter Skyler, then grabbed some drinks and headed back to her place to stay for the night. We basically sat around all night, played some board games with Sky, and caught up with one another. It was amazing! We had such a fun evening. The following morning we were all a bit worn out, so we grabbed lunch at Chick-Fil-A (the best!) and Vanessa took us to the Pavillion, where we ate lunch, and did a bit of hiking. The dam there is breathtaking, and it was such a nice break to go and enjoy nature! We did a bit of a tour around the great homes of Augusta, including the not so attractive home of Bill Gates. Yuck! We then headed back to Vanessa's house to say our goodbyes, and then we were off to North Carolina!!

Sweet Home Alabama

From Meridian, Mississippi, we trekked on over to Birmingham, Alabama, to stay with Oli's co-worker/close friend Jim, his wife Laurie, and their adorable kids. The minute we walked in, we were handed beers, and this was at 2pm. We had a feeling that this was going to be a rowdy afternoon. We headed downtown to the taquiria (I know, who knew they ate Mexican food in Alabama?! and it was GOOD!) and grabbed some tacos and margaritas. The plan was to eat and then check out the Civil Rights Museum, while Jim stayed downtown to watch the local bike races which his friends were competing in.
A few tequila shots and margaritas later, as we were chatting with Jim, a man walked by and Jim gave him a big high five and a "great to see you buddy!!" We soon found out that this man was Floyd Landis, the Tour de France winner and consequent loser two years ago. We didn't really have a clue, but apparently this man was accused of doping, and had his title revoked, however he was still greatly loved and admired by much of the biking community who did not agree with the scandal's outcome. Regardless, the people we were with got very excited that Landis was in town, apparently he was there to do some announcing for the races. We continued to hang out at the taquiria, and decided we were not in the right mindset at this point to give our full attention to the Civil Rights Museum, and would do it Sunday instead. We grabbed some dinner, yes, still at the taquiria, while Jim and Landis proposed we head on out to the local bars for a fun night. We headed out, where Jen and Landis proceeded to become best friends of the night, at one point, she convinced the local band to let him up on stage to sing "Sweet Home Alabama". Quite the sight!! The night was lots of fun, and at last call we headed back to the house.
The following day we woke up later than we had in months! It was after 1pm, and we grubbed on a nice Southern breakfast, complete with grits! It was delicious, though tough to get back in the groove after such a wild night. After lunch, we headed out to the Civil Rights museum, which was beautifully done and incredibly eye-opening, especially for Oli ,who was not well versed in US Civil Rights history. After the museum, we headed back to the house, hung out for a bit, then went out and grabbed a few racks of ribs for dinner. On the way to pick up the food, we went for a small hike up into the hills in order to see an amazing view of Birmingham. It was a short hike, and went we arrived at the top, we were at this tiny vista from which we could see everything. It was gorgeous. And as we arrived at this vista, we heard music in the background. As we approached, we found two guys sitting on a rock, playing their guitars and singing. It was great for the ambiance, but the guys were a little shady. One had crazed eyes, and looked as though he may have had some issues, and the other was creepily normal. The crazed one kept going on about how he was discharged from the hospital that day and how he was better than ever. Creepy, and definitely not a situation you would want to run into all alone. After a few minutes of the view and awkward conversation, we climbed back down in the dark, as rain began to fall through the trees.

We spent another night in Birmingham, eating ribs and watching Son of Rambow. In the morning, we had an early start for Atlanta!

States of Emergency

The second evening in Santa Fe we watched a movie and went to bed early, as we were getting up at 7am to head down through New Mexico.  First "stop" was Roswell, where we found little other than tacky alien shops and scary looking people.  BUMMER!! We didn't even get out of the car, just kept on truckin' down to Carlsbad.  We passed the campground we were intending on staying at, though we realized it was about an hour away from the caverns and therefore too far out of the way to bother. 

 As we approached the Caverns, we found few cars leaving the park, which made the place a bit eerie, especially with the dreary skies. Once we parked, we were too late to take the self guided tour through the natural entrance, and consequently had to take the elevator 750' down.  The caves had a bit of a claustrophobic feel for Jen, but that subsided quickly.  The walk around the caverns took about an hour and a half.  The stalagmites and stalactites were amazing, and the whole place had an Indiana Jones-type feel to it.  It was hard to believe what it would have been like to wander through unassisted and without permanent lighting, constantly waiting for one of the nasty looking stalactites to fall a hundred feet down on top of you!!

Once we left the Caverns a decision had to be made...... find a campsite and bed down for the night, or head into Texas and embrace the inner cowboy!  We chose the latter, Yee-Haw, it turns out for the best too, as getting a chunk of Texas under our belt was definitely the best decision in retrospect.  We got as far as Big Springs, about 2 hours in, and we were inundated with rain the whole way.  Once we got into our dingy hotel we realized that our decision to skip Houston and New Orleans was for the best for sure.... Hurricane Ike was heading straight for Houston after breaching land in Galveston.  We decided to leave early in the a.m.

On the road at 7:30... not so fun but in 5 hrs we were flying by Dallas, listening to the news channel the entire way.  Turns out that Ike was hitting in Galveston at 1a.m. the next morning and a mandatory evac had been issued.  100 mph winds and a 50 foot surge before the eye hits... not good.  40% of the residents chose to stay and they were being told to write their Names and Social Security Numbers on their arm as staying meant "certain death".... scary stuff.  As we passed through Dallas they said it would be hitting there at the same time the next day, we were running 24hrs ahead of the storm all day. There was no time to stop and take in the sites, and we finally passed through the other side of Texas and into Louisiana 9 hrs after our day began.

Louisiana went by in the next 2 hrs, as Ike is 600 miles wide they are also going to be getting tropical storm weather so we pushed on, staying on the run!  Finally, 12hrs, 3 states and 785 mile later, we arrived at our hotel (Thanks Dad & Gret!) to relative safety.... although we are still in Mississippi!  The only disappointment being that after 4 grocery stores we found out that in Mississippi they can only sell beverages with 6% or less alcohol....... on that note, time to get back to the Heineken Lights.

Until next time........

Pics are up from the first half of our US road trip!! Click to visit our picasa album.

Vegas, Grand Canyon, Santa Fe..

So Chrissi threw a big blowout housewarming party on Saturday night, and we got to see a lot of people and say goodbye. The three of us kept the party going til the wee hours of Sunday, and then we were practically worthless the whole day.  Got to hang out and relax, which was nice considering we are going to be on the road for the foreseeable future.  On Monday we went to breakfast with Chrissi, and then went to say goodbye to Chris and Heather and the baby.  

We got on the road by around 11, and drove for the Grand Canyon. Crossed the Hoover Dam, and took some pictures. Headed up towards the South Rim, where we hit the most ridiculous rain and lightening ever. It was like driving through a waterfall, and at that point we were definitely not looking forward to setting up camp.  Fortunately, when we got to our site, the rain had subsided and we were able to relax and set up camp.  We had a great evening, though at one point Oli was trying to figure out how to light the camp stove and consequently lit his arm on fire.  We finally got dinner made, and got to bed early.  In the morning, we went and walked along the rim trail and saw part of the Grand Canyon, though we had to cut it short and get on the road.  We can't wait to come back and visit again, and hopefully go backpacking for a few days.  

So, then we hit the road for Santa Fe.  We hit 2 more storms on the way, one of which I thought we would definitely hydroplane or float away, and the lightening was hitting so close to our car that we thought that at any point it might hit the road.  Scary stuff! Then again, this is coming from two pansies who have lived in the most ideal weather possible for the past two years. But still- it was crazy.  We arrived in Santa Fe, showered, and went out to the Santa Fe Brewing Company to meet up with our friend Kelly's cousin who was on the road with JJ Grey and the MoFros.  Cool show, we had a great time catching up with Kelly and talking industry with her cousin Joe. We then went out to a bar in town where we got to meet some of Kel's old friends, and went home after last call.  Fun night! Today we woke up late and headed into town for breakfast at The Pantry, then headed up the mountain for some beautiful vista views.  The weather was perfect, and we were able to see for miles. Then we headed back into town to look around, see the restaurant that she works at, and grabbed some ice cream at this delicious place called Tara's Organic Ice Cream.  SO GOOD.  They are moving to Berkeley, so if you are ever in the area, check them out!! This afternoon  we did laundry and chilled out, went out to dinner at Blue Corn, and came home for a mellow evening of watching TV.  Tomorrow we are off to Roswell and Carlsbad! Our itinerary has changed because of Ike coming into town, so we will have to avoid Houston and New Orleans this time around.  More soon!

Hit the road, Jack...

So we finished packing and moved out completely yesterday. Made it to Vegas by early evening, just enough time to wash up at Chris and Heather's, give Aidan a little kiss, and get to the Tillerman for dinner. FASTEST pricey dinner EVER. We had to make it to the Mirage by 9:15 to pick up our tickets for LOVE, which was absolutely phenomenal. We had a blast! Spending the rest of the weekend in Vegas, then we're off to the Grand Canyon.