As Varun has lain down his pen and retired to a life of quiet contemplation in Tyler, TX, so shall I raise it up again! Our continuing adventures shall not be lost forever to the shifting sands of time, but scribed immortally onto these digital reams, providing you our gracious reader with the end and epilogue you so desperately crave.
The 17th day was the beginning of the end for our little troupe as one of us drove his last leg of the trip (Hint: It's Varun). Arriving in Tyler, TX we were treated to a typical small city environ in east Texas - brick roads, heat, strip malls and the best gastronomical experience of the entire trip.
It all began at Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Que where I had the distinct pleasure of ingesting The Brother-In-Law "a sand-wiched smorgasbord of chopped beef, butterflied hot links, and cheese". Varun allegedly experienced 'distinct pleasure' in relation to his Pescado Tacos, though I'm deeply skeptical of any sentence which plays host to both "pleasure" and "fish" (Confused? No habla español? Fish = Pescado my linguistically challenged amigos). I can only assume Alex enjoyed his meal in spite of his midwestern sensibilities. I lacked confirmation however, as he was rendered incoherent, repeating "My eyes, my eyes!", as our hot sauce evaporated and did its level best to emulate pepper spray. Tears ran down our faces by the end of the meal, but they could have just as easily have stemmed from joy as from errant airborne capsicum.
After a brief interlude at a used games and movies store which apparently featured prominently in Varun's past, (where Alex took his sweet time while I estimated the approximate pressure at which my entrails would rupture if I didn't gain access to facilities soon) we arrived at our destination - Varun's house.
That night as debated politics and enjoyed the company of Varun's parents while we were treated to a scrumptious Indian meal ('scruptious' really is an underutilised adjective). By the end of it we were so stuffed we had to put off eating real pecan pie until several hours had passed. (What constitutes real pecan pie? Pecans all the way through apparently. Varun was rather insistent on this point. To be fair the pie was delicious.)
Oh, and we watched Get Smart. You should as well. It was funny.
After saying our goodbyes and replenishing our larder at the insistence of Mrs. Lella (never let it be said one could leave the Lella house hungry or unsatisfied), Alex and I were off to St. Louis - crime capital of the USA and home to Drew and Annie (spurious correlation? I'll let you be the judge). While I'm (relatively) sure they're upstanding young citizens, our GPS led us to what appeared to be a dilapidated industrial district complete with barbed wire lots, gutted factories and six story industrial silos.
Luckily the next day showed us the error of our ways. They don't live in a dilapidated industrial park - they live in a shut down dilapidated industrial park. Of course this particular relic of the rust belt is being converted into condos. Their building is an old gutted model T factory which makes it a) pleasantly spacious and b) awesome.
Anyways I'm jumping ahead of myself a little bit, by neglecting to tell you about yet another meal courtesy of our hosts (and great Italian take out). We got a bit of everything, including the famous St. Louis fried ravioli as we caught up with our friends.
The next day we did all the usual St. Louis stuff - food, marvel at the arch (and the flooding), drop into a casino and generally explore the city. It was all very nice but I don't care about any of it except as a prelude to the City Museum. The City Museum. I'm saying it twice to add gravity and emphasis to it. The City Museum. If I was 13 or one of those people who derive their kicks from conducting flame wars in 133t speak on message boards I'd have written the name in caps with somewhere between three and five exclamation marks. As it stands I'll trust you to give it the proper mental intonation.
What can I say about the City Museum? Well, it's basically modern art meets sculpture garden meets potential lawsuit meets LSD meets giant playground jungle gym. As far as I can tell there's no museum within the gutted industrial building that now plays host to a labyrinth of cages, tunnels, caverns, wrought iron bars, hollowed tree trunks, gutted planes sitting atop six story spires, fantastical dragons and slides that make up this behemoth of fun and that's just fine with me.
We spent two or three hours climbing, squeezing, crawling and otherwise getting about within the structure. There were times I was inside trees, pitch black and so narrow my arms could only be straight ahead, there were times I climbed in metal walls only to emerge into crawl spaces no more than a foot tall, and at one point I accidentally found myself in a ventilation shaft. As in, inside the ceiling. I came out of it scratched, cut, battered and bruised and it was possibly the most fun I've had in my entire life.
Please - if you're relatively young, have four functioning limbs and any spirit of adventure I implore you to go there. Go before it gets shut down or dumbed down because its a deathtrap waiting to happen. Just go.
Leaving our host that afternoon to his new home and another 14 years of schooling, we traveled the last few hours to Alex's home, arriving an hour late courtesy of a 1am bike race that managed to encircle us in a suburb of Indianapolis.
After a brunch the next day (tired of hearing about food yet?) I hit the road all by my lonesome. And now it's a one man road show which leaves little to report as I head to the great north except a contented heart.
The Last Road Trip? Not bad at all.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Day 16: Austin (animatronic Presidents can also be inspiring)
Just to put it on the record: Rachel IS an old woman who sleeps too much and complains about costs. "Back in my day you could get an oil change for 19.99. 24.99? Prices these days are too too much."
Now that we have that out of the way, our next day in Austin officially makes it the location of our longest stay (if you divide Boulder from Grand Lake). This is a statistic of little to no consequence, but I thought I would share for those of you playing the home game.
Dave and I lazily wait around this morning for Alex to show up from his party-vous last night. Rachel, being the awesome woman that she is, makes us cinnamon rolls. I secretly suspect that she made herself some rolls and we were just along for the ride, but I can't question the girl because she was such a good host.
Our lovely GPS guides us over to the LBJ presidential library. This is the country's biggest, most visited library and is pretty cool. The trip leaves us all a little wiser, Alex, in particularly, is affected by the weight of history, but that is what you get for traveling with a history/psychology major.
We stop at Ruby's and have some BBQ and the lovely Madison Bateman gives us the quality time of her company. We had awkward moments and funny moments and a long discussion about whether or not Dave could take Madison and her giant ring in a fist fight. After the long and winding "lunch," we head over to Rachel's house and are lazy for another long stretch of time and Alex goes to a second BBQ at his 40-something half-brother's place.
Finally, after enough lounging, Rachel, Dave and I head over and explore the Texas Capitol by moonlight. I boast about the impressive facts such as the use of Texas granite or the size of the rotunda, Rachel shows us how cool it is to spin around in a circle while staring upward. The guard stares at us disapprovingly.
We meet Burt again at 219 West and have a dinner full of hilarity and inquisitions. For example: What is a Tonic Box and how do you fix a broken one? Can one truly ever have crab with asparagus? What the heck is a calamari steak finger? If you are passive-aggressive about the rarity of your burger, should you feel guilty about getting it for free?
The goal of going to Weird Wednesday at the Alamo Drafthouse was foiled by a snarky sold out sign. The goal of going home and watching the Running Man was foiled by everyone sleeping. We are truly old people. No Country for Old Men? How about No Arnold for Old Men?
Oh to make unfunny jokes! I am lucky that I am still able to do so... especially given that Dave almost killed me when I woke him up from Rachel's floor. Who knew the man had such animal instincts. Luckily, Rachel's space-age shiny satin comforts me after my near death experience.
Now that we have that out of the way, our next day in Austin officially makes it the location of our longest stay (if you divide Boulder from Grand Lake). This is a statistic of little to no consequence, but I thought I would share for those of you playing the home game.
Dave and I lazily wait around this morning for Alex to show up from his party-vous last night. Rachel, being the awesome woman that she is, makes us cinnamon rolls. I secretly suspect that she made herself some rolls and we were just along for the ride, but I can't question the girl because she was such a good host.
Our lovely GPS guides us over to the LBJ presidential library. This is the country's biggest, most visited library and is pretty cool. The trip leaves us all a little wiser, Alex, in particularly, is affected by the weight of history, but that is what you get for traveling with a history/psychology major.
We stop at Ruby's and have some BBQ and the lovely Madison Bateman gives us the quality time of her company. We had awkward moments and funny moments and a long discussion about whether or not Dave could take Madison and her giant ring in a fist fight. After the long and winding "lunch," we head over to Rachel's house and are lazy for another long stretch of time and Alex goes to a second BBQ at his 40-something half-brother's place.
Finally, after enough lounging, Rachel, Dave and I head over and explore the Texas Capitol by moonlight. I boast about the impressive facts such as the use of Texas granite or the size of the rotunda, Rachel shows us how cool it is to spin around in a circle while staring upward. The guard stares at us disapprovingly.
We meet Burt again at 219 West and have a dinner full of hilarity and inquisitions. For example: What is a Tonic Box and how do you fix a broken one? Can one truly ever have crab with asparagus? What the heck is a calamari steak finger? If you are passive-aggressive about the rarity of your burger, should you feel guilty about getting it for free?
The goal of going to Weird Wednesday at the Alamo Drafthouse was foiled by a snarky sold out sign. The goal of going home and watching the Running Man was foiled by everyone sleeping. We are truly old people. No Country for Old Men? How about No Arnold for Old Men?
Oh to make unfunny jokes! I am lucky that I am still able to do so... especially given that Dave almost killed me when I woke him up from Rachel's floor. Who knew the man had such animal instincts. Luckily, Rachel's space-age shiny satin comforts me after my near death experience.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Day 15: Austin (The Green Belt has turned brown)
The wake up and get ready and get out routine is a little bit lazier today, given that we are staying in a friend (or for some a friend of a friends) house. However, I find it really refreshing to spend a day doing something with much less of a schedule and alot more of a leisurely pace.
As this glorious roadtrip winds down I think we all find ourselves slowly savoring these moments more and more. Then I will do something like hrmmm disconcerting (a tick that was once a joke and now used as an annoyance) or Dave will say "No." or Alex will be sketchy and the magic is broken.
The call to Alex's 20-year-old half-nephew gets us mobilized and headed toward Chuy's, a very famous and venerated Austin establishment. Personally, I liked the Hula-Hut better (which is also owned by Chuy's), but fighting tradition is often futile. Dave laments that his hot green chile sauce on the 9-1-1 enchiladas hardly deserves and emergency phone call, not even a look into the first aid kit for Dave. I later tell him that us Heat Gods must understand that things must be tempered for mere spice mortals, Alex and his British/Indiana palette sighs heavily.
After being fully stuffed and plumped up, we head over to Austin's Green Belt and dip past Barton Spring to the Austin Animal Preserve (aka land of 8 cages). It was sad to see Zilker Park not as green as the last time I viewed it. The green green grass was now a brown brown dry dry field, more reminiscent of a uninhabitable West Texas than a metropolitan park.
However, the nature exhibit was entertaining enough. After being freaked out by the fact the bee exhibit leads directly outside and a quick laugh over an inside joke ("Dry Creekbed"), we head out back to the Animals of Texas exhibit. Bobcats, coyotes, raccoons and foxes all mystified us and looked so pretty. We note that, given a story we heard from our good friend Jessica Ferreyra, sticking the bunny cage next to the raccoon cage was a bad idea.
After a nice afternoon rest, we head out with Rachel and Burt to 219 West, a pretty good Tapas Bar where the drink is the guiding focus of the menu. Continuing the relative theme, my brother Neil joins us for dinner. Also continuing was the digestion of lunch, so Neil eats my order of chipotle mac and cheese for me.
We go to the Alamo Drafthouse and watch my favorite concert film Stop Making Sense (which is about one of my favorite bands Talking Heads). Alex's half-niece joins us for the film, which weirds out her and Alex and manages to put Dave to sleep. This is sort of my thing and so I give them a pass for indulging me while in Texas. After the film, we separate from Alex and his kin (failing to find an open pool joint that isnt in bar mode) and go over to Burt's to watch a very educational documentary.
Rachel falls asleep, Burt is clearly tired but awake, and I intermittently stay up and nap. Dave, well rested from sleeping during the movie I actually liked, manages to stay up, watch the movie AND book plane tickets to California. However, despite failing to group watch a movie I discover the wonderfulness of I Love Video and that was worth it.
MEANWHILE AT THE BAT CAVE.... Alex parties with his kin and their friends, deciding to crash over there and meet us in the morning.
As this glorious roadtrip winds down I think we all find ourselves slowly savoring these moments more and more. Then I will do something like hrmmm disconcerting (a tick that was once a joke and now used as an annoyance) or Dave will say "No." or Alex will be sketchy and the magic is broken.
The call to Alex's 20-year-old half-nephew gets us mobilized and headed toward Chuy's, a very famous and venerated Austin establishment. Personally, I liked the Hula-Hut better (which is also owned by Chuy's), but fighting tradition is often futile. Dave laments that his hot green chile sauce on the 9-1-1 enchiladas hardly deserves and emergency phone call, not even a look into the first aid kit for Dave. I later tell him that us Heat Gods must understand that things must be tempered for mere spice mortals, Alex and his British/Indiana palette sighs heavily.
After being fully stuffed and plumped up, we head over to Austin's Green Belt and dip past Barton Spring to the Austin Animal Preserve (aka land of 8 cages). It was sad to see Zilker Park not as green as the last time I viewed it. The green green grass was now a brown brown dry dry field, more reminiscent of a uninhabitable West Texas than a metropolitan park.
However, the nature exhibit was entertaining enough. After being freaked out by the fact the bee exhibit leads directly outside and a quick laugh over an inside joke ("Dry Creekbed"), we head out back to the Animals of Texas exhibit. Bobcats, coyotes, raccoons and foxes all mystified us and looked so pretty. We note that, given a story we heard from our good friend Jessica Ferreyra, sticking the bunny cage next to the raccoon cage was a bad idea.
After a nice afternoon rest, we head out with Rachel and Burt to 219 West, a pretty good Tapas Bar where the drink is the guiding focus of the menu. Continuing the relative theme, my brother Neil joins us for dinner. Also continuing was the digestion of lunch, so Neil eats my order of chipotle mac and cheese for me.
We go to the Alamo Drafthouse and watch my favorite concert film Stop Making Sense (which is about one of my favorite bands Talking Heads). Alex's half-niece joins us for the film, which weirds out her and Alex and manages to put Dave to sleep. This is sort of my thing and so I give them a pass for indulging me while in Texas. After the film, we separate from Alex and his kin (failing to find an open pool joint that isnt in bar mode) and go over to Burt's to watch a very educational documentary.
Rachel falls asleep, Burt is clearly tired but awake, and I intermittently stay up and nap. Dave, well rested from sleeping during the movie I actually liked, manages to stay up, watch the movie AND book plane tickets to California. However, despite failing to group watch a movie I discover the wonderfulness of I Love Video and that was worth it.
MEANWHILE AT THE BAT CAVE.... Alex parties with his kin and their friends, deciding to crash over there and meet us in the morning.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Facebook apologies
To those of you who got multiple facebook messages from us I am sorry... facebook went into error mode and mistakes were made. Hopefully you still love us.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Day 14: San Angelo to Austin (Don't mess with Texas or whiskey)
Hello? Is there anybody out there?
Supposedly this blog is getting read as I get comments from random people that I didn't think would read the blog, but we haven't received any comments in a long time. This makes me a super sad panda and if you are reading this right now do a pathetic indian man a favor and leave a comment.
Today we woke up a little bit pissed off at Motel 6 for their blatant and outrageous lies. I feel like Barrack Obama now. Wi-Fi available? That is how you punks reeled us in and look who apparently doesn't have any signal strength (Hint: It's Motel 6). We desperately wasted time in the morning looking for some interwebs and an initial stop at the Burger King proved plebeian. My computer alerted me to a signal emanating from Quiznos but alas it was an administrative password-protected wi-fi. Luckily Micky D's has the good stuff we were looking for. Dollar menu + Wi-Fi = mas fun. Who knew clowns were so good at tech support?
We made it into Austin with very little fanfare (no horns or parades commemorating our last major city stop as a trio for the roadtrip). Our GPS faithfully leads us to Rachel Wright's house, which we have the odd pleasure of resting in for a couple of hours before she comes home from babysitting.
Alex plays detective and makes inquisitions about Rachel's character via her stuff. While most things were spot on, his interpretation of her spiritual side was a little off the mark. To be fair, the girl loves her iconography. Rachel finds this amusing (Alex embarrassing) and decides to spend half an hour quizzing Alex about her life. The results are mixed, but the entertainment golden.
We catch a dinner at the "mexonesian" Hula-Hut, which is very much so an Austin-y place and the lake view in the early evening was phenomenal. I was a little over-ambitious and wanted to beat the waitress with the chips and salsa (opting for self-serve), which resulted with three giant baskets of chips. Which got us stares like we were celebrities, but in a less fun way.
After getting full off giant enchiladas, BBQ soft tacos, and cheesy chile rellanos, we made our way over to Congress Ave Bridge to watch the famous departure of the bats (it is like flight of the bumblebees with less allergic reactions). The site was really cool and the way the bats moved together across the tree line reminded me of a less intimidating version of the smoke monster from Lost. There were millions of beautiful, flowing, chirping bats. Alex got distracted by the man selling light savers.
Very casually we take a walk to Austin's big party strip, 6th street, with no intention of doing anything other than seeing the sights. However, when you stop at the Jackalope and start your night off like this. It is going to be a long and fun one.
We left the loud metal of Jackalope for Casino El Camino (which was definitely my favorite bar we went to that night). We hit other bars like Whiskey Bar, the Thirsty Nickle, the Bling Pig Pub, but the best part was watching Alex go ape-sh** for Guitar Hero night at Shakespeare's. Via his mad skillz, Alex made several new friends for the evening and also defended his guitar honor against a very adept girl named Carly.
The night ended with a quick refocusing stop at Kerbey Lane, a late night diner (of course), where Dave preceded to eat a lemon, Alex devoured hummus and pancakes with his hands, and Varun scowled with a sort of semi-embarrassed awkwardness that comes from being the most sober at the table. But definitely some of the most fun that has been had in a while.
Supposedly this blog is getting read as I get comments from random people that I didn't think would read the blog, but we haven't received any comments in a long time. This makes me a super sad panda and if you are reading this right now do a pathetic indian man a favor and leave a comment.
Today we woke up a little bit pissed off at Motel 6 for their blatant and outrageous lies. I feel like Barrack Obama now. Wi-Fi available? That is how you punks reeled us in and look who apparently doesn't have any signal strength (Hint: It's Motel 6). We desperately wasted time in the morning looking for some interwebs and an initial stop at the Burger King proved plebeian. My computer alerted me to a signal emanating from Quiznos but alas it was an administrative password-protected wi-fi. Luckily Micky D's has the good stuff we were looking for. Dollar menu + Wi-Fi = mas fun. Who knew clowns were so good at tech support?
We made it into Austin with very little fanfare (no horns or parades commemorating our last major city stop as a trio for the roadtrip). Our GPS faithfully leads us to Rachel Wright's house, which we have the odd pleasure of resting in for a couple of hours before she comes home from babysitting.
Alex plays detective and makes inquisitions about Rachel's character via her stuff. While most things were spot on, his interpretation of her spiritual side was a little off the mark. To be fair, the girl loves her iconography. Rachel finds this amusing (Alex embarrassing) and decides to spend half an hour quizzing Alex about her life. The results are mixed, but the entertainment golden.
We catch a dinner at the "mexonesian" Hula-Hut, which is very much so an Austin-y place and the lake view in the early evening was phenomenal. I was a little over-ambitious and wanted to beat the waitress with the chips and salsa (opting for self-serve), which resulted with three giant baskets of chips. Which got us stares like we were celebrities, but in a less fun way.
After getting full off giant enchiladas, BBQ soft tacos, and cheesy chile rellanos, we made our way over to Congress Ave Bridge to watch the famous departure of the bats (it is like flight of the bumblebees with less allergic reactions). The site was really cool and the way the bats moved together across the tree line reminded me of a less intimidating version of the smoke monster from Lost. There were millions of beautiful, flowing, chirping bats. Alex got distracted by the man selling light savers.
Very casually we take a walk to Austin's big party strip, 6th street, with no intention of doing anything other than seeing the sights. However, when you stop at the Jackalope and start your night off like this. It is going to be a long and fun one.
We left the loud metal of Jackalope for Casino El Camino (which was definitely my favorite bar we went to that night). We hit other bars like Whiskey Bar, the Thirsty Nickle, the Bling Pig Pub, but the best part was watching Alex go ape-sh** for Guitar Hero night at Shakespeare's. Via his mad skillz, Alex made several new friends for the evening and also defended his guitar honor against a very adept girl named Carly.
The night ended with a quick refocusing stop at Kerbey Lane, a late night diner (of course), where Dave preceded to eat a lemon, Alex devoured hummus and pancakes with his hands, and Varun scowled with a sort of semi-embarrassed awkwardness that comes from being the most sober at the table. But definitely some of the most fun that has been had in a while.
Day 13: Nowhere, New Mexico to San Angelos, TX (Valley of the Ragealope)
Unlucky day 13, without question the most uneventful, uninspiring of the days of the roadtrip. Honestly, this was just a straight driving days, trying to see how close we could make it to the boundaries of Austin.
A few hours of driving did leave to a stop in Roswell, New Mexico, which was depressingly not as alien themed as we would have liked. There were a couple of really cool/funny/cute/kind of odd things that kept us entertained. The ugly mural on the Wal-Mart front of what can only be described as how a toddle imagines aliens, flying saucer MickyD's, and a Arby's sign in Martian welcoming aliens. Trust me... Aliens are not going to travel light years and eat Arby's despite how good Jessie Tang and Alex Warr think it is. And then there were smaller touches like this:
We had overly priced, but really decent New Mex-Mex food at Tia Juanas. We discovered this place after a trip to the Visitor's Center, which was a cool idea. The really helpful attendant gave us lunch tips and pointed us toward a small free museum that wasn't impressive minus an exhibit on Goddard's rockets and a piece of 80s modern art that I proclaimed was ahead of its time.
The drive turned from beautiful to plain and unimpressive, but we can't all see magical things always. However, there was a simple beauty to the flat, dry land littered with oil pumps.
A few hours of driving did leave to a stop in Roswell, New Mexico, which was depressingly not as alien themed as we would have liked. There were a couple of really cool/funny/cute/kind of odd things that kept us entertained. The ugly mural on the Wal-Mart front of what can only be described as how a toddle imagines aliens, flying saucer MickyD's, and a Arby's sign in Martian welcoming aliens. Trust me... Aliens are not going to travel light years and eat Arby's despite how good Jessie Tang and Alex Warr think it is. And then there were smaller touches like this:
We had overly priced, but really decent New Mex-Mex food at Tia Juanas. We discovered this place after a trip to the Visitor's Center, which was a cool idea. The really helpful attendant gave us lunch tips and pointed us toward a small free museum that wasn't impressive minus an exhibit on Goddard's rockets and a piece of 80s modern art that I proclaimed was ahead of its time.
The drive turned from beautiful to plain and unimpressive, but we can't all see magical things always. However, there was a simple beauty to the flat, dry land littered with oil pumps.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Day 12: Grand Canyon to Route 66 Hotel/Casino, New mexico (Adventure of Donkey-s*** mountain)
There is a certain amount of specialness of waking up and looking outside of the window and realizing there is a giant amazing chasm less than 1000 ft away, some would say it is even Grand.
After a quick breakfast and a stop at the Yavapai observation point , we decide to go into the Canyon via the
The walk down the canyon face was easy enough, a little steep and loose with light dirt, but nothing we couldn’t handle. No sooner than we got started we ran across our first obstacle.
This adorable little sheep was cute and had a littler even more adorable sneeze. We eventually found out that the sneeze was actually an animal flu, which immediately made it 100 times less cute. The rest of the hike down was uneventful (minus my free climb up a tiny rock face and a moment with a squirrel), but it was pretty beautiful (as most things have been in different ways for the past couple days). The way up was difficult, especially for me (I have more to carry up), but the feeling of accomplishment was well worth it (minus the feeling of a 200 pulse).
Leaving the
We drive into
The local movie theater didn’t have the movies that we wanted to see so we ended up hitting the road again, feeling defeated. This all immediately changed when we came across the Route 66 Hotel/Casino. We were told that the hotel was fully booked, but our luck of the day before prevailed and we were flagged down by a valet on our way out and given the last room.
A pretty fancy get up for the price, the hotel part was great, but the casino part was a little cheesy and dominated by slots (which I have no understanding why people use). An initial Blackjack run led to lost money and drinks at the bar and we went to the room to retire. Alex’s itchy finger got the best of him and he and I went back downstairs. The nightclub was okay, but the lack of single women and with the average age about 6 to 8 years higher than our own, made it a little futile. However, a second Blackjack session was a little more fun. Although, I had to through in an extra twenty to bail Alex and myself out of near death, we ended up gaining 5 dollars on the session (which in gambling is considered a big win). I think this photo speaks for our turn around victory.
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