New Orleans - A City That Lives up to Expectations

As you may or may not know, much of our trip across country was based on our desire to go to the Big Easy. Neither of us had been and we were both desperate to go. As we left San Antonio in the early morning of August 29th our hearts were filled with anticipation.

En route, we required a quick stop at Buc-ee's. If you don't know what Buc-ee's is, you are not alone. We had no idea either. However, we quickly learned it is the perfect road side stop with sausage rolls, homemade beef jerky and t-shirts that tell you to "Eat the Beaver". Yup, that's southeast Texas for ya.









It was not until we turned on the morning news in the car that we realized we were going to be driving into the City that Care Forgot on the fourth anniversary of Katrina. This realization made the drive into Louisiana even more powerful. Driving from dry Texas into the dense, green bayous, lakes and tree filled forests of Louisiana is a welcome change. However, you are quick to notice the roadside signs informing you that you are driving on an evacuation route and easily recall the terrifying images of Katrina and remember what the people of New Orleans had to live through.








We did not know what to expect when we reached the City. We had been told that what people love about New Orleans are the people, the food, the music and the attitude. With the memories of Katrina quick in our mind, we did not know if the people or the City would live up the expectations we were holding in our hearts.

Within seconds of arriving at our hotel, the Place d'Armes, we did a quick change and headed out to find out if the Big Easy still had a pulse. It did not take us long to realize it had a pulse, a heart, a song and a laugh. We spent our first evening in New Orleans soaking up all that the City had to offer.


(Outside our Hotel)

First we enjoyed delicious coffee and beignet's of Cafe Du Monde,and enjoyed the noises and smells of the French Quarter.






After a quick walk around the Quarter we ended up at the Acme Oyster Bar where we down copious amounts of large oysters and beer. We pulled up to the bar and met our two shuckers, Hollywood and Bundy. Both aptly name by the slightly intoxicated Arkansas boys siting next to us as the bar. In addition to be great spirited the Arkansas boys were able to recall every play of the USC-Arkansas series a shed a little tear. Without holding grudges we enjoyed our beverages and laughed with Hollywood and Bundy. Bundy was knew on the job and closely resembled, you guessed it, Al Bundy. Hollywood has been working at Acme for 29 years, every day the doors were open, has four kids, and truly enjoys his life.


(Checking ourselves out in the mirror at Acme)
In New Orleans we learned that many of the employees have been at their jobs for 30 or more years, whether they are servers, shuckers, valets, or any other employee you can imagine. They are closely tied to their city, their company and a place they will always consider their home.

After a few too many oysters and just enough beer, we headed down Bourbon Street to see what the fuss was all about. Bourbon street is a scary and exciting place. The worst part, well on street named after booze, there is no doubt plenty of people drinking. The best part - the music. From every little bar the sounds of jazz, rock and everything in between spilled out into the night. Our favorite group was a band playing a Crazy Corner, where the speciality of the night was the young man playing the washboard shirt. They rocked out. Alas we did not get their name, but we certain loved their music!




We enjoyed a light dinner (as a result of too many oysters), strolled the streets, and headed to bed to prepare for a fun day of history, drinks and a special birthday performance.

Yup, the Alamo is Still There

After a lovely, lightning storm, bug filled night in picturesque Fort Stockton, Texas we headed out to the land of Davie Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier before day break. When they tell you that Texas is big, its hard to really understand what they mean. But after spending two days just to get to San Antonio, we must say, Texas is pretty freaking big. And so are the trucks.

After five hours of being passed by semis and inhaling oil from the fields along the road, we arrived in San Antonio. We almost cried at the sight of a Starbucks and the joy of sharing the road with non-truck drivers.

First Stop - the Alamo. Following a quick change into our superman and woman attire, we headed out to see the sights. The Alamo was first on our list, because, well, that is what there is in San Antonio. The Alamo, for those of you 3 people who read this blog, is the sight of a great American battle that we bravely lost. Usually as country we focus on those battles that we win - lauding the victors and praising our skills. Except in the South, in the South we learned, you commemorate all the battles, particularly those that we lost. Remember this, it will help when you journey below the Mason-Dixon.

That being said, the Alamo is a beautiful tribute to the many stages that our Country has seen. Changing hands from Spanish, to Rebel, to Mexican to American, the Alamo is the perfect place to witness the changes in history. Physically the structure is unassuming, however, the lives it held within it are the foundation of the Western Attitude.

We finished up our history lesson for the day and moved on to drinks and jazz along the famed Riverwalk. We enjoyed live jazz by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band at the Landing, and the headed out to dinner on the water at Boudros. Guacamole at the table, steak and shrimp! Yummo.

A quick visit for sure, but a worthwhile one! Next stop - the Big Easy!

Aliens, Caves, Lightning and Football - Goodbye New Mexico, Hello West Texas

After a lovely night in Albuquerque we headed toward San Antonio, Texas for a taste of the Texas nightlife. However, due to the length of the drive, we thought a perfect way to break up the trip would be for a stop over in Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico - a natural underground cavern formed when this part of the world was still underwater.

We headed south-east through New Mexico towards the Caverns, and experienced the vast openness of this part of the Country. There is literally nothing, for hundreds of miles, nothing. It's beautiful and a little bizarre to go so long without contact with another vehicle.

As we drove through eastern New Mexico, we quickly realized we would be passing directly through Roswell and I got extremely excited about the prospect of an alien encounter. After five hours of nothingness, it is very easy to see why people thought they saw an alien landing. In addition to the sheer boredom people must have felt, the sky can be very powerful here.

Nonetheless we found Roswell to be highly disappointing and failing to really capitalize on their one claim to fame. We did find one little green man to take a picture with before we moved on to the Carlsbad Caverns.

Carlsbad Caverns is one of over 300 limestone caves in a fossil reef laid down by an inland sea 250 to 280 million years ago. Driving up to the caverns is not the most pleasant experience but once you are there it is totally worth it. We spent some time exploring the "Big Room" as it is known and marveled in our own insignificance.

This feeling was quickly supplemented when we left the caverns and drove out into the abandoned roads of South Eastern New Mexico and West Texas in the middle of a lightning storm. not exactly the most comforting drive. We drove into the night with only the lightning as our guide. We searched the radio stations endlessly trying to find weather updates, but were only able to find three types of broadcasts: evangelistic preaching, West Texas High School Football and 70s death metal. We went with the 70s death metal as it felt appropriate with the lightning.

We finally arrived in Fort Stockton, Texas, the first thing you see after nothing for three hours, and parked ourselves at the Days Inn for the evening. We carefully pulled the car into the parking spot backwards so as to hide our USC license plate frame as the lot was full of some sure fire Texas boys who may not have appreciated our Alma Mater.

After a restless, night where we were relegated to Sonic Drive-In for dinner we headed on to San Antonio - a garden of Eden compared to the other places we saw in Texas.

***We apologize that there are no food pictures for this leg, however,if you want to know what we ate, simply look for your next Sonic Drive-In commercial.***

Internet Issues

Please excuse our delayed process, however, because of our travels we have been having a hard time getting on the internet. The next posts will include Carlsbad Caverns, West Texas, San Antonio and New Orleans!

Route 66 – an Adventure in Driving

Of all the events we had planned for our Road Trip, we were most excited for the time we would be driving on Route 66, or what is now modern Route 40, between Flagstaff and Albuquerque. We had read that this portion of the Route still maintained much of the original motels and signage.




We loved the old road signs and trading posts along the Route and briefly considered stopping at the ghost town. However, our plans were slightly diverted when the car in front of us blew a tire and went skidding in all directions before flying off the road. Thanks to Terrence’s quick driving skills we were fine and the driver of the car in front of us appeared fine as well. It was a shock to the system how quickly something can affect your path. As we thought about the 3500 miles left to travel we gave ourselves a few driving rules so as to avoid being that close to something we could not control.

After a quick recovery at a roadside stop, we continued on Route 66, stopping to take pictures of some of the funnier road side attractions. The road aside, the journey from Arizona to New Mexico is long, flat and only once in a while peppered with a mobile home or abandoned car. The sky however is stunning. The elevation is so high that you feel you can actually touch the clouds with your finger tips.

Albuquerque – How to not Judge a Book by its Cover

In our Route 66 excitement we booked a motel in Albuquerque called the “Monterey Non-Smokers Motel”. The advertisements had set forth that this motel was one of the last vestiges of the old Route 66, that it was close to the “Old Town” in Albuquerque and would be a wonderful experience of European hospitality.

As we drove into town we drove through the poorer neighborhoods of Albuquerque, vaguely reminiscent of the San Francisco Tenderloin District. We became more and more nervous as we drove into the roadside motel. Some of our concerns were eased as we parked next to a new Porsche with California license plates and we were put at almost complete calm after meeting the fabulous managers and their blind dog Gustav. The room was no doubt original, but clean and exactly reminiscent of the era we were hoping to find along Route 66.



At the suggestion of the managers we headed into Old Town to look for dinner. We were referred to the Church St. Café and it did not disappoint. We stuffed ourselves with Chili Rellanos, Enchiladas and local beers called Outlaw Lager and Monks Ale. Our waiter, Josh, was a friendly fellow of 6’4” who turned out to be our age. Having been born in Fresno and then moving to New Mexico, he immediately opened up when we told him we were from San Francisco. We chatted throughout the meal, as he constantly ran into things, remarking that these older Spanish style buildings were clearly not built for people of his size.



As we finished our meal, we began chatting with the only other people left at the restaurant, a German Couple, Christine and Wolfgang who now live in San Diego. They had done their own cross-country drive after moving from Germany to New Jersey and then to San Diego.

After dinner, Josh suggested we head over to the bar at the “Seasons” and took us up on our invitation to join us. Over drinks he told us about his lost career as a car salesman, the lack of available jobs in Albuquerque for a person with a finance degree and his love of all things Brett Farve. Meeting people in this manner is definitely one of the highlights of the trip as we feel constantly amazed by how such different people can end up in the same place at the same time.



Next up…the adventures of driving into Texas and walking 750 below ground

Follow the Red Rock Road, Follow the Red Rock Road…

We arrived in Red Rock National Park just before sunset. Not sure if we would make it into town before the sun went down we pulled over to take some pictures of the amazing colors of the gorgeous formations and appreciate the beauty of mother nature.

We booked the Matterhorn Inn in Sedona as our first hotel of the trip. Where else would two Swiss bound people stay in Sedona? Regardless of the name, the view from our room was perfect and perfectly accommodating. After a quick change, we were off to enjoy a delicious dinner at the Cowboy Club in town. The only place in town open after 8 p.m.! As we munched down on Prickly Pear Margaritas, chipotle shrimp and Buffalo flank steak we tried to take stock of our trip and what the heck we are doing!

Whenever we told anyone we were going to Sedona they would ohh and ahh about the nature, beauty and spiritual being that is Sedona. Take in the vortex we were told, mediate, hike, heal your soul. Well, all this is well and good, but on the first leg of a long journey with many expectations we found the quiet, still nature of Sedona to be almost stifling. We felt obliged to “relax” yet anxious about the journey ahead and looking for distraction.

We thought a hike would be the perfect way to take in the sights and have some adventure before we got back in the car. However, it turns out you have to drive to hike. After a much maligned attempt to find a hike in walking distance, we came to the conclusion that not everything is going to work out as we envisioned on this little trip and we need to be okay with that. We finally gave up and stopped for a hike on the way out of town to take in one final view of the beautiful red rocks!

Look, Another Rock

The last time I was in Arizona I drove from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon with a stop at the Petrified Forrest somewhere in there. I was no older than 10 or 11 and my mom thought we should see the Country. By the time we got to the Grand Canyon, I looked down at the vast hole in the ground, turned to my mom and said “look, another rock”. We ended the journey with arms black and blue from playing the most intense “punch buggy” match ever, to distract us from the never ending nothingness.

This time, as Terrence and I crossed into the state of Arizona, I looked at the wide spaces and huge skies with awe and wonderment. We are city folk and were awed by the vast world before us. By the time we reached Texas, this had changed. As we followed the road up to Red Rock National Park, where Sedona is beautifully set, we couldn’t help but feel like we was driving on the moon, 6000 miles above sea level, the high plains of northern Arizona feel other worldly.

As a side note to our Arizona leg of the journey, we found Arizona to be as close you could find to what the Wild West must have felt like. Granted most of the movies about the Wild West are filmed there, nonetheless, you can truly get a sense for how the cowboys must have felt riding the range. Adding to this sense are the names Arizona town, rivers and basins. In addition to being “western” they appeared to be thoroughly literal: Quartzsite, Horse Thief Basin, Bloody Basin and Goodyear.