12/29/10
Katie got here at 1:45 PM, flying into San Antonio. Freddy drove us to the rental car pick-up, after losing the parking ticket and having to pay $24 for a lost ticket.
We picked up the rental car and then my boyfriend led us out of town. Yes, still very unsure of my way around the city. I bet the guy(s) that designed the freeway/interstate here sit at home twiddling their thumbs, laughing a deep laugh (BwaHaHaHa) at his power to confuse the shit out of small town girls such as myself. We got on the right interstate and pretty much followed that all the way with a few switch offs here and there.
I guess I should insert here that we were on our way to Asheville, NC. North Carolina was where I wanted to end my trip and beings Katie was coming to visit, we decided that it was only right to end my trip together.
We got to Houston and it started raining. Right outside of Houston it started terenchally down pouring, this gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "it's raining cats and dogs." I in my life have never seen such rain as this. Sheets and sheets of rain, slowing traffic to almost a halt at times. I couldn't see anything in front of us at times, except the frogs that seems to be committing suicide by jumping up off of the road and slamming into the front of the car. It took awhile to figure out what they were. It was so bad we had people looking at the weather, kind of thinking we were driving into a hurricane. Freddy just said there was a big blob along the road that we were driving, a big, ugly blob that followed us all the way to Louisiana and then led us into Mississippi. We at least found the humor in this, thinking it couldn't be a Melissa-Katie trip without it. We were a bit confused at times when people were driving really slow with their flashers on, which we discussed and decided was really stupid.
We didn't get to see much of the landscape due to the velocity of the rain. I don't think that we missed much though. Interstate traveling is not the best sightseeing trip, seems like a lot of industrial crap.
At 2:30 A.M. Mississippi welcomed us. We got a room at the Motel 6, yes, they left the light on for us. They didn't give us the right key, twice. Finally we switched rooms. Katie got to wash the travel funk off, she had been traveling since 3 A.M. the day before. She did come out in disgust upon finding someones pubic hairs on the shower wall. We finally got nestled into our beds and hoped for a bed bug free stay. I went to bed dreaming of a dryer day.Peace
12/30/10
We woke up and decided that we should eat some southern food, when in Rome. We ventured down the road to a Waffle House. The south has them like Canada had A&W's when we traveled though ten years ago, that is a lot. (We eventually started playing Where's the Waffle House on our trip.)
I thought it would be good of me to try some grits, I don't like them, but I tried. I tried to put Tabasco on them to add flavor- no such luck. They are a mix between tapioca and malt-o-meal minus taste. The waitresses were all behind us while we ate and broke out singing "Redneck Woman," how ironically perfect for the time.
After getting our fill of a Waffle House breakfast we hit the road again. We crossed through Alabama, the scenery was nice it looked like fall. I didn't get to look at too much, I was busy trying to keep up with all the crazy drivers. Note: Whatever the speed limit is in Alabama add 10 mph and cut people off and pass like an idiot then you too shall fit in.
It seemed clean and filled with plenty of trees and greenery. I bet it is a pretty state. Any place that we stopped had plenty of pork cracklins, to which Katie had to show me that they still had hair on them. They really do, how gross.
We crossed into Tennessee around night fall. It seemed very nice, I'm sure during the day it was really beautiful.
We got to North Carolina and it was already early evening. I had a smile so big, after, finally reaching my final trip destination. We drove through numerous small towns that seemed very tourist oriented. They all had clever little signs and cute little houses. I would love to come back sometime and explore more of this area. You could tell even at night that it was really beautiful. We started to notice that there were little piles of left over snow on the side of the road.
We got to Asheville and drove through downtown in hopes of finding a room down there. The one that we did stop at was expensive and doubled in price the next night, it was almost New Year's Eve after all. We stopped at a few places, they seemed a little expensive. And alas, we spotted the Thunderbird Motel. We got 2 nights for the price of one night at different hotels. It was very old school, we parked in front of our window, old school. The couple running it seemed nice. The room's wall were cement, so the fact that our heater wasn't working made it quite cold. The guy did come and fix it. It was dingy and old but was the right price. Katie had to check for stains, bugs and hairs, she said there was a stain so guess who had to sleep on that side? Ah, bring on the gross hotel rooms, I've already stayed at the worst hotel room ever years back so, nothing really surprises me.
12/31/2010 New Year's Eve
We spent our last day of 2010 wandering around Asheville being excited about everything. It was beautiful and laid back. We wandered from store to store admiring all of the locally made art and goods. We went into vintage shops, hippie shops and also found a two story building that was filled with local artists wares. It was nice to see how aware they are of shopping and making locally.
The architecture was that of shock and awe. It was quite stunning to see and get to walk around and see it all.
We stopped and got an appetizer of fried green tomatoes, delish!
We got coffee at a double decker bus converted into a coffee shop, I was in love. It was so cute and creative. There was seating upstairs and some down too. Half of the bottom of the bus served as the kitchen. It seemed like a popular place.
Asheville is a place kind of hard to explain, a small city with a small town feel. People were so nice and helpful. Everyone seemed so earthy and trendy at the same time. People filled the street corners playing music and enjoying the sunshine. We had a great day just browsing around.
We went back to our home away from home, The Thunderbird, to take a disco nap before finding something to do for New Year's Eve. The nap thing failed but it did feel good to lay around after driving.
We decided to go eat and then find somewhere to ring in the New Year. We found the Fiddlin' Pig. We walked in and saw a stage set up, no one was on it at the time. We ordered our food, I tried fried okra, collard greens and catfish, none of which I really loved. I had some amazing macaroni and cheese though. The band started playing and a tapping-Appalachian dancing group came in and started dancing. Everyone was clapping and having such a good time. This is what I was wanting. A woman got up and sang some Dolly Parton and another sang a couple gospel songs that had everyone singing along. It was a great southern experience. Everyone took turns dancing and singing.
One of the waitress' directed us to a hole in the wall bar. We went to the first one, it was reservation only but the bartender let us have a drink. We walked down the street to the DeSoto. It was a fun, hip, little bar that had a DJ. We got to meet one of the regulars, he was that guy that everyone knows but avoids. He is a one-upper, he had champagne that they serve in the Whitehouse and the other bottle was 1 of 1000 made, not sure if any of that was true but it was free. :)
The waitress from earlier showed up with one of her friends, we had a great time hanging out with them. They were super sweet and kind to us. It was a good place to ring in the new year!
1/1/11
The first day of the new year was a little painful, more painful for my dear friend Katie though. The guy at the hotel told us to stay as long as we needed, this ended up being after 2 P.M. What a nice fella.
We finally checked out, still not feeling up to par. Katie was pretty miserable, watching her made me feel better. We drove through South Carolina and ended up outside of Savannah, GA for the night. We both felt pretty drained from the damage the night before. Happy New Year!
1/2/11
We drove into Savannah and got on a trolley tour, highly recommended. I think we were both pretty taken aback by the beauty, amazing history and awesome trees. The old architecture was wonderful to look at and learn about. They are very proud of their city and make sure that it stays old and full of history, they have a committee that meets two times a month to ensure this.
I could spend more time there, we only got to scratch the surface of all the history there. I would've liked to do the ghost tours, maybe next time. There are apparently quite a few ghosts there.
I tapped on the same window that Julia Roberts did in, Something to Talk About, just for you Lisa. :)
We left Savannah and headed to New Orleans. Seemed a pretty bleak trip there. Drove through Jacksonville though, I can say that I've been in Florida.
We finally got outside of New Orleans and got a room. We were both looking forward to seeing what New Orleans had to offer.
1/3/11
New Orleans was also pretty fascinating. I love old towns and cities, when we first pulled into the city we seen the catacombs. It was kind of spooky but super interesting. We then went to the welcome center and a nice lady there gave us a map of the city but warned that the Sugar Bowl was going on.
We just parked there, after I pulled out in front of someone who wasn't very happy about it. We walked in the French Quarter and daydreamed about what once happened there and how much history every building must have in it.
We walked directly into a marching band performing and lots of drunk fans. We could hear Bourbon Street before we could see it. This of course was the overflow from the Sugar Bowl.
We walked to the oldest flea market in the United States. I bought a few homemade voodoo dolls from a lady that seemed to know how to use them. The rest of the flea market seemed like all new junk such as purses and sunglasses. I like flea markets that have old treasures or homemade goods, this was mostly not that way.
We walked up and down some of the streets and window shopped and people watched. We went into a corner restaurant and tries some alligator on a stick. I was a little weary about trying such a thing but it wasn't that bad. It had a little spice to it and came on a skewer with onions and peppers and yes I did think it tasted a bit like chicken.
We walked by a lot of local artists in the streets, we came across a woman who read tarot cards. Katie sat down for her reading and I sat on a bench, with all the junkies and drunks. Didn't make any new friends but it was kind of funny. I don't think Katie was too impressed with her reading. We went into a very old Catholic church, that i can't remember the name of right now. It was so beautiful, so stunning and felt so holy. I had to sit down at one point because it was overwhelming me a bit to think of all the ceremonies that had taken place there. We left there and headed back to find the car, on the way there we stopped in a voodoo shop where Katie convinced me to get my fortune told by some old lady that has been doing it for 30+ years, when I did finally agree, a group of guys jumped in line before me and the wait would have been too long. I think it was a sign for me not to have anyone read my fortune.
I really think now that New Orleans would be funner than Vegas. Well it would be close, New Orleans just has so much history, music and goodness.
1/4/11
We got into San Antonio around 12:30 A.M.
Katie left and went to see her boyfriend in Medina, TX, they ended up coming back to San Antonio and spending a couple days here in the city.
1/6/11
We met Katie and Aaron at What-A-Burger and ventured downtown to do the tourist thing. We went to the Alamo and walked around downtown. We took Aaron to the airport in the early afternoon and then came back to the house.
1/7/11
Katie drove herself and the rental car back to the airport all by herself with the help of Freddy's map and directions.
We had a great trip and got to see and go a lot of places in just a short time. We truly are Road Warrior Princess'. We did have talks about if we would still do this when we had kids and were older. We agreed we could just strap some car seats in the back. I am truly thankful to have a friend that is willing to go on these crazy adventures with me. I did figure out that I have been to 16 states and 2 Canadian provinces since October, kind of cool. Peace.
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