Missouri-- 8 of 50

Saint Louis Day 1 (05/24/2010)

When I woke up this morning I had plans to go to Minneapolis, Minnesota but you know what…. Just like last time I had plans to go to Minneapolis… it didn’t work out. I landed in phx and found the next open flight to anywhere that seemed cool. Forty minutes later I boarded a flight to Saint Louis Missouri. For some reason the flight was on a mechanical delay and we waited for about an hour on the plane before it pushed out of the gate. I am going on this trip with a coworker, Jeremy, but I guess he didn’t wake up in time because he didn’t fly with me to PHX. Haha! Well I didn’t want to wait and have the possibility of being stuck so I left and he should be arriving in about 40 mins. There is an interesting trend in airports these days to have rocking chairs (I have only seen this one in CA--- San Diego) and I am currently sitting in one watching people and hearing the announcements overhead. About thirty mins ago they paged a Michael Hall. I was very curious if it was THE Michael Hall from Dexter, but I guess I will never know. Oh and the airport doesn’t have free wireless! What kind of airport in the year 2010 doesn’t have free wireless?! Even Fayetteville, NC has free wireless.Well, Jeremy's flight is almost here....

Oh my gosh it is soooo hot here! UGH! We walked outside to get the shuttle to our hotel and it just felt like the hot air was sticking to your body with every step. After checking in at thte hotel and putting on some more breathe-able clothing we attempted to get to the downtown area. With every new city, finding your way around is the first adventure. We knew we needed to catch the metro, but it was across the 5 lane freeway by the airport. There were three options: 1) run across the freeway 2) walk to it or 3) get there via vehicle. The third sounded the best to me. The both of us waited for the bus for a while to take us to the metro. I got tired of waiting so I walked over to the National rental car place for advise. The kind man offered the rental car shuttle to us since the metro station was at the airport and all. Against Jeremy's wishes we took the rental car shuttle over to the airport metro station. Free transportation! Of course before we got on the meto we had to take a photo with Lambert Field.

The $7.50 Metro ride (all day pass) was a nice one simply because of the air conditioning in the cars. Watching the buildings and scenery pass along with the different people getting in and out of the cars was my favorite part of Saint Louis. I love experiencing a city through the eyes of its people. We werent in a brand new rental car, we werent being driven around on a tour bus... we were in the public transportation using it just like everyone else who was going to work, going to school, going from east side to west side. Yes, I admit. I would have been much easier to get around and see everything with a car, but this way made the trip what it was.

We eventually got to the down town area of Saint Louis, just one stop shy of crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois. I could have very well crossed over and said "Hey look at me Im in another state!" but i didnt want to. I want to be in Illinois and see it more than just a few hrs.... I'll leave the few hr trips to the states that sound a little less exciting. But who knows... maybe ill be surprised with what i find in those "Few Hour States". Anyway, we walked around the downtown area and attempted to find Broadway Oyster Bar that Jeremy read about somewhere. The street we walked on was full of over priced tourist targeted restaurants. We didnt go to any of those places but I did spot this hilarious sign!

I loved what I saw next and only pictures can describe it:

Lets just say... I loved the arch and I could have spent hours there just taking pictures of it from all different angles

For dinner we found the oyster bar and I just had to order alligator. What a different taste that is! I guess you can say it tastes like chicken... but really, it doesn't. Chicken tastes like chicken. This tasted like alligator--it was tough, hard to chew and... when I thought about it... eating alligator was just so odd. Our late night stroll around Saint Louis after our local brewed beers was a warm, delightful one. Lets see how hot tomorrow will be and how many more beers we will need in order to forget the weather.

Saint Louis Day 2 (05/25/2010)

Tere's nothing like waking up in the middle of the night sweating from how hot it is! I feel like this is all i have to say about Saint Louis... HOT! After eating our luxury breakfast we hopped back in the Metro link toward the downtown area for the highlight of the day-- the Anheuser-Busch brewery tour. We smelt a variety of smells and felt a variety of temperatures but finally we got the sample some good ol beer straight from the source. Now if you remember from Wisconsin, I sure enjoyed this.

Classic.....

More wandering around the city and using public transporation that we would have other wise been unable to use without our smart phones we ended up at Schafly Brewery and Tap House. A very interesting place with a HUGE selection of bizarre beers and the food was no different. Jeremy, the "vegetarian" got a bratwurst and for myself i ordered a turkey burger, but it as no ordinary turkey burger. It came with two different kinda of never-hear-of-before cheese that I

of course told them to hold off on and a mango chutney which tasted sort of sweet-tangy-BBQy. It was surprisingly very good! In all these places I try to sample different things that are outside of my normal foods and I figure, if its on the menu then its gotta be good to someone! (lets hope...) I embarrassed Jeremy by asking a bunch of touristy questions. I used to be afraid to be a tourist, but now I love it. :)

We did a lot of walking and waiting for transportation for the remainder of the afternoon. We attempted to go to Forrest Park, but it is so huge that you need a car to get around and by the time you get the a place of interest, say the science museum, its closed :( But it was a beautiful place and if you didnt know if the humidity was at about 1000% percent youd think it was a beautiful day!

Saint Louis Day 2 (05/26/2010)

At the butt crack of dawn we got up. I was grumpy and tired cus Jeremy had this genius idea to walk to the airport since our hotel didnt have a shuttle on wednesday mornings and he didnt want to steal transportation anymore. We did anyways because about 20 ft from our hotel another hotels shuttle was picking up their customers. I sneaked in and told Jeremy he could meet me at the airport. He hopped in too. :) We got to the airport way too early because we didnt know about the employee line. With out that line Im pretty sure it would have taken us 2 hours to get through security! There was about an hour onboard delay waiting in STL and the people around me were bitching. It was kind of annoying. We got to PHX and had to bolt it to our gate. We made it just in time for our flight to SBA. I am so tired from the heat that I just cant wait to sleep... really wish i didnt have to get up tomorrow for work at 345am!

Unitl next time USA!

Texas-- 7 of 50

I'm going to Texas tonight with my friend and coworker, Ryan, and all I have to say is if I see anything like this I'm going to flip out! I hate snakes!! It's freaking me out just to look at this photo! gross. I'll be taking US Airways to PHX then on to DFW. I'm getting there really late because tomorrow is the Scarborough Fair. Should be fun. And it is definitely going to be hot! I also hope to find out if everything is actually bigger in Texas... if this snake is in fact real then I would have to agree whole heartedly!

Dallas Day 1 (05/08/2010)

We got to PHX just fine. I was so hungry so we walked over to my favorite PHX eatery, but it was closed! I couldnt believe it. ... I had to get nasty pizza hut pizza. If I didnt eat then I wouldnt be able to eat til tomorrow morning. The agent in PHX gave us two aisles across from each and as soon as we got settled the flight attendent came up to us and said "are you nonrevs? I asked the gate agent to put you in first but i guess he didnt. here move up to first!" We were stoked! Free first class!!! It was great until the mother decided it would be a good idea to rock her crying baby right behind the first class curtain. I heard a baby cry for nearly two hours. I got off the plane with a head ache. :/ It was nice to sit in first though. the chairs are so big! we got our rental car and made our way to our hotel. Its a great hotel. Not a 5 diamond or anything, but its quiet, cheap, and clean. Goodnight Dallas!

Dallas Day 2 (05/09/2010)

We woke up this morning and got ready for our fun filled day. After our continental breakfast in which i had a waffle in the shape of Texas we met one of our dear friends, Megan, for breakfast. We went to the Bread Winners Cafe and Bakery. On our way there we realized how crazy the freeways and roads are in Dallas. There are so many roads parallel to freeway that sometimes the GPS has a hard time deciding what road we were on. Good thing we re smarter than computers. Breakfast was really good. The place had such a great environment. I ordered the buttermilk pancakes and potatoes. OH Boy the potatoes were good!

One of the main reasons we decided to go to Texas was for the Scarborough Renaissance fair! Are we going to Scarborough Fair? Why, yes we are! We drove for about 30-40 mins outside of Dallas to Waxahachie. Ive noticed texas has this weird thing where they name their streets "Farm to

Market Street" and then assign it a number. I didnt quite figure it out but they appeared often. At the fair we shot long bows and arrows, threw hatchets, and eat lots of food! The most exciting part for me was getting to ride on an elephant! I never thought in my life that I'd ride on an elephant.... especially in Texas! I loved getting to hang out with Megan and getting to do something completely random that I never thought Id do was fun! That is way I love going places and doing new things.... I never would think "Oh hey lets go to a Renaissance fair", but I did and it opened my eyes to a whole new realm of fun and adventure.

After the fair Ryan and I had to go back to DFW to get our ZED fares to go on Southwest to SAT tomorrow. I forgot to get them when we were back home in SBA so we had to take time to get them today. The girl at the counter wanted to help us but she didnt know how to sell a ZED... I told her I'd walk her through it but people kept coming up to her needed help with their reservations... on of the guys i recognized and after both of us standing there for about 35 mins I asked him if he ever flew in or out of SBA and he said that he does on a regular basis. I knew i recognized him!!!! Well after about an hr I finally got our ZED fares. Geez! During that time Ryan had to leave to drop Megan off at work. He came back and then we went to down town Dallas to the JFK memorial.

We arrived to the downtown Dallas area where JFK was shot. I felt almost a tingle inside. I have been to historic places before where the tour guides say "This is where such and such happened" but I have never been somewhere where I could stop and think "something huge happened right here that effected our nation so much!" I guess it the history major in me.

After a little resting at the hotel we went out to this great dinner at Avanti. It was a little italian food place with live music and great food. All in all it was a long, fun filled, adventurous day in Dallas. On to San Antonio tomorrow for the second leg of our Texas Two Step!

San Antonio Day 1 (05/10/2010)

Despite not wanting to we woke up early this morning to make our way to the DAL airport. We kinda took a wrong turn and had to drive through a neighborhood to get to the airport. I was stressed that we were gonna miss our flight, but I'm glad we made that detour because the houses we saw were incredible! Some looked like castles, some like mansions. They were all really nice with nice landscape and a round about in front. All the little kiddies were walking to school and it just reminded me of something our of Desperate Housewives.... even though I've never seen that show. We got to the airport and had plenty of time. We even got there in time to make the earlier flight to San Antonio. Good thing too because the one we wanted to go on only had 2 seats and with Southwest you never know the totals til the door closes since they are so flexible with people changing their flight times. When we got to San Antonio we had to wake a bit in the airport to get our rental car. It was interesting to people watch, specially at a security screening check point.

When we got our car we made our way to these really cool caves outside of San Antonio. The are underground and called "The Natural Bridge Caverns". We hiked down with our guided tour group hundreds of feet below ground level to see these amazing structures designed from years of erosion and ..... idk Im not a geologist! but it was really pretty and really cool. I dont know if you can tell from the photo how big this room is but its gigantic and the pillars are towering! You almost feel like an ant....

We did so much walking around these caves and we barely had breakfast that after we were starved.... thankfully there was a Sonic about 1.5 miles from the caves! Ryan has never been to a Sonic so it was definitely an experience for him. After filling our stomachs we went to downtown San Antonio to find the Alamo! I was completely expecting it to be on some old slab of dirt in the middle of no where with tumble weeds blowing in the wind... but it wasnt like that at all. It was really hard to find free parking in San Antonio so of course we had to pay :/ Kinda pricey too.

The Alamo was great though. The trees around it were beautiful. In front of the Alamo I saw my first Texas Sheriff equipped with his very own cowboy hat!

San Antonio is sooo humid! We walked around the River Walk and it was really nice and a cool scene. Its below ground level and its lined with shops and restaurants with umbrella tents. I just wish it wasnt so dang hot! At one turn of the river we say these little girls getting ready to being a Mexican Dance competition. This area is so full of Mexican

culture... which in turn influenced the food. We had an amazing dinner at the Iron Cactus. It was soooo good!

After we went to Howl at the Moon which is a dueling piano bar on the River Walk. It was very fun and all the guys in the bad were very very talented. While there i saw a very

interesting vending machine. If you cant see those are cigarettes! At the end of the day, I had a great time in San Antonio. Only a few hrs here tomorrow and then Im back on a plane to CA.

San Antonio Day 2 (05/11/2010)

This morning we woke up again to a gloomy but humid day in San Antonio. We drove around for a little and saw the oldest cathedral in the USA which also held Davey Corcketts remains.

Once we got to SAT we patiently waited for our flight to PHX. It always feels so good to get back to PHX cus I know Im almost home. This time however I came to OAK instead to see Rachel and her family. Tomorrow Im going back to Vegas for a Southwest Spirit Party. Should be fun.

Until next time America!

And no, everything isnt 'bigger in Texas'. at least not the Texas I saw.

MAY IS THE MONTH!

well it appears that I am a little behind on my goal. only a few states in 4 months.... not good. This is getting ridiculous! I have some serious catching up to do! If I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do this! 50 states in 1 year!! Here we go!!!! When I got back from Oregon I kinda lost motivation... tired, worn out, sick of naive passengers... Its funny, when I was in Eugene I got this fortune from Panda Express "Hold tight to your dreams" kinda like "Dont give up Jessie.... Finish what you started!!"

its never official til you land in the state but this month I plan to go to Georgia, Minnesota, Massachusetts and at least 4-6 more. I need to get on the ball with this!!!