I Got Next

So funny story, last Saturday I was out celebrating a friend's birthday and we went to a bar called "The Blue Line Club Car" in Wicker Park/Bucktown (near Violet Hour). A great time was had by all. This place had games that you could play at your table like Scattergories and Jenga. Well a buddy of mine found a life-size Connect Four!!! it was really fun to play with teams. Of course, my team was rocking and rolling most of the night. Much later, a gentleman comes up to us and has shades on the top of his head. He proceeds to put them on, leans in, and asks, "Is that Connect Four"? to which we replied that it certainly was. He then scans the crowd (or at looks like he is, remember he has his shades on, in a bar, that is already too dark) and says confidently, "I got next". We look at each other baffled and laugh but tell him, "You got it!". We start the next game which ends in a tie, flip the contraption over to start again to break said tie and who do you think starts walking up? Yup. He gets to us, puts his shades down again and exclaims, "I said I had next!" We told him he was right, he did have next but our game ended in a tie and that there was no way we were going to give him this game until a definite winner was chosen. He looked angry (again I couldn't tell because he was, wait for it, wearing his sunglasses at night!! BOOM!) He stood around watching us play and seemed very annoyed. His party of about 6 was at another table playing Jenga and seemed relieved that he was no longer partaking in their game. He eventually walked away dejected and when we were done, we looked for him but his friends must have thought they had to get this kid home or something because he wasn't there anymore. So yeah, if you want to play any game at a bar, don't wait until they are done, just walk up and say you have next. Be sure your glasses are UV protected so they can't see the whites of your eyes and wait for success to find you. Have a great day everyone!!

Camp Champions

My final full day was spent relaxing at Camp Champions/TOS. Mads and I woke up late, and headed to camp and took part in some archery. Yours truly was the victor (of course), then we headed to the Filling Station. The Filling Station, is basically the mess hall for everyone on camp, employees and campers alike. Since this weekend was "Family Weekend" some alum of the camp stopped by to help prepare the meals for everyone. This is where I got to meet Joe. I don't know his last name so Joe it is. He used to be a counselor for the camp and he left to get an education in the culinary arts. He was just the man we were looking for when it came to making food. Mads and I were able to sample some of his wares he made for dinner last night, smoked chicken and beef brisket. OH MY AGAH!!!! It was sooooo good. If this is what his left overs taste like, we couldn't wait for dinner tonight!! On the menu, carnitas that is double fried and marinaded in orange juice and Coca-Cola and fish marinaded in lime juice and some other secret ingredients. It was one of the best taco experiences I had ever had. Also, one of the staff of the Filling Station, Inez, made a plethora of her world famous homemade salsas. Let me tell you I was spoiled. Salsa from now on will never taste as good as hers. It was so hot and yet very flavorful. Amazing.

After dinner and a few Sangritas (Sangria mixed with frozen margaritas), we headed back to Mads trailer and chillaxed with some of her co-workers. It was yet another amazing night. This past week was probably one of the most jam packed weeks I have ever experienced and I wish I could do it again. It was simply a perfect week. I hope everyone has enjoyed my blogging even though I got some feedback I was a little long-winded. I'm sorry but when you experience such an action packed week, you want to remember every detail so you can look back and realize how awesome it truly was. I hope to keep this blog going with various posts here and there. If I visit a new restaurant or have a funny story to tell i'll put it up here. Anyway, thanks to those who read it and thanks to those who will in the future. Peace!

Doughnuts and Longhorns

As most of you know, I love food. I really like trying places I haven't been to but have been recommended to me by other people, such as Casa Rio in San Antonio. Another place people told me to go was Round Rock Doughnuts. The description given to me was, "It's like Krispy Kreme, only orange." With that description in mind, Mads and I headed out to Round Rock, Tx which is about 20 min north of Austin. Round Rock Doughnuts is a little hard to find even for our GPS. This is also the second time Mads has tried looking for this place. The first time, she failed and had to drive all the way back (about 45min) to Marble Falls with an empty stomach. RRD is on this little street in the middle of two 5 way intersections at the ends of the block. Kind of confusing. We finally arrived and this little, chalet, of a building stood before us with a few picnic tables outside. We walk inside and there is a glass counter with the doughnuts available for purchase, a cooler with vitamin D whole milk, or chocolate milk, and a cash register. That's it. This place has been around for decades and that's it. The person who gave me the suggestion did not lie, they look exactly like Krispy Kreme doughnuts but they are most decidedly orange, actually a burnt orange (since we are in Longhorn territory). They also have a "Texas-sized doughnut", which is made using a bucket as a cutter and the regular doughnut cutter to cut the center out. It looked like it had ER written all over it. Mads and I both got an original RRD doughnut and I got an apple fritter while Mads went with the Eclair. Everything was soo flaky and delicious. The only difference I could find, other than color, between the RRD and the KKD, was the RRD actually had some doughy flavor to it as opposed to the nothing you get with a KKD ( I feel like I am some secret agent using all these acronyms, like maybe this is what got Bush confused about WMDs and stuff. His agent was asking if he wanted dessert or something).

After we had our fill of soft gooey doughnuts, we trekked back into Austin. This, it seems, would be easier said then done. Now let me say that, in Texas, spring break happens on the same week for everyone. Guess which week it started? That's right, today was friday and the coming week was spring break for everyone. Not to mention that South by Southwest (SXSW) was starting today and everyone was in town for that who wasn't leaving for another warm weather town. Driving and parking were a nightmare but we were able to find a public garage to park the car which was not too far from the UT bookstore I wanted to go to in order to buy some Longhorn swag.

Walking into The Co-op, UT's official bookstore, it was like walking into an orange factory. Everything was burnt orange!! Sandals, sweatshirts, socks, underwear, summer dresses, bikinis, you name it, it had orange in it. I wanted to get a hoodie (which I like to collect), so we set off to find one for me and Mads. I found mine right away and of course it was...Orange. We went upstairs to the woman's section and found a white one with an orange longhorn in the center. Mads and I both thought that white was not a good color for a hoodie since it would probably turn black or dark brown after a couple uses outside for her job. I, the unassuming tourist that I am, asked if they had this hoodie in the opposite colors, maroon (ooops as it turns out) and white. The woman's face turned from smiling to a look like I ran over her dog in an OU wagon. She looked at me and in a serious (too serious if you ask me) tone said, "You're joking right? Please tell me you're joking". I stammered and said I was sorry but I have my alma mater's colors stuck in my head (telling her I went to SIU which she had no idea what that meant). She laughed and said I had better not say anything else inside here or else things would go bad.

I really wanted to ask her why people here get so worked up over a college and it's colors. I mean, I know this is all that people who enjoy sports in Austin really get to see, but come on really? I know you don't have a professional sports team but you are in a college town, people from outside of Texas, heck Austin, will be stopping by not wearing burnt orange with a cow's head on the front. I guess living in a town up north with multiple sports teams, I just don't get the intense love them or die mentality that is bestowed on these citizens of Austin.

So I bought a hoodie, burnt orange soccer socks with the longhorn logo, and a fitted hat of the same ilk in hopes of not getting burnt (orange) at the stake for my insolence. Mads and I got some lunch at a place called Which Wich, WHICH is a pretty cool place for sub sandwiches. You get a paper bag at the front with the meat you want on the sandwich and then using a provided marker, check off what other things (cheese, condiments, extra hot sauce) you would like on the sub. Then hand it to the cashier, she rings you up, and you wait for your name to be called. Simple, fun, and delicious. While eating, Mads really wanted me to see the King's Speech with here while I was down there and today would be a perfect opportunity since SXSW is starting so a lot of people would be going other places to watch movies. We found times and a place called The Alamo Draft House had it showing at a time that we could make. Alamo Draft House, is similar to a Hollywood Blvd., in that you can buy food and drinks there while watching the movie. What makes it a little different is that their beer selection is OUTSTANDING!!! I had some amazing beers that I could not get back in Illinois and they were very reasonably priced. While waiting for them to seat us in the theater we noticed that they were getting ready to host a premiere for SXSW. They had about 6-10 of red carpet next to a huge backdrop and signs outside directing the shuttle busses for each venue. I must say, from what I saw, just that little bit, SXSW seems very well organized and easy to get from venue to venue. ANYWAY, we noticed that the movies for SXSW officially started while we would be in the middle of our movie. So I jokingly said, wouldn't it be funny if when we walked out, we ran into some famous people, that being what happens at SXSW so I hear. Mads dismissed it as usual haha and we enjoyed our movie. Upon leaving the theater, we saw a huge hub bub going on near that red carpet. We had to pass it to get to our car and we heard someone say, "There's Danny Devito!" I looked and couldn't see anything, then I looked down (Bah-Dum Ching!) and there he was. All 4'9" of him. Walking up behind him to join in the interview already in progress was Rosario Dawson and Carla Gugino (Watchmen, Sin City) they were all there premiering the movie they were in together. Pretty crazy! I took some photos from inside the movie house (they were outside being interviewed) and we left. It was a pretty uneventful ride home although we called our family members to brag to them that we were within throwing distance of celebrities.


I bet all of you can't wait for our exploits tomorrow. I hope everyone is enjoying this as much as I am re-living all these wonderful moments. Tell your friends!!

E-Roc N' BBQ

After our wonderful, relaxing trip to the Gulf, how does one spend the rest of their vacation? Why do more stuff of course! Thursday started with yet another breakfast at La Cabana. This time I got their pancakes which were HUMONGOUS!!! Our service was better this time too. I forgot to mention last time we were there we were offered chips and salsa to which we excitedly replied, "YES!". Our waitress, Denise, brought out the salsa and proceeded to go back to the register and sit there. Mads and I stared at each other and waited patiently for our chips. Maybe she had remembered to do something and had to rush over and do it for fear of forgetting said thing. We just looked at her, she looked at us, this happened a few times, then as if a light bulb went off, she ran into the kitchen. When she came out she had our food. We said thanks and then Mads said, "uh Denise? can we get some chips for the salsa too?" To which Denise's face went blank, then eyes widening, she screamed "Sorry!" and ran into the kitchen and got the chips for us. It was pretty funny because we were literally the only people in the entire restaurant the entire time we ate.

Anyway, enough about lack of customer service, you are here to read about our travel exploits. Thursday morning we ate breakfast at La Cabana and had much better service this time (Deja Vu?). Once our hunger was satiated, we left for E-Roc, or Enchanted Rock as those not in the know call it. E-Roc is a giant rock formation made of solid granite that juts out of the land. What is interesting is that the large formation you see is really just the tip of a larger rock that is hundreds of miles long that is just under the surface. It got it's name from the Native Americans who used to live in the area. When the white settlers came to well...settle, the Native Americans were NOT happy and chased the settlers who ran to the top of this rock formation. The Indians were afraid of this rock and thought a higher power lived at the top because at night it would make loud creaking noises and would glow from the light of the moon at night. We later know that these noises was the rock expanding and contracting due to the changes in temperature and the glow came from small pools that would collect rain and reflect the light of the moon. Lucky for the settlers I guess.

For $6 you can climb to the top of E-Roc which takes about 30-45 min. depending on physical ability and need for breath-catching and water drinking. There really are no plants or vegetation on E-Roc so you are constantly in the sun and whatever wind wants to whip at you. This could not be more fun to experience though. When you get to the top (probably the height of a 20-30 story building) the views are breathtaking. You can see for miles over the rolling hills of the area. Mads took the pics with her camera so I'm sorry I can't show you anything until she gets them posted. But believe me, if you are in the area, it is definitely worth a stop. Once at the top, if you keep going to the other side, there are two caves you can explore which are pretty fun. Also, there are trails that run around the circumference of the formations and throughout the hills of the natural area. It really is a fun time, but bring water and sunscreen and a hat. Trust me.

Earlier in the week when Mads and I were making tentative plans as to what we wanted to get accomplished this week, she mentioned maybe if we were ever in the area, to go to a small town called Luckenbach, Tx. Now when I say small I'm not talking like Westmont, I'm talking like a population of 3 people. I mean it. Luckenbach, Tx has a dance hall, post office, and a bar. It was formed in 1849 by farmers and later was bought by a gentleman who went by the name of "Hondo". "Hondo" was a folk satirist, similar to Will Rogers, so he and two of his buddies bought Luckenbach since it basically was a ghost town for some reason. His reasoning was he always wanted to have a place where he could get a beer whenever he wanted. Fun Fact, "Hondo" also bought the land that Mads' camp is currently on. How crazy is that? What was fun while in Luckenbach was there is always live music being performed everyday there. Willie Nelson wrote a song about Luckenbach, you should check it out. But anyway, we sat outside listening to this older gentleman play all these old country songs (the Nelson song, "Luckenbach, Tx" included) while we sipped on Shiner Bocks. It was a great relaxing time.

Now when I arrived in Texas and Mads asked if there was anything I HAD to do, there was only one request. BBQ!!! I've heard so many good things about Texas BBQ and the fact that it's mostly beef bbq, really got my mouth watering since I had never had beef bbq. We were recommended a place called Cooper's BBQ in Llano (lah-know) by Mads' co-worker Wiggy. He said it was ranked in the top 10 for best bbq in the state of Texas. That got my attention and thankfully it was on the way home from Luckenbach. Pulling up, it's just a red, one level, barn looking building. Right out side the front door is what looks like a covered patio area, but actually instead of tables they are all the smokers for all the meat the cook!! The smells emanating from this place were unbelievable and if they made a perfume out of it, any meat eating man could not resist the charm of the woman wearing it. Mads and I walk up to the two men standing in front of a large bbq grill (for a lack of a better term). They ask what would we would like to eat to which I reply, "Whatcha got?". He opens the lid and I swear I heard angels and trumpets in the distance. On the grill is just piles of various cuts of meat and I am wiping my mouth on my sleeve hoping not to drip any on the grill. The man begins rattling off what he has, "We got regular smoked sausage, jalapeno smoked sausage, pork ribs, large pork chops, beef ribs, regular steaks, brisket, and half chickens". I just look him in the eye thinking are you kidding me? I came for beef bbq so I just pass over everything that doesn't have beef in the title. The beef ribs look like the brontosaurus ribs that tip over Fred's car!! I ask him for two ribs and a strip of brisket. Now, what I mean is I literally asked for 2 SINGLE RIBS!!!! Not slabs, just two ribs. He dunked everything in their bbq sauce and placed them onto a tray to take inside to be weighed. Yes, here you pay for your food by the lb. We bring it inside, where other men take it off the tray and wrap it in butcher paper and weigh them and put it on a cleaner tray. The total including soda drinks cost us $23. Not bad for two people and the amount of food seemed small but we left more then satisfied. The ribs themselves were a foot long and the meat on the bone was over 2 inches thick and lined the entire bone. AH-MA-ZING!!!


It was fun driving home with that food coma overtaking our bodies. Needless to say, we slept well that night. Well kiddos, that's it for tonight. More to come tomorrow!! Hope you guys are enjoying this stream of thought trip blogging. I know it's fun rethinking about all the fun we had partaking in it! Doughnuts and Longhorns tomorrow!!

San Antonio - Padre Island Day 3&4

Tuesday, Mads and I set off for San Antonio to see the Alamo. When we were walking up to it, Mads told me to have no expectations of what I may see there or else I would probably be disappointed. So we are walking the city streets and turn a corner and BAM!

There it is in all it's glory! It's all free unless you want to purchase an audio tour but I never though the idea of putting a "phone" that probably hundreds of people put up to their ears very appealing. As we walked in, they took our picture and told us to pick it up somewhere else on the compound. Who knew history would be so similar to Six Flags? They also ask that all men remove their hats when they are inside. They never said why, just that is what has to happen. Walking around the grounds was pretty nice they have a lot of plaques and boards with facts and artist renderings. I thought it was kind of funny that in all the little scale models of the, "Battle of the Alamo", the actual Alamo had a large ramp that went from the front door to the back window on the "second" floor so cannons could be brought up. So really we were walking where no fight of the Alamo was fighting just where they pushed their cannons. Oh history. That reminds me of the story of the ""Battle of San Jacinto" that they talked about when we were looking at the painting in the capitol building. The tour guide was talking to the grade school children saying how this was a pivotal battle in Texas' independence. He also mentioned what was weird about the painting. A child said that a lot of the Mexican's were laying on the ground to which the guide said, "That's right, the Texans attacked when the Mexican army was on siesta. So they were sleeping when the battle started." Hearing other historians at the Alamo, they never mentioned this little fact. I really wanted to ask about the truth to that fact but I figured I would be beaten for such insolence.

After we had our fill of the Alamo and promised to never forget it, we headed to the riverwalk. It's like Naperville, only better and more popular. There are a ton of restaurants that line the river and tour boats are constantly floating by. It really does look nice.

Following a suggestion from my friend James whom I play basketball with on Tuesdays, we went to a restaurant called Casa Rio. It's nothing super special but it was one of the first restaurants on the riverwalk (circa 1946 or so). The prices were very reasonable and their margaritas were delicious. Mads and I were able to get a seat on the riverwalk instead of on the other side of the sidewalk or inside the actual restaurant. There are tons of ducks floating along trying not to be crushed by the tour boats. They are also battling for a tourists attention with pigeons. When someone leaves their table after eating, 6-10 pigeons fly up and eat all the left over chips. I never noticed if they finished the salsa too.
Finished with lunch we jumped in the car and drove twoish more hours to Corpus Christi. We had to stop for some ice so we could keep our pop and beer cold. I couldn't get a picture but we went to another H-E-B which was next to a small strip mall. This strip mall had (I'm serious) a Little Ceaser's next to a San Antonio Police Dept. "mini station", which was next to a liquor store. I would call that your one stop shopping place! This part of the trip was Mads doing. She really wanted to see the Gulf with me. When we got to Padre Island National Seashore, we were lucky enough to score the last tent camping spot. To our amazement, our spot was about 200 ft. from the actual Gulf of Mexico. When we unzipped our door in the morning, we were greeted with the view of the sun coming up over the Gulf. Truly a beautiful site.

Also, you may have noticed, I'm not great at taking pictures with my cell phone yet. The problem is I can't see the shot and I have to press a button on the touch screen which is no where near where a real human can hit naturally. This is why my photos with us in them have us looking like we A) didn't get the shot and are frustrated or B)not sure if my finger actually hit the button when, in fact, it did but we did not know.

This was also Mads first time using her tent that I bought her for X-Mas. Might I say, I picked a damn good tent. The constant breeze coming off the Gulf had nary an affect on her mighty tent. we saw tents twice her size being tossed in the wind.

The next morning, Wednesday, we packed up and drove to another spot that my buddy James mention we should check out in the area. Port Aransas (like Arkansas with out the k) is this little island off of Corpus Christi which is part of a chain of islands that are like barrier islands. When we got there and stopped in the visitor information building, the woman there said she wasn't sure what was open since they had a big Mardi Gras parade and festival last night. This was evident when we attempted to go to the local brewpub on the island, which was closed. As fate would have it we went to another place next door called Pelican's Landing. I thought this place might be good because I had seen some senior citizens coming out of it. I think this is a good test as to whether a place is worthy of going in when you are traversing in unfamiliar territory. Boy was I right!! I had the freshest fish and chips and Mads had some amazing fried shrimp. I would recommend this place to anyone who happened to be in Port Aransas (which I feel might be pretty often:)).

Our bellies filled with seafood and lemon water, we made the 3+ hour trip back to Marble Falls and the soft twin mattress of Mads' bed. That's it for today, I hope you guys are enjoying this blog so far. We still have quite a few adventures left to write about in great (not THAT great) detail. PEACE.

Austin - Day 2

I forgot to mention yesterday about a nice little Mexican restaurant Mads and I went to on Sunday. It was called La Cabana and it was pretty much on the western border of Marble Falls next to a town called Highland Haven. They had the BEST breakfast burritos I have ever had. for $1.75, yes that's the right price, you could pick 3 ingredients from a list of about 10 items that could go into your burrito. I chose cheese, eggs, and chorizo as my 3 and when it came out it was HUGE!! A great buy for that price and it filled you up nice.



So, back to the future? Monday, after some business I had to take care of in the morning, Mads and I went to the Capitol Building in downtown Austin. Quick Fact, all the marble used to make the capitol building came from Marble Falls. Second Quick Fact, the Texas State Capitol building is taller than the U.S. Capitol building. Maybe that's where all their bravado comes from. So once inside, the main rotunda is AMAZING! Gorgeous work on the ceiling and great marble work on the floor.



On the floor in the rotunda, are all the flags flown over Texas at one time. U.S., Republic of Texas, Mexico, Spain, France, and the Confederate States of America. Looking out over the second floor of the capitol it looked pretty cool.




We also got to explore the State Senate and House of Representative chambers. The desks in these places are originals from 1889 or so and are in their original locations in the room. It's pretty weird to think that these desks have not moved in over 100 years. Crazy. Once we could explore all we could (and our parking meter would run out of time) we went to the Whole Foods down the street. This isn't any Whole Foods, it was the corporate Whole Foods. This place had everything! even a bar! Mads and I picked out some really nice, fresh sushi and sat at the bar and enjoyed some local beers. It was so weird sitting in the middle of a grocery store and drinking beers and eating sushi but there we were. After a wonderful lunch, we went over to a bookstore called BookPeople. This place is an independent bookstore and many of the copies of books they have for purchase are signed by the author. It is also where I got my "Keep Austin Weird" Tie dye t-shirt. I had to get something with their "Town Motto". I must say though, that motto holds true. There are so many independent bookstores, music stores, restaurants, bars, you name it. It's really cool to see how eclectic a downtown metropolis can be.

With the sun slowly setting, Mads and I headed over to Zilker park for a quick round of disc golf (of course I would pack my discs). This park is also home to Austin City Limits when they perform outside concerts. This park is HUGE!! It has disc golf, huge polo fields, a nice river with canoe and kayak rentals, hot springs and just huge tracks of land.

After nightfall, we headed to an independent and quirky restaurant (I'm detecting a theme haha) called Kirbey Lane Cafe. Where I had the turkey and avacado quesadillas and Mads had a great chicken pesto pasta dish. We also were given complimentary chips and salsa. It was like getting chips and salsa from Omega, just kind of weird at first but seemed to fit. After dinner we made our way back to Mads place and rested up for our next journey, camping on Padre Island along the Gulf of Mexico. Stay tuned my lovelies and remember, tell your friends to read too!!

Austin On My Mind

This past week I visited my girlfriend in Austin, TX. She moved to the area after she got a job being and Asst. Director at a camp in Marble Falls. The camp is called TOS (The Outdoor School) which is under the umbrella of Camp Champions. This week I plan on blogging more about my trip giving a day by day account on what happened and all the amazing experiences I encountered while there. So without further ado, the beginning of my trip!

I am lumping the first two days in together since not much happened and it was a traveling day. I got to O'Hare Airport Saturday about 4:45pm for my 7:55 flight. That is when most everything fell apart. They had us switch gates 3 times before telling us that the plane we were to be taking to Austin was deemed, "Not fit for flight". Great! The plane they found for us was at yet another gate and we were going to be delayed again because it was not meant to be taking off for another 5-6 hours again. Thankfully they gassed it up, put in more oil, cleaned it, stocked it with food and while we were waiting on the tarmac, de-iced it because at this point it had started to snow. After leaving about 1 1/2 hrs. late, the flight itself was fairly uneventful. In fact I had an entire row to myself the entire flight. The annoying part was another traveler left his seat and went to the empty row in front of me, sat in the seat directly in front of me and proceeded to put his seat in the full and downright position! HE HAD AN ENTIRE ROW TO CHOOSE FROM!!! It also didn't help that whatever he ate was giving him gas and it smelled rank!!

Finally, we landed into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at around 10:40pm. I've been in a fair share of airports in my day but none that looked like they had closed before all the planes got in. all of the stores had their security bars up, all the lights were off except for ones that lit our walkway to the exit. It was a weird experience. Quiet, no music, no workers, the only people who were there were two security guards at the door leading to the outside.

I met up with Madeline and we embarked on our hour long drive back to her place in Marble Falls. The next morning we had no real plans for the day and decided to go to the H-E-B, the grocery store to stock up for the week. After that we basically lounged around, I got to see her camp and check out all the fun stuff that could be had on camp. and then we had an early night so we could start early tomorrow with our week of adventure!! More tomorrow!