Oh my God, it's full of stars!
Posts tagged waffle house
Day 1 — Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Apr 3rd
|
|
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
We left the house around 8AM CDT in an attempt to get to the airport around 12PM. Since we were making such good time we decided stop at a gas station just pass the Georgia border and fill up with gas then get a quick bite to eat at a local Waffle House. Originally, we could not decide where to eat. Jonathan wanted Captain D’s and I wanted Arby’s so we decided that we would eat at the first of those two that we saw. The next exit had an Arby’s but we decided on some good ole’ fashioned hashbrowns instead.
	We continued on to the airport and arrived in the economy parking lot a little after 12PM. We gathered all of our bags and headed into the airport. I had already checked us in online so all we had to do was check our one bag. Security also went extremely quickly and we were at our gate with 1.5 hours to spare. I felt kind of bad about getting us there so early but it did give Jonathan a chance to grade his tests.
	Our flight from Atlanta was heading to Chicago O’hare. It was quick and my ears did not bother me to much. From Chicago, we left on our long flight to London. It was scheduled to arrive in Heathrow airport at 8AM BST.
Via | TravelPod
Popularity: unranked
Granada to Ometepe — Ometepe Island, Nicaragua
Mar 14th
|
|
Ometepe Island, Nicaragua
Arnold has elected to take the ‘authentic’ chicken bus route this morning so he and Deinor are up early to lave at 7am while the rest of us opt for the $1 extra for the private minibus leaving at 9am.; we have all done several chicken buses already and do not feel the need to do more.
I’m actually up at 7am since I need to make some calls, the beauty of Skype is that 30 mins on phone to my credit card company in the UK only costs about 30p….. I’m feeling much more relaxed now they are resending out my internet banking access codes so I can manage this new credit card online.
There is time for final quick brekkie at Kathy’s waffle house and Anthony and I wander up there shortly after 8, although just a smoothy, coffee and bagel this morning. All aboard the team gap bus at 9 and about an hour later we pick up Arnold and Deinor and wait for the 11 am ferry to the island of Ometepe in the middle of Lago di Nicaragua.
Ometepe island is dominated by 2 large volcanoes, All 1610 m of the active Volcan Concepcion with its near perfect cone shape makes its extinct neighbour Volcan Maderas seem childlike in comparisons yet Volcan Maderas still stands at 1345m. Both from the mainland town of San Jorge where we catch the ferry, and all over the island of Ometepe stunning views of both volcanoes are afforded.
The weather today is once again scorchio and the ferry ride also permits some addition work on the tan. There is a short break in proceedings when we need to rescue a stranded small fishing boat, but once they are tied on to the back we carry on and shortly arrive in Ometepe.
Our first job is to stock up on some provisions since the hotel we are staying in is somewhat off the beaten track and closes its bar and restaurant etc at 9pm; so we duly stock up on rum, mixers, beer and beer snacks. There is significant discussion about how much rum we will need for 2 days/ nights; we ere on the side of caution thinking 4.5 litres should be plenty and we can always take with us anything we don’t get through – what naïve young fools we were!!
Rather then head straight to the hotel we take in lunch at Playa Santo Domingo and spend a lazy afternoon there on the beach in the sunshine. The spot offers further stunning views of Volcan Concepcion and I will add a couple more of the multitude of pictures I have taken to the blog. The afternoon, after lunchtime beers, also offers the opportunity for muchos sillyness, with water based acrobatics, YMCA photo opportunities and even YMCA shockingly badly choreographed routines – I’ll leave the photos and hopefully the video clip (if I can get a decent internet connection) to provide suitable embarrassment.
We head to the hotel Finca sto Domingo somewhere around 5pm and all decide to head straight for the bar and crack open the rum. In short the evening is Carnage, all of team gap are in rum drinking mode and the ipod is pumping out some tunes. We do have food as well and I indulge myself with a further bottle of red wine but rum based drinks are consumed until the early hours when surprisingly we run out of rum…….
Via | TravelPod
Popularity: 2%
el-dor-ay-doh — Eldorado, TX, Texas, United States
Jan 12th
|
|
Eldorado, TX, Texas, United States
So, we thought we would attempt to be culturally relevant, and pronounce the name of this town “el-dor-AH-doh.” But we were corrected. It’s been tainted and Americanized to be el-dor-AY-do.
And all this time, I had the song stuck in my head “Eldorado…why don’t you come to your senses…. you’ve been out riding fences far too long…”
Then Kelsey corrected me and told me that it’s “Desperado”. I just can’t seem to get it right I guess.
Anyway, we’re coming off a lovely weekend in San Angelo. One thing we’ve noticed about accommodations in Texas: in general, they are higher quality than their East-Coast (EC) counterparts. It’s interesting. On the EC, Super 8 is either hit or miss. That is, it’s either pretty nasty, or not entirely disappointing. In our experience in Texas, we’ve stayed in two Super 8′s, and boh have been actually quite nice. I don’t know if it’s the Texan architecture or what. Also, Days Inn was the bane of our hotel existence out on the EC. We had high expectations about Days Inn at start of the year, but were quickly and consistently disappointed and forced to lower our expectations. We weren’t thrilled to book one down here in Texas, but hey–in these small towns, you often don’t have a choice. But, surprisingly, our Days Inn experiences have also been refreshing.
And it’s not just hotels. Take Denny’s for example. In general, on the East Coast, you can count on Denny’s for sub-par breakfast. Comparable to the Waffle House, and way out-classed by, say, Bob Evans. But in Texas, not only are Denny’s plentiful, but they provide a rather nice atmosphere and meal. There was a Denny’s just a block from our weekend hotel, so we ate there for three breakfasts in a row. Funny, we interacted with the same waitress for all three days. We enjoyed Denny’s, and were once again impressed by the quality of services provided by Texas.
Okay, so it’s a small sample of experiences… Days Inn, Super 8, and Denny’s… but hey, if we can’t even complain about those, then we’re in good shape.
Via | TravelPod
Popularity: 1%
Who Will Save Your Soul? — Natural Bridge, Virginia, United States
Jan 9th
|
|
Natural Bridge, Virginia, United States
In spite of the Red Roof Inn’s otherwise comfortable accommodations (read soy sauce/ blood on the door), there was meager offerings in the realm of coffee. Luckily there was a nearby 7-11 to stop at. After caffine and juice reloading we left for Mount Trashmore. Mount Trashmore is a park built on top of an old landfill, so basically trash. It has several lakes, some playgrounds, a skate park, and the fattest pigeons I have ever seen. I guess it’s from eating all the trash? But the park is really cool and a great use of land that would probably otherwise just sit.
As we headed West across the great state of Virginia, there was really only one thing to do: drink wine. Luckily, middle Virginia is wine country so there were plenty of road signs with grapes, signaling a vineyard was nearby. The first one we went to was New Kent, and it was waaaaay nice. If anyone else had actually been there, we would have felt extremely underdressed. It was part of some whole future development that will eventually include, “if the economy permits”, an equestrian center, spa, golf course, multi-million dollar homes, and a club house. Snazzy.
The next logical step was to head to a restaurant of equally high caliber: Waffle House. And this was quite possibly the best Waffle House experience of my life. Our waitress, Sylvia, really made it a great experience Here is our first meeting:
“What does he think he’s doing? Just driving past…knows I’m standing here watching (notices Tanvi staring at her like she is insane) Girl, you staring at me like I’m crazy. He just drove on past with that trailer, didn’t even stop. (proceeds to get out her cell phone and dial a number using her 2-inch long nails) Alright, what you all want to drink?”
In the middle of taking our order, I guess the guy answered you phone because she just walked away talking into the phone, “What the hell you doing?…Well drop that shit off and come back.” Ahhh, waffle house. Also, when we were using Tim’s pecan waffle to map out our trip, NAME, came back and assured us that whatever we were pointing at was meant to be in the waffle because she “wouldn’t play us like that.” After delicious Waffle House, we began our three hour drive to Natural Bridge.
The next stop was another winery, Anderson or Cooper?, maybe I’m just thinking of Anderson Cooper. There were two dogs!!!! and one had been nominated for Virginia Wine Dog of the Year. The rest of the drive was full of Jewel’s musical talent, re-enacted by our own Tim Devlin.
Via | TravelPod
Popularity: unranked
