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We're chronicling our travels around the states on this blog. Check it out, if you're bored and sitting on an apple box (you can also check it out from home or the office).

Rolling Hunger

May 15, 2014Samuel Herbig

The day we traveled from New Orleans to Austin, we set an unfortunate precedent: eat breakfast, drive all day then eat dinner. I get grumpy, Whitney gets grumpy and it all just doesn't end in a nice relaxed evening over a cocktail, ya know?

Before I go on any further, here it is:

Anyway, it did lead to us rolling into Austin with an angry hunger. Miscue followed miscue and we were solving a problem when we went to our first food truck, Luke's Inside Out on Lamar Avenue and grabbed a drink before heading to bed to sleep off our misgivings for each other.

The next day (April 24th, for any of you keeping score at home) was going to be Whitney and Sam's food truck day. The sole goal of the day was eating and I was soooo game.

So let's get started: we parked the car on South Congress and hoofed it over to Mellizoz for breakfast. Fried avocado is something that ought to be mandatory to graduate high school, mmkay?

We picked up our breakfast dessert next door at Gourdough. We shared a flying pig, and thought it was pretty good. A bit too much glaze and the bacon should have been crispier. God, I sound like such a snob.

His face says: please don't make me eat more of this!

Booth of those places were on South 1st Street which is in the very trendy Bouldin Creek/South Congress neighborhoods. There are loads of boutique stores, cute little restaurants, a couple of expensive hotels, and a very cool art store called Parts & Labour (we almost bought a screen print by Mr. Doyle — watch your eyes now, this is a visual workout!). Most of the people we saw on the street were, by my standards anyhow, *very* well put together. Not in a stuck up way, in a very hip and trendy way. You'll see that fashion at American Apparel in the fall I'm guessing.

Well sated, we set out on foot due North to cross the Colorado. Only I had been to Austin before on a certain Kostya A.'s bachelor party a couple of months ago and my experience then was only of a pretty bro-ish part of town. So walking back into downtown I had to warn my compatriot: "now listen, this is a pretty bro-ish part of town."

Aside from being the UT campus, Austin is also the Texas state capitol. Hence it's not altogether surprising that there are lots of chain hotels and tall buildings in that wonderfully engaging government style architecture. The character of this part of town isn't all to different from a blank legal size piece of white paper.

We ventured down East 6th, past all my glorious memories of late January and passed under I-35. Compared to our last home town of Brooklyn, this most resembled the Bushwick area, I'd say. Part industrial, part residences with small local businesses sprinkled in between it was the place I'd feel the most at home in.

We zeroed in on La Barbecue and got ourselves some brisket and potato salad. They even did that whole "beers for a donation" thing! Great spot, no doubt.

I screamed for ice cream, so we set out to find Cow Tipping Creamery, only to realize they weren't at the location we had expected them (more tomorrow!). So instead we crossed back across the river and up South Congress for a frozen and an iced margarita at Guero's. Delicious by all accounts (was the heat distorting our judgment?) we then grabbed ice cream at Amy's. Whitney got some local brewery's beer infused concoction, while I went with something a little more traditional.

At this time we really wanted to do that nap thing we'd started in New Orleans all over again, but man, people were loud in the dorms at the hostel. Have they no decency?

We had no choice. Our hands were tied and so we headed back to South Congress to grab fried chicken at Ms. P's Electric Cock. Yes, I took a picture of the sign.

While in Austin, we didn't want to miss the opportunity to go to one of their Alamo Drafthouse theaters. We'd been going this way and that weighing the different options and locations. In the end we got tickets to "Noah", a movie I had worked on way back when I used to work in New York.

For two days. I worked on "Noah" for two days.

If you haven't been to a Alama Drafthouse theater, you really ought to go. I'd been to the Nighthawk in Williamsburg and it's just a nice experience all around. You can order food (popcorn!) and drinks from your seat. The audience is pretty small and people are really there to watch the movie and nothing else.

We didn't get food though so the our last geil rating is for the popcorn and the popcorn only and I cede it to judge Whitney to make the call, she is the expert on such matters:

Fat and happy we headed back to our Hostel*. I couldn't wait to get the sleeping thing over with, cuz tomorrow we're gonna go swimming!

P.S.: I'm not going to go into a lot of detail, but out of all the hostel's we'd stayed at thus far the Hostelling International Austin was our least favorite. They're nice people and the staff works hard to stay on top of things. Our main complaints are ill equipped sleeping quarters (not enough outlets, not enough storage for each guest) and a complete lack of rules for the dorms. Most other hostels wouldn't allow food in the dorm area nor that guests hang out in them, unless they were resting with clearly outlined quiet hours. We really didn't spend any more time there than we had to, because of the unpleasant atmosphere. Anyway, 'nuff said. (Note from Whitney: on our last night we came very late, only to discover someone else sleeping in Sam's bed, so there's that too.)

P.P.S.: In trying to catch up, there are tons of new pictures up on the flickr photostream!

Random facts and statistics from Austin:

Whitney kept a running and highly sophisticated scientific tally of the cars we saw en route to Austin in order to establish the Ford truck dominance on Texas' roads. This sample was collected on Interstate 10, while heading west between 5:30pm and 6:33pm. The results are in:

(10) F-150 trucks
(12) Other trucks
(43) All other vehicles

categories Exploring
tags Food Truck, Austin, Texas

Roadtrip Jetlag

May 06, 2014Whitney Lea

Beware. This is going to be a very long post. I missed you guys and I haven't written in so long!

We love New Orleans and couldn't wait to spend a few days there. And when we arrived we did what everyone goes to NOLA to do: hibernate.

It's funny. New Orleans is known as a party city - and while that's certainly the case, and we don't shy away from a good party - by the time we arrived we were exhausted.

Originally we thought we might try to take a beginner's scuba course at Ginnie Springs and then camp there on the Saturday before Easter, but we soon realized a lot of the eastern portion of the gulf coast was experiencing flooding and had to come up with a revised plan. We had decided that we would rather wake up in New Orleans on Easter morning than somewhere in the Florida panhandle or in Alabama or Mississippi so we drove the 9 hours and then flopped onto a king sized bed at a Days Hotel near the Louis Armstrong airport. The sleep was very deep.

We woke up seemingly energized on Easter morning, I threw on a flowery dress and my sun hat in lieu of an Easter bonnet, Sam donned a shirt with a collar that matched his shorts after I asked nicely and we headed to Marigny to check into the Lion's Inn. Little did I know that it was there that we would spend the bulk of our time.

One of these buildings is the Lion's Inn (and I think it's on the right)

We dropped off our stuff, parked the car, and ate an awesome breakfast at New Orleans Cake Cafe up the block. We split poached eggs, boudin, and grits, as well as the red velvet cupcake they let us add to the meal for a buck. Feeling full we thought we were all charged up for an Easter Sunday full of parades and exploring.

We did manage to catch a parade before the exhaustion set in, the Chris Owens Easter parade. There were a number of floats, antique cars, and lots of people throwing beads, stuffed animals, Easter eggs filled with candy, hell - anything really. I caught two brand new shower loofahs. No joke.

We found a spot with shade and good photo ops and started chatting up the family next to us when suddenly we heard someone yell Sam's name from across the street. It was a high school friend of his from long island, Nick, and his wife, Rina, and their 10 month old daughter, Ava.

We run into Nick more than anyone we know so initially I was mostly shocked to see that Nick was a father because I had no idea. You see the last time I ran into him it was in Coney Island nearly two years ago and it was just him and Rina. And then my brain realized that not only had we run into them, but we ran into him at a parade in New Orleans! How crazy is that? They had moved down recently and seemed to be really happy. They had decided to swing by the parade while they were out for groceries and we both picked the same block to watch. It was nice to see them and meet their daughter.

After that we had a cocktail on the balcony of Muriel's, where we had our fancy honeymoon dinner over a year and a half ago.

And then it was time for a swim at the pool at the Lion's Inn. The water was pretty cold, but the air temperature was in the 80s so we enjoyed ourselves and then took what we thought would be a short and reenergizing nap. When we got up we went to try Dat Dog, a New Orleans establishment that has grown in number of locations as well as people heart's.

Here's where the exhaustion I initially mentioned kicked in. The nap we took hadn't served to wake us up. It gave us a taste of simmering we sorely lacked. It felt like the jet lag you get from a transatlantic flight. We were sitting on the corner of Frenchman and Chartres streets. We could hear the great live music that Frenchman street promises. We could see people getting their nights started. We had already taken a nap. And yet, we were so tired we headed back to our room after we ate, to get a fix (of sleep, that is).

The next morning we had plans to go to the Audubon Park Zoo with our friend Lisa and he boyfriend Craig, but before we could do that we went to see Lisa's dad, an ophthalmologist, about a little problem I'd been having with my contacts ever since we hit the road. He fixed me right up, but time is part of the fixing, so for the time being I've been using just one contact lens or wearing my dorky glasses. I sure was grateful he could take care of me though!

The zoo was great. Craig does security there so our visit was full of insider stories and anecdotes about the animals and we got a taste of many of their personalities from the stories he told.

We got some awesome food at Juan's Flying Burrito, another NOLA favorite, and soon thereafter Lisa had to head out to Monroe, Mississippi to do her final week on a movie she was working on.

Half moon, half bounty hunter, half people

After we parted ways, Sam and I decided we felt very inspired by the sun bears we had seen sprawled out sleeping in the sun in their cozy pens at the zoo. It was decided that we should try to reenact their relaxation back at the Lion's Inn, only to wake up and decide we would feel perfectly happy just sleeping more. We did a blog post and then crashed again. I'm sure the sun bears would have been very proud.

Every now and then on the road we get a taste of the responsibilities we have that we couldn't manage to leave behind. Health issues were one. So was this computer issue that came up in Austin. Washing clothes. Long-term budgeting. It brings you back to realty in a way that doesn't happen as often as when you're just on a short vacation. Usually that realty happens when you get back home.

The Realty vs. Vacation concept started swirling in my mind after the eye issue while at the same time I gave a lot of thought about the fact that we spent so much time resting in New Orleans. The activities we wound up doing on our first two days there weren't unlike having a weekend at home. We went to the parade and napped. We went to the zoo and napped. Then we went to bed after the nap!

I saw us sleeping our time away and wanted to rally on our last day. I wanted it to be full of the things that I love about New Orleans. Food. Music. Art. Exploring. And we made that happen. And we still found time for our newest favorite activity -- you guessed it! Napping.

We ate breakfast at Cafe du Monde and it was lovely though I swear they shrank their beignets! Then we walked around and discovered Dutch Alley artists complex that featured local art, including some printmaking work that left me feeling really inspired. A sleepy haze started to set in, but I knew I had to push through it.

After a lot of dazed wandering we decided it was time to get Po'Boys and managed to sneak in the door before Domilise's (tripadvisor!) closed at 3. By 4, we were munching on snowballs from Hansen's Sno-bliz.

As a near expert in the art of the Mittagsschlaf, I can tell you naps are much better with a full belly and knowing that something has actually been accomplished that day. We had covered a lot of the eating/exploring by 5 and knew that the Rebirth Brass Band set at the Maple Leaf wouldn't start til 11, so we did the only sensible thing that a full and weary traveler could do: we napped.

Good food is a great wake to jolt me back to full consciousness, so let's fast forward to dinner. I was a super picky eater for most if my life and after I met Sam I branched out a lot. I try not to say no to a bite of anything offered my way at this point and thusly get very excited about new and tasty food. New Orleans is like the Holy Land for me. The budget was getting tight but we were dying to try the food at Jaques-Imo's because Lisa told us it was fantastic. We put out names down, nursed a beer at their bar for an hour (if you read the statistics post you know this wasn't our longest wait if the trip, though it's still the most worthwhile) and were treated to one of the most excellent meals we will have on this trip.

We had to split one entree because of our budget and ordered the quail because we had never eaten quail before, so why not! We knew it came with a salad and sides so we would have enough food that we wouldn't go hungry. Instead we were given the biggest lagniappe (New Orleans speak for "the hook-up") we could have imagined. We each got a tasty little salad, each topped with a fried oyster - that we enjoyed a lot more than the raw one in Key West - along with an awesome piece of cornbread. When the entrée came out we each had a plate with a quail on it. I was terrified that there had been a misunderstanding and the waiter thought we had ordered two, but after the first bite I didn't care. Sam and I were eating and grinning like idiots and I was more awake than I had been in days. It was so good we decided that if we were only charged for one entrée we would go for dessert. The check came out and wouldn't you know! We asked about dessert but everything aside from Bread pudding was sold out. Worry not! Our luck hadn't run out! The waitress said that only "ugly pieces" of bread pudding were left and she gave it to us for free despite our protests in an attempt to be noble. It was the tastiest bread pudding I have ever had, free or otherwise. Needless to say, we were so glad we spent our money there and felt really special and full by the end.

We rolled - almost literally - over to the Maple Leaf and got to listen to the first set and a half of the Rebirth Brass Band, though we retreated to the back of the bar by the third song so we could actually hear (surprisingly, this popular music venue has pretty rough acoustics) and had a nice time listening to them jam. We drove back to the Lion's Inn one last time before heading out to Austin.

Random Statistics:
Number of crimes we have been moments away from witnessing: 2 that we know of! Remember Charleston? That was one. The second was a young man who shot up a truck at a gas station along with several other gun-related activities. We let a cop pass us at a light in New Orleans and then we drove by as the truck owner pointed the cop in the direction of the perp. The truck had at least 5 bullet holes though the man and his young son were OK. As we took a ramp to enter a highway a few blocks later, we saw a cop draw his gun and a figure down a street we were overlooking duck behind his car. We're pretty sure he was the guy. We never witnessed a gun crime in New York so it's remarkable to be close to two in a matter of weeks.

Best meal we had: definitely Jaques-Imo's

Coolest animal at the zoo: the elephant took a small tree apart while we watched her, so she wins for the action-packed experience. The sun bears win for most inspiring.

Biggest jerks at the zoo: big white pelicans that definitely enjoyed pushing sunbathing turtles off of logs.

Number of naps we took: 3 plus going to bed early 2 nights in a row. What is happening to me? I used to be a night owl!

Best bathroom decorations: Audubon Zoo's animal tiles

categories Exploring
tags New Orleans, Easter Parade, Maple Leaf, Music, Jacques Imo's, Napping, Mittagsschlaf, Food, Live Music

Glitz & Kidz

May 05, 2014Samuel Herbig

I would like to dedicate this post to my mom and dad.

Theoretically this post would connect seamlessly to our podcast. Which makes me think about what the most seamless transition from a audio to a text entry would be? We'd both like to thank any and all of you who showed the tremendous courage and determination to listen to the podcast all the way through (even with us only about 50% managed to pull that off, right Sam?). We thought that in the end it actually worked out quite well, but by any means if you have suggestions, let us know!

It is Wednesday, April 16th! The important highlights right out of the gate:

We get back to our drawing
We see Elysha and meet Jessica
Disney!

Driving back up to the mainland, we had a few hours to kill before we would be able to meet up with my old friend Elysha and her friend Jessica. So while I was driving, Whitney located Miami Beach's art deco district and we added an impromptu stop. We parked the car, picked up our sketch books and pens and found ourselves a spot on Collins Avenue to put down some drawings. Even just driving through the district I got pretty excited talking about the architecture. I think the art deco style is so appealing to me because of its clean lines, the verticals and horizontals. It's simple but elegant and it manages to frame even very large buildings in an utterly satisfying fashion.

I'm one of those people who would say, "to me all the things in the world are connected through lines", for example. Makes sense then that I feel it has a calming effect on me, right? And to make matters worse, I loved geometry in school. The cleaner the lines, the better.

To draw, we sat on a bench at a bus stop. There was some grumbling and Whitney swears she heard a conversation along the lines of:
Woman #1: "What are they drawing?"
Woman #2: "It's the Delenor building, I think."
Woman #1: "No, really?"
Woman #2: "Yeah, she wrote it right there at the top. You can't tell?"
Woman #1: ". . ."

Lol! We didn't mind them and in the end I'm actually pretty proud of our drawings! (Whitney: Sam can speak for himself here. I'm a bit sore about how rusty my drawing skills are!)

Before we even got to Florida (and really since I knew we'd be crossing through the state) I was very eager to link up with Elysha, an old college friend from New York. That's for a couple of reasons. One, we collaborated on a number of different projects for school, some more hands-on than others. Two, and this is probably the more important one to me, she'd been a pretty solid friend to me during some of my more difficult years in the states. And if you think that sounds sappy . . . well good!

In the end we met up at a Senior Burrito in Delray had some food and margaritas and talked a lot. I was happy to see how hard Jessica and Elysha were working on keeping their Taekwondo academy on track and how much joy and fulfillment it brought them. Jessica told me only about some of the things they're doing to create a diverse and creative safe community for the kids that come from all walks of life. Which really just reminds me how again and again it's happened to us along this trip, that we've run into an old friend or acquaintance and we got to take a quick peek into their lives and see what makes them tick. So thanks to both of you for taking the time to see us! It meant a lot to me ("us" here)? I also specifically rode the "Dumbo" ride for you, Elysha, just so you know!

For the next three hours Whitney bravely trucked us through the central Floridian swamp until we emerged on the other side, unharmed and checked into our hotel twelve minutes driving distance from Disney.

Coffee's kicking in somewhere between frame 2 and 3

Thursday and Friday: Now, we spent the next two days here, one at the Magic Kingdom, and the other day at Epcot. Most everyone here is at least familiar with the Disney brand so I'll spare you any specifics. I'll just talk a little bit about my impressions from our time here.

Disney is a stop added on Whitney's behest. I neither cared for nor felt the need to experience Disney World. So going into the whole thing I'd put my expectation and anticipation level at "mildly excited", I'd say.

And even now, having digested it all I wouldn't say I'm burning to go back. If someone invited me, sure I'd go but I don't think I'd go out of my way.

There's what you would expect: the showy-ness of it all. It's a bit contrived, you know? The smiles, the waves. It seemed like every single employee there was coached to have a positive verbal interaction with the guests. That's nice, but also so awkward to me. Sometimes I'm mad, and then I don't say anything at all to anyone all day (do they take a day off work on those days?). Oh well.

You'd also not be surprised at the average guest there: a little whiter than average perhaps, a little heavier than average maybe. A lot more kids than I'd encounter in a years time on average. Nothing outrageous, just a little. The rascal scooter average, on the other hand, was completely out of hand! I mean Epcot at least has the world with a lake in the middle, but at the Magic Kingdom?

Talbot, Photographer and Portugal: This is Disney!

What's so cool to me about both parks were two things in particular, I think. First, and this specifically applies to Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom and Epcot's Future World, is that it was all a little dated. Instead of making it feel old however, it made it interesting to me, just like watching an old movie and being able to sense the (warning, big German word coming up!) Zeitgeist. What was thought to be the new and flashy thing then may not hold up to today's sensibilities anymore, but from a design point of view it's like a walk through the mind of a designer. Totally surreal, but how often do you get to touch and live in another designers world? Best research opportunity, ya know?

The other was how it seemed that the ideas were realized in such an uncompromising way. It's really the slow "boat rides" with their animatronic characters that are leading the charge here, in my mind. There are "it's a small world", "Peter Pan", "The Little Mermaid", " Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Haunted Mansion" to name a few. What's so good about them is that although they all use the same set of tools, they are all so different. There's the extensive use of colored wooden puppets in "its a small world" and then in the "Haunted Mansion" there are optical effects, light effects, reflections and so on. So I think this creative reimagining of the same principle is something that I can completely buy into.

There are some cool coasters which I actually enjoyed, because they don't have 200 foot vertical drops while twisting around their own axis. I'm wuss when it comes to that sort of stuff, and that's that. For that reason, I liked the "Thunder Mountain" coaster (twisty!), but I think that "Mission Space" was the most novel and thus most exciting one for me.

I love the idea of the coaster busting through the billboard

Whitney and I went for a couple of different reasons I think: Whitney wanted to share something that had been meaningful to her during her childhood. She wanted to show me how that had impacted her and perhaps in the long run given her an impetus to be a creative in this world.

The Disney brand, style and look can certainly be a tremendous inspiration and creative experience to draw from. As I mentioned earlier, the execution of the individual rides looks is impeccable. When I think back now, this sort of thing let's me dream of pursuing my projects without thinking about compromising as a solution all the time. That's so refreshing and encouraging to see!

And lastly we wanted to have a little fun and I'm really so glad I got to go.

Though we bought the tickets to Magic Kingdom and Epcot we certainly were still on a road trip budget, so we did our best to be conscious of that and for the most part that really didn't hold us back. We splurged on dinner in Canada (Whitney O-tone: "Best steak I've ever had!") and said goodbye to an eventful two days at Disney watching the admittedly freaggin awesome fireworks show at Epcot.

Whitney was so excited to finally get done with Disney, right babe? — Whitney was so excited to *finally* get done with Disney, right babe?

It was good that we had to drive a quiet 10 hour drive to New Orleans the next day, I think.

categories Diary
tags Disney, Florida, Miami, Art Deco

This couple went on a road trip . . . what they found out will blow your mind!

April 27, 2014Samuel Herbig

Hey y'all!

So we've run into a bit of trouble. Our anno 2007 laptop has handed in her resignation. We've hired the good guys at Happy Mac to try and convince her otherwise. Until then however we're going to have to make do with posting from our phones, which is easier said than done. So please bear with us while we try to make that work.

In the meantime, we've decided to continue writing and to put together a completely indisputable list of facts & fiction. If we missed something, let us know so we can add it to the list!

THE LIST

(last updated 6/20/2014 and this is new/updated!)

[Days the laptop has been in the hospital: dead]
Longest distance driven = 673 miles (Badlands NP, SD to Dodgeville, WI)
Highest temperature endured: 93° (San Antonio)
Southern most point (Key West; 24.544899,-81.810532)
Western most point (La Push; 47.907366, -124.642331)
Northern most point (Glacier NP/Many Glacier; 48.843500, -113.417077)
Eastern most point (Truro, Nova Scotia; 45.365648, -63.285982)
Days gone swimming: 9
Days we've seen snow: 8
Cheapest/most expensive gallon of gas $3.25/$5.16 (South Carolina/Quebec)
# of states/provinces visited: 35
# of food trucks enjoyed: 10
Hours walked in May (according to Google): 25 hours!
Best BBQ: Le Barbecue (Austin)
Best dessert: Kermit's ice cream chocolate covered key lime pie
Best sea food: trick question, because there's so much out there, so how about a list of what we have had instead: Raw oyster, raw scallops, fried oyster, seared scallops, mussels, fried calamari, tuna, salmon, trout, dungeness crab (cakes and in a salad), shrimp, sea bass, arctic char
Nights slept under the stars (or in a tent): 18
Longest wait for a meal: 99 minutes!
National Parks enjoyed: 13
Most scenic campsite: Chisos Basin campground (@ Big Bend NP)
Most blog posts in one day: 3
Number of hikes (only the real ones count): 6.5 — Big Bend (Lost Mine Trail), Grand Canyon (Bright Angel Trail), Zion (The Narrows), Crater Lake (Crater Rim Road), Olympic NP (Hall of Mosses/Spruce Trail), Arches National Park (Devil's Garden)
Art sessions: 6 (finally a real painting!)
Exhaustive list of notable wild animals observed: Anole, Rooster, Iguana, Sea Urchin, Deer, Elk, Grackle, Raven, Woodchuck, Bald Eagle (multiple times!), Woodpecker (the red headed kind), Sea lion/Seal, Snake, California Condor (H9), Pronghorn, Roadrunner, Pheasant, Bison, Mule Deer, Desert Cottontail (Rabbit), Hummingbird, Beaver, Moose, Loon, Golden Eagle, Cormorant, Sandhill Crane, Barrow's Goldeneye Duck, Steller's Jay, Sergeant Major (Fish), Porkfish, Prairie Dog

For everyone's entertainment: a real Sam in the wild!

categories Diary
tags List

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