Friday
12:00 Left work, when mom picked me up.
12:30 Arrived at O’Hare
2:30 Scheduled flight to Chicago.
2:40 Bumped off the plane, the next one doesn't leave until 8 pm.
3:15 Ate a burger and margherita pizza at the Hilton. Very impressive pizza, I must say. San Marzano tomatoes make all the difference.
6:00 Watched the Rangers-Capitals Game 5 in an airport bar. Oh, I chatted with a beautiful blonde girl for about a half hour. Somehow, I managed to focus on her and not the game. No, I did not ask for her number. I just didn’t have that feeling.
6:45 I left the bar because they switched the only TV to Bulls vs Cavs.
8:00 The flight gets delayed two hours due to weather issues. Bummer, but not totally unexpected.
8:20 I got a text that the Rangers keep their season alive, when Chris Kreider ties the game with 1:41 left on the clock. I am stunned, but I refrained from going too crazy.
8:40 I gave in and walked over to the Wolfgang Puck bar to watch the Rangers and Capitals start overtime. My heart started pounding immediately, especially with two Washington fans standing nearby.
9:00 Rangers won and stay alive in the series. I screamed “YES! YES!” and pumped my fists. All 75 people in the bar were staring at me. I marched proudly back to the gate.
10:00 There was no first officer for the flight so we can't leave.
11:30 We finally board and took off.
Saturday
2:30 Landed in Austin
2:45 Grabbed the rental car from Budget, we actually
get an SUV.
3:15 Arrived at the Residence Inn hotel in South
Austin. Unfortunately, it was the wrong hotel. I was past being mad at this
point as I was tired and hungry and just wanted to sleep.
3:30 Arrived at the Fairfield Inn. Maybe the darkest
hotel I have ever seen.
3:45 Attempted to fall asleep, I don’t think that
happened for at least an hour.
6:30 Woke up and wanted to fall right back asleep.
After the last fight, I was happy to get out of there.
6:45 Gym and eat a barely edible breakfast of scrambled
eggs and fruit. Their gym was a treadmill and an elliptical. Lame.
7:15 Drove around Austin, including Zilker Park,
where I took a picture of the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue
9:00 I visited the Texas State Capitol building. It’s
taller than the one in DC, at over 200 feet. I photographed many local
memorials, such as WW1 WW2, Statue of Liberty replica, and the 10 Commandments
stone.
10:30 We visited the flagship Whole Foods in
downtown Austin. Underground parking was packed, as was the store. They had
amazing samples, like green chile shrimp, BBQ sausage, and pizelles. Their homemade
chicken and waffles, smoothie bar, and desserts were to die for. Any Whole Foods
fan needs to go to this place.
12:00 Drove to the West Side of Austin to Hula Hut,
a tropical/Mexican joint right on the Colorado River. Met up with my cousin,
her husband, their two sons (who I guess are my second cousins), who came in
from outside Dallas, and the husband’s parents, who came from San Antonio. We
had a tremendous time as I loaded up on queso dip with sirloin steak, pork
tacos, beans and rice, guacamole, and a huge drink called the Fishbowl. I have no
idea what was in it, but it was pink and it was huge. Didn’t affect me in the least.
1:30 We walked next door to Mozart’s which is a
dessert and coffee bar. I had a “mini” pecan pie which was about the size of a
small dinner plate. I got halfway through it. Bottom line, pecan pie needs whipped
cream. I played air hockey with Ian and it looks like I may take Gavin to
Wrestlemania next year.
3:30 We all said our goodbyes and Mom and I went
back to the ugly hotel to rest up. I took a dip in the pool for about two minutes.
We had planned to have dinner with my cousin’s family, but the boys wanted to
take a swim and recover, so we decided to let them do their own thing. Of course,
they were staying in the JW Marriott, so they had a pretty good deal going on. At
my hotel, it was old people, little kids. Definitely didn’t see people my own
age.
4:30 We headed to Saxon, a club for some live music.
I couldn’t go to Austin and not hear a few tunes. It was a small, dark place
with a bar and stage. It’s all about the music, as it should be. I got a local
brew and listened to this husband and wife combo play for about 30 minutes. The
guy was older and sounded a lot like Michael McDonald. Turns out it was Bobby
Whitlock, one of the founders of Derek & the Dominoes. They closed the show
with a piano and saxophone rendition of Layla, which was simply awesome. The demographic
was mostly people in their 40s and 50s.
6:00 We had dinner at the Roaring Fork, a nice
Southern-style restaurant located in a hotel in downtown Austin. It felt very
classy without being snooty. We started with an appetizer special, a deep fried
avocado topped with manchengo cheese, BBQ pulled pork, pico de gallo and
sriracha ranch. It was a nice idea, but I didn't care for the combination of
flavors. BBQ sauce and salsa just don't work well together. And for $14...not
at all worth it. I ordered the blackened redfish and had much better success.
It came with a whole grain pilaf, smoked tomatoes, and Chipotle Tabasco lemon
butter. I honestly could have done without the tomato. The pilaf was marvelous,
it tasted really earthy with a nice texture. It was a different side but I
liked it a lot. The butter worked great with the fish and I even put some of it
on my asparagus. The fish itself was cooked perfectly. The service was very
good and the waiters were great at making recommendations and keeping our
glasses filled. $76 for two iced teas, and app, and two entrees is a little
steep, but it was a fair experience overall.
7:30 We walked down Sixth St, the heart of the
Austin bar scene. They’re actually opening a Gino’s East over there pretty soon,
which was pretty cool. Maybe they can transfer me there for a few weeks. It had
the feel of Bourbon St, just a little more laid back and less dangerous. I’d
watch my step there, in terms of my cash, but it seemed like a cool place to go
with a group.
8:45 We headed back to Saxon for about another hour,
before deciding to leave. We knew we were getting up early, so we got back
around 10:00 at night.
Sunday
6:00 Pack up and check out
7:00 Drove north to Round Rock for Round Rock glazed
donuts. Excellent sugar. It’s right next to a Baptist church and I don’t know
if people tend to go to the church with
the donuts as a bonus or to the donut place as an excuse to go to church!
7:45 We walked up Mt. Bonnell for a nice view of the
Colorado river and Texas Hill Country.
9:00 Visited the LBJ Presidential Library on the
University of Texas campus. Very interactive museum, lots of archived letters
and materials. A great place for anyone to visit.
11:00 Headed south to the airport and checked in the
rental car. When we went through security, we noticed the line to check in
seemed pretty long. We had a 2:30 listing for the third of four non-stop
flights to Chicago. But the flights looked tight so we had additional listings
to connect through Charlotte or Los Angeles. We walked over to the Charlotte
gate and an earlier flight was actually delayed an hour so we could still get
it. We tried to get on it. With about 20 minutes to spare, I headed down the
terminal to Salt Lick BBQ. I got a three-meat platter of brisket, pulled pork,
and turkey with potato salad, beans, cole slaw, and bread with a sweet tea to
drink. The sauce was yellow in color, so it didn’t have tomatoes. All the meats
were really tender and I could cut them with a plastic fork. The beans needed
tomatoes. The slaw and salad were both mayo free, thank goodness. And the
seeded bread was very soft, I could have used another three or four pieces.
12:00 Oh, let’s get back to the flights. On my way to
Salt Lick, I saw a ton of people sitting all over the terminal, like it was a
homeless shelter. The 9:00 flight to Chicago was delayed, because the plane was
over three hours late. We also found out two flights to Dallas were cancelled.
At that point, we knew we were in trouble. Apparently, the latest round of
storms was causing a lot of problems in North Texas as well as Oklahoma. We
looked at every airport within driving distance, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma
City, Tulsa, you name it. Nothing looked good. This was the first time in over
30 years when my mother seemed at a loss for ideas when it came to travel.
1:00 We finally threw in the towel, rented a silver
Nissan, and took off north. Yep, I had to get back to work, so we decided to
drive 16+ hours back to Chicago. I knew if I was going to make it to work on
time, we’d have to leave quickly. So we took off north on Route 35 through
Waco, Dallas, and Oklahoma City. We had a pretty big argument about directions,
since she wanted to use her instincts and I wanted to us Google Maps. Generational
gap, I guess.
2:30 We stopped into Walk-Mart around Waco for an
atlas, phone charger, and snacks.
3:30 Around Temple, Texas, which is a little ways south
of Dallas, we hit our only traffic jam. We came to a total stop for 15 minutes,
but I could see a lot of empty road up ahead. So I knew something was weird. We
were approaching a river, and the water was running really high after the
recent floods, so I figured it was water causing a lane closure. That wasn’t the
whole problem. I saw one police car. There were no damaged cars and no one was
being arrested. I looked to my right, trying to figure this out. I saw four
dudes in their twenties throwing something into the river with a cop watching. Then
I saw two cows in the river with water up to the tops of their legs. The guys
were throwing ropes just to rescue the cows. It was funny and sad at the same
time!
8:00 On the drive, we stopped in for some good grease
at Tucker’s Onion burgers in OKC. I really wanted something that we couldn’t
get back home and this fit the bill. Onion burgers are an Oklahoma tradition,
as the mixed fried onions into the beef in order to reduce the meat and save
money. I had a double onion burger with cheese and topped it with lettuce,
tomatoes, pickles, grilled jalapenos, and mustard. The roll in particular was
great. It tasted really fresh and held up well with so many ingredients inside
of it. The tough part of an onion burger is the onions can overwhelm the beef,
but they still had a great flavor.
Excellent fries, fresh and crispy and a ton of drink options. I don't
know when I'll be back in OKC, but I would definitely come back.
8:45 From OKC, we headed east on Rt 44 towards Tulsa,
which would take us all the way to St. Louis. For the first half of the ride,
the weather alternated between beautiful and stormy. We’d get 15 minutes of
rain, followed by a lot of sun and 75 degrees. The weather was perfect in OKC,
so we ate outside. But once we hit Tulsa, it was all over. The lowest clouds I’d
ever seen descended upon us and the heavens opened up. It rained the rest of
the trip. I drove from OKC all the way to just west of St. Louis, which was
about 7 or so hours without a break. But I was driving in a rented car, in the
rain, on a poorly lit highway, while getting sprayed by trucks, and going on no
sleep. That’s pretty damn hard to do! I tried to drink a lemon-lime 5-hour
energy to keep me awake, but I really felt my heart racing and it really tasted
lousy. It was the third time I tried to drink one of those, and I will not do
it again. Thanks to mom for letting me listen to the Rangers win Game 6 by the
way! But the other cool part was I found a couple of classic country radio
stations. I loved hearing that country music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s before,
it turned into the crap it is now.
4:00 Mom took over the driving and we took 55 all
the way into Chicagoland. We stopped to take two 15-minute power naps; we just
couldn’t stop in a hotel because of time and money. We probably had to fill the
gas tank five times, which was crazy! We had no change of clothes or grooming
supplies either since we had already checked our luggage to the airport. So we
were pretty gross, in addition to tired and ornery.
9:10 We arrived at College of DuPage, where I had
left my car. Since I had a spare house key in my wallet, I drove my car home
and cleaned up before heading right back to work. My boss was gracious enough
to let me work 11-4 that day instead of 9-3. I still do not know how I stayed
awake driving; it was harder for me in Illinois than it was in Oklahoma and Missouri.
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