zimmers in texas
the adventures of g & m in TexasWednesday, January 17, 2007
Leaving the USA
This will be the last installment of the "zimmers in texas" blog as we are sitting at LAX waiting for our flight home. 
Let me say this has been the most amazing experience and I am very glad we had the opportunity to do this and to have Erin, Daniel and Elsie come to visit.
Glenn did manage to catch the train and he arrived safely in San Diego on Sunday afternoon. I arrived on Friday night and Gee picked me up from the airport. On Saturday morning she took me to a small airport where her brother took me up in his 2 seater plane and I got an aerial view of San Diego. It was a fantastic way to see the sights. Gee and I then went to Del Coronado for lunch. This is a lovely old hotel that sits on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
We had a lazy day Sunday and Gee left for Austin at about 2pm and Glenn arrived from Austin at about 4pm. We stayed the night at Gee's at set off for Chula Vista to visit one of the Maximus sites. From there we drove to Annaheim to another site. We were not even tempted to visit Disneyland. We stayed the night at Annaheim and then drove up to LA to visit the Burbank site. We spent the morning here and then drove to Palm Springs.
We caught up with Catherine who lives there now and is renovating a duplex she bought. It will be lovely when it is finished and she has been assured it will only be a matter of weeks.
Palm Springs is like an oasis in the desert. As you drive in there are hundreds and hundreds of wind mills on the hills and it is very dry and barren (except for the windmills). Once you hit the outskirts of town everything is green. It is an old Hollywood town where lots of movie stars play. This week is the National Film festival and apparently Brad Pitt was in town yesterday (just our luck) but we did see John ? from 3rd Rock from the Sun.
We stayed the night in Palm Springs and had a lovely visit with Catherine then headed for the Grand Canyon.
This is another amazing sight. We drove around the South Rim and were both very impressed except it was freezing cold. Glenn says it really is a "grand" canyon but I think he was copying Richard Nixon's "It's a great wall" comment when he visited China.
We stayed the night in a lodge here and headed off for Las Vegas that afternoon. Las Vegas is probably the place we have both liked the least. The whole town is fake. We stayed in the Paris Las Vegas and the entire hotel is made to look like Paris. The Eiffel Tower is out the front and the Casino looks like a boulevarde in Paris with the ceiling painted sky blue with lovely white fluffly clouds so it looks like a balmy summer dusk no matter what time of day or night. We went to see the Blue Men Group and the Venetian and this hotel is made to look like, you guessed it, Venice. There is even an escalator going up and over the Grand Canal. We saw all the popular hotels like Caesar's Palace, Circus Circus, Disneyland etc etc and of course we saw Elvis everywhere. The hotels are pretty reasonable in price but the food is not, if you eat in the hotel. We caught the monorail around the city and got some good views of the city. I don't think we will be rushing back to Vegas.
The next day was a long drive from Vegas to Monterey in California. There were snow forecasts for Vegas so we expected to run in to some pretty ugly weather but we only saw very small flurries going through Mountain pass on the border between Nevada and California. The rest of the uneventful except for a stop at the Hoover dam. There is a lot of work going on there and it will be massive when it is finished.
Monterery is a lovely litte bay area on the coast about 100 miles south of San Francisco. We took at drive down to Carmel and Big Sur and the coast road is a bit like The Great Ocean Road in Victoria. Carmel is a very pretty town with no McDonalds or KFCs. I think you would need to have a fair bit of money to purchase property in this area.
We stayed a couple of days in Monterey to relax after all our driving. This is the town with Cannery Row made famous by John Steinbeck. The canneries don't exist anymore but it is still possible to see the foundations and one has been turned into a sort of market with little shops.
On Sunday we drove up to San Francisco and went for a walk to Union Square and did a bit of shopping in Macy's just for a change. Monday morning we drove to the Haight Ashbury area and across the Golden Gate Bridge. We took a cable car ride down Powell and Hyde Sts and had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. Tuesday we went for a walk down Lombard Street which is supposed to be the bendiest street in the world. It was so cold we didn't stay want to stay outside for too long so we just took in a movie. Today we walked around the Yerbera Buento Gardens and then took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) under the bay to Berkley. We had lunch down by the bay in a lovely restaurant that had pavlova on their dessert menu and now here we are in the QANTAS club at LAX back to where it all started.
It is hard to believe we have been gone for 8 months, I am sure within about 3 weeks it will all be a blur until all our visitors from Texas start to arrive.
My favourite place- the Badlands in South Dakota
My least favourite place- Las Vegas
Glenn's favourite place- Austin
Glenn's least favourite- Los Angeles
Glenn did manage to catch the train and he arrived safely in San Diego on Sunday afternoon. I arrived on Friday night and Gee picked me up from the airport. On Saturday morning she took me to a small airport where her brother took me up in his 2 seater plane and I got an aerial view of San Diego. It was a fantastic way to see the sights. Gee and I then went to Del Coronado for lunch. This is a lovely old hotel that sits on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
We had a lazy day Sunday and Gee left for Austin at about 2pm and Glenn arrived from Austin at about 4pm. We stayed the night at Gee's at set off for Chula Vista to visit one of the Maximus sites. From there we drove to Annaheim to another site. We were not even tempted to visit Disneyland. We stayed the night at Annaheim and then drove up to LA to visit the Burbank site. We spent the morning here and then drove to Palm Springs.
We caught up with Catherine who lives there now and is renovating a duplex she bought. It will be lovely when it is finished and she has been assured it will only be a matter of weeks.
Palm Springs is like an oasis in the desert. As you drive in there are hundreds and hundreds of wind mills on the hills and it is very dry and barren (except for the windmills). Once you hit the outskirts of town everything is green. It is an old Hollywood town where lots of movie stars play. This week is the National Film festival and apparently Brad Pitt was in town yesterday (just our luck) but we did see John ? from 3rd Rock from the Sun.
We stayed the night in Palm Springs and had a lovely visit with Catherine then headed for the Grand Canyon.
This is another amazing sight. We drove around the South Rim and were both very impressed except it was freezing cold. Glenn says it really is a "grand" canyon but I think he was copying Richard Nixon's "It's a great wall" comment when he visited China.We stayed the night in a lodge here and headed off for Las Vegas that afternoon. Las Vegas is probably the place we have both liked the least. The whole town is fake. We stayed in the Paris Las Vegas and the entire hotel is made to look like Paris. The Eiffel Tower is out the front and the Casino looks like a boulevarde in Paris with the ceiling painted sky blue with lovely white fluffly clouds so it looks like a balmy summer dusk no matter what time of day or night. We went to see the Blue Men Group and the Venetian and this hotel is made to look like, you guessed it, Venice. There is even an escalator going up and over the Grand Canal. We saw all the popular hotels like Caesar's Palace, Circus Circus, Disneyland etc etc and of course we saw Elvis everywhere. The hotels are pretty reasonable in price but the food is not, if you eat in the hotel. We caught the monorail around the city and got some good views of the city. I don't think we will be rushing back to Vegas.
The next day was a long drive from Vegas to Monterey in California. There were snow forecasts for Vegas so we expected to run in to some pretty ugly weather but we only saw very small flurries going through Mountain pass on the border between Nevada and California. The rest of the uneventful except for a stop at the Hoover dam. There is a lot of work going on there and it will be massive when it is finished.
Monterery is a lovely litte bay area on the coast about 100 miles south of San Francisco. We took at drive down to Carmel and Big Sur and the coast road is a bit like The Great Ocean Road in Victoria. Carmel is a very pretty town with no McDonalds or KFCs. I think you would need to have a fair bit of money to purchase property in this area.
We stayed a couple of days in Monterey to relax after all our driving. This is the town with Cannery Row made famous by John Steinbeck. The canneries don't exist anymore but it is still possible to see the foundations and one has been turned into a sort of market with little shops.
On Sunday we drove up to San Francisco and went for a walk to Union Square and did a bit of shopping in Macy's just for a change. Monday morning we drove to the Haight Ashbury area and across the Golden Gate Bridge. We took a cable car ride down Powell and Hyde Sts and had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. Tuesday we went for a walk down Lombard Street which is supposed to be the bendiest street in the world. It was so cold we didn't stay want to stay outside for too long so we just took in a movie. Today we walked around the Yerbera Buento Gardens and then took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) under the bay to Berkley. We had lunch down by the bay in a lovely restaurant that had pavlova on their dessert menu and now here we are in the QANTAS club at LAX back to where it all started.
It is hard to believe we have been gone for 8 months, I am sure within about 3 weeks it will all be a blur until all our visitors from Texas start to arrive.
My favourite place- the Badlands in South Dakota
My least favourite place- Las Vegas
Glenn's favourite place- Austin
Glenn's least favourite- Los Angeles
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Xmas and NY
Erin arrived safely and we have just experienced our first winter Christmas but unfortunately without snow.
Our friends Judy and Tom invited us to their home to share Christmas lunch with them. We provided the plum pudding and pavlova. Tom cooked deep fried turkeys for lunch and we had the typical sides of mashed potato, seasoning and gravy. Judy had cooked cherry pie, pumpkin pie and pecan pie which were all delicious.
The week between Christmas and New Year was very busy with selling the car and packing up as much of our belongings as possible before Daniel and Mum go home.
We also did some sight seeing, shopping and took everyone to see a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse where the comedians talk over the show with pointed comments.
Erin and Daniel have been quite impressed with the shopping especially the outlet mall at San Marcos.
New Year’s Eve was a great evening at Judy’s. It was a fun night and Erin even got to let off the fireworks at midnight. We all got to hold a real shot gun and have the photos to prove it complete with a cowboy hat.
We set off for New York very early on 1st January. It was much too early considering our partying the night before but we managed to make it to the airport on time.
New York is amazing. We were amazed at the size and the amount of things to do. You would need about 3 months there to even begin to visit everything. We took a tour and got to see lots and lots of buildings in the comfort of the tour bus. We caught a ferry to Staten Island and saw the Statue of Liberty, we saw a play on Broadway and went to the museum of Natural History. We also took a horse and carriage ride in Central Park and saw where they drop the ball on New Year’s Eve. We visited Ground Zero and went to the top of the Rockefeller Centre and saw the sights from the top and the skating rink and giant Christmas tree from the ground. The queues were hours long for the Empire State Building so we gave that a miss. We tried all the foods we were supposed to like New York pizza, New York cheesecake, hot dogs from a street vendor, bagels and hot pretzels. We also caught the subway up and down Broadway and Grand Central station and walked all around Times Square.
We were very tired by the time Thursday afternoon came round and it was a relief just to sit down for a while. We must have walked miles and miles all though Manhattan is smaller than Dallas/Fort Worth International airport.
Today was our last day in Austin and we managed to pack up everything and all get away on time. I took Erin out to the airport and she made her flight to Los Angeles and I caught my flight to San Diego. Judy was coming in from Indiana and got off the plane I was due to board so we got to see each other for a short time and had a tearful farewell. I am now sitting at Houston Airport awaiting my flight to San Diego which has been delayed an hour and the gate has just changed for the third time.
Hopefully Glenn caught his train OK but I wont find that out until Sunday.
Monday we are planning to visit the Maximus sites in San Diego and drive up to Los Angeles. On Tuesday we will be going out to Palm Springs and from their into Arizona for the Grand Canyon and then Las Vegas. Our last port of call will be San Franciso and we will be heading home from their on 17th January.
Our friends Judy and Tom invited us to their home to share Christmas lunch with them. We provided the plum pudding and pavlova. Tom cooked deep fried turkeys for lunch and we had the typical sides of mashed potato, seasoning and gravy. Judy had cooked cherry pie, pumpkin pie and pecan pie which were all delicious.
The week between Christmas and New Year was very busy with selling the car and packing up as much of our belongings as possible before Daniel and Mum go home.
We also did some sight seeing, shopping and took everyone to see a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse where the comedians talk over the show with pointed comments.
Erin and Daniel have been quite impressed with the shopping especially the outlet mall at San Marcos.
New Year’s Eve was a great evening at Judy’s. It was a fun night and Erin even got to let off the fireworks at midnight. We all got to hold a real shot gun and have the photos to prove it complete with a cowboy hat.
We set off for New York very early on 1st January. It was much too early considering our partying the night before but we managed to make it to the airport on time.
New York is amazing. We were amazed at the size and the amount of things to do. You would need about 3 months there to even begin to visit everything. We took a tour and got to see lots and lots of buildings in the comfort of the tour bus. We caught a ferry to Staten Island and saw the Statue of Liberty, we saw a play on Broadway and went to the museum of Natural History. We also took a horse and carriage ride in Central Park and saw where they drop the ball on New Year’s Eve. We visited Ground Zero and went to the top of the Rockefeller Centre and saw the sights from the top and the skating rink and giant Christmas tree from the ground. The queues were hours long for the Empire State Building so we gave that a miss. We tried all the foods we were supposed to like New York pizza, New York cheesecake, hot dogs from a street vendor, bagels and hot pretzels. We also caught the subway up and down Broadway and Grand Central station and walked all around Times Square.
We were very tired by the time Thursday afternoon came round and it was a relief just to sit down for a while. We must have walked miles and miles all though Manhattan is smaller than Dallas/Fort Worth International airport.
Today was our last day in Austin and we managed to pack up everything and all get away on time. I took Erin out to the airport and she made her flight to Los Angeles and I caught my flight to San Diego. Judy was coming in from Indiana and got off the plane I was due to board so we got to see each other for a short time and had a tearful farewell. I am now sitting at Houston Airport awaiting my flight to San Diego which has been delayed an hour and the gate has just changed for the third time.
Hopefully Glenn caught his train OK but I wont find that out until Sunday.
Monday we are planning to visit the Maximus sites in San Diego and drive up to Los Angeles. On Tuesday we will be going out to Palm Springs and from their into Arizona for the Grand Canyon and then Las Vegas. Our last port of call will be San Franciso and we will be heading home from their on 17th January.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Caribbean Cruise
We have just returned from a lovely holiday on the Caribbean with Royal Caribbean cruise lines. The ship was lovely and the most we had to decide for the week was what to eat and what activity to do. We visited Oches Rios in Jamaica where the vegetation and climate is a lot like Brisbane. We toured a public garden all the plants were familiar even to me. We also went to Dunn's waterfall where the tourists all form a chain and climb the waterfall holding hands. It was envigorating and great fun but very wet. It was very confusing driving on the left hand side of the road again especially as some of the cars were left hand drive. Heaven help us when we get back to Australia.
The next port was Grand Cayman, one of the Cayman Islands, again another British colonly. We went to see a turtle farm and the township of Hell. There is an area of really strange rock formations here, hence the name. They really are fossilised sea life but they all look like rocks. Most people were more interested in buying postcards and getting them postmarked from Hell.
The last port was Cozumel in Mexico. We took a bus trip to see the Mayan ruins and walk through the jungle. It was fascinating and something that Mum has always wanted to do. She was utterly exhausted but really enjoyed the trip. We met a couple of Australians from Brisbane on this tour who are working in Houston. I also met a hairdresser from Westlake and her sister went to school with Daniel.
The ship was 3 hours late docking because of fog and consequently the disembarking process was a nightmare but we managed to get through immigration without a hitch. Now it is time to plan our trip home via New York and California
The decorations are amazing here. Tonight we are going to see the "hippy lights" which are apparently a sight to see.
The next port was Grand Cayman, one of the Cayman Islands, again another British colonly. We went to see a turtle farm and the township of Hell. There is an area of really strange rock formations here, hence the name. They really are fossilised sea life but they all look like rocks. Most people were more interested in buying postcards and getting them postmarked from Hell.The last port was Cozumel in Mexico. We took a bus trip to see the Mayan ruins and walk through the jungle. It was fascinating and something that Mum has always wanted to do. She was utterly exhausted but really enjoyed the trip. We met a couple of Australians from Brisbane on this tour who are working in Houston. I also met a hairdresser from Westlake and her sister went to school with Daniel.
The ship was 3 hours late docking because of fog and consequently the disembarking process was a nightmare but we managed to get through immigration without a hitch. Now it is time to plan our trip home via New York and California
The decorations are amazing here. Tonight we are going to see the "hippy lights" which are apparently a sight to see.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Seattle & Vancouver
"The greyest skies I've ever seen are in Seattle"
Since out last entry Mum and Daniel have arrived safely and are enjoying the sights of Austin. They have taken a while to recover from jet lag and Daniel has had a cold but all is well now as we prepare for you cruise next weekend.
Marching band in parade in Seattle
We flew up to Seattle for Thanksgiving which was another really pretty city and a great weekend. Mum met up with her friend Alison and Daniel met up with his friend Rene. Mum hadn't seen Alison for 50 odd years so it was quite a reunion. Coincidentally another friend of Alison's who still lives in Sydney called during the visit and Mum spoke to her too.
Seattle was wet and cold but very picturesque. We visited the Sky Needle on Thursday night and it was full of people going to the restaurant for Thanksgiving. We couldn't even get into the hotel restaurant so we had hamburgers via room service which was probably unusual as Thanksgiving is all about eating lots and lots of food.
On Saturday we took a day trip up to Vancouver and this is another lovely city. Quite surprisingly we had no trouble getting through the border on the way back. We didnt even have to get out of the car, but we did have to get our passports stamped going in to Canada.
It was also very cold and wet with patches of snow everywhere but fortunately it wasn't snowing on the day.
People really go all out with Christmas decorations and Seattle had a big celebration with lighting the tree and fireworks to mark the start of the "holiday season". There was a big parade on Friday morning which is annual event sponsored by the department store Macy's and then all the stores have big sales. I am starting to become a bit cynical about the sales as there seems to be a big sale every other week.
Austin has the tree lighting ceremony tonight and then next weekend they start the Walk of Lights (or something like that) along the river. This is apparently very pretty so it will be a must do sometime before Christmas. There is also the Christmas Bazaar starting next week which is a great big market that goes from 11am - 11pm each day leading up to Christmas.
I thought Australia made a big deal about Christmas but this seems even bigger however I think the difference is that we make a big deal about the holiday time and the getting together with friends and relatives but this seems happen at Thanksgiving. I guess it is because it is summer at home and more about relaxing and time off work.
M & D in revolving restuarant overlooking Vancouver
Marching band in parade in Seattle
We flew up to Seattle for Thanksgiving which was another really pretty city and a great weekend. Mum met up with her friend Alison and Daniel met up with his friend Rene. Mum hadn't seen Alison for 50 odd years so it was quite a reunion. Coincidentally another friend of Alison's who still lives in Sydney called during the visit and Mum spoke to her too.
Seattle was wet and cold but very picturesque. We visited the Sky Needle on Thursday night and it was full of people going to the restaurant for Thanksgiving. We couldn't even get into the hotel restaurant so we had hamburgers via room service which was probably unusual as Thanksgiving is all about eating lots and lots of food.
On Saturday we took a day trip up to Vancouver and this is another lovely city. Quite surprisingly we had no trouble getting through the border on the way back. We didnt even have to get out of the car, but we did have to get our passports stamped going in to Canada.
It was also very cold and wet with patches of snow everywhere but fortunately it wasn't snowing on the day.
People really go all out with Christmas decorations and Seattle had a big celebration with lighting the tree and fireworks to mark the start of the "holiday season". There was a big parade on Friday morning which is annual event sponsored by the department store Macy's and then all the stores have big sales. I am starting to become a bit cynical about the sales as there seems to be a big sale every other week.
Austin has the tree lighting ceremony tonight and then next weekend they start the Walk of Lights (or something like that) along the river. This is apparently very pretty so it will be a must do sometime before Christmas. There is also the Christmas Bazaar starting next week which is a great big market that goes from 11am - 11pm each day leading up to Christmas.
I thought Australia made a big deal about Christmas but this seems even bigger however I think the difference is that we make a big deal about the holiday time and the getting together with friends and relatives but this seems happen at Thanksgiving. I guess it is because it is summer at home and more about relaxing and time off work.
M & D in revolving restuarant overlooking Vancouver
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Yellowstone, Halloween and the Powwow
Last weekend we flew to Jackson Hole which is a small town in Wyoming about 50 miles south of Yellowstone National Park. We arrived about 10 am and picked up the hire car and headed off for the park. It was another cold weekend but not as cold as Rapid City. There was snow on the mountains but it didn't snow while we were there.
Yellowstone has some of the most breathtaking scenery we have ever seen. We clocked up about 200 miles driving around the area and if we had more time could have done a lot more. We saw lots of geysers, including old faithful, and bubbling mud pools. There were spectacular waterfalls, canyons and mountains. We climbed as high as 8000 odd feet and both developed altitude headaches we were so high. There were beautiful lakes with all sort of birds, duck and geese. There were heaps of bison and deer and we even spotted a wolf but all
the bears were hibernating. It was a shame not to see the bears and none of the hotels in the park were opened but it was good to go at this time as there were hardly any other tourists around and no traffic to speak of.We stayed at a lovely old lodge on the Western boundary which was actually in Montana. The lodge was decorated in a real rustic theme with gnarled twigs as lamp bases and bears and bison designs on the curtains.
Jackson Hole is a small town at the base of a ski run. There was a bit of snow on the run but apparently it is a real sight to see in winter. The airport is next to the mountain and the view was spectacular as we landed.
Most work places allow you to dress up for the day but TAA didn't allow this so lots of people decorated their work area. The call centre at Midland had a competition for the best decorated pod and one group even had a coffin.
On Tuesday night we went downtown and had dinner in 6th Street where it all happens. Nearly everyone came dressed in costume, including tiny babies. The street was blocked off and there were heaps of police to keep an eye on things. We didn't see any trick or treaters as we were out but I believe they were out in force. Glenn bought a cowboy hat so he could go dressed as a Texan. This is a university city so I guess most of the party goers were students but I am sure they partied all night (on a school night too) and got up to go to work/uni the next day. All the Halloween decorations are coming down now and the Thanksgiving ones are going up. Gee ( my friend from work) has lent us some for our apartment. After Thanksgiving which is 23rd November, we put them away and bring out the Christmas ones.
Yesterday was the 15th Annual Austin Powwow. This is a gathering of lots of Indians from around the area including neighbouring states like Oklahoma. They all come dressed in their traditional costume and perform their particular dances. We went to the opening ceremony and it was spectacular. Some of the costumes are really colourful with lots of feathers and bells. The opening ceremony was held in a school gymnasium and the dancers all came out dancing and completed a lap of the floor. Each group performed their own traditional dance so there was a real mixture from really slow right through to whirling dervish type dancing. Outside they had lots of stall set up to sell their wares. Mostly silver and jade jewellry and wooden figurines. It created a great market atmosphere.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Mt Rushmore and the Badlands
This weekend we decided to take a look at the presidents carved out of the mountains so at 6.30am on Saturday we took off to Rapid City via Denver. The flight to Denver was uneventful but it was a bit of a shock to get out the plane at the "mile high airport" to find everything was covered in snow and it was about minus 2 degrees. We bought pretzels for breakfast and waited to board our flight to Rapid City. This was in a very small plane and only an hour flight and again it was snowing when we landed. We picked up our hire car and headed off for Mt Rushmore to visit George Washing
ton, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. It was snowing on the way out which is about 25 miles south of Rapid City. The houses looked just like a scene from a story book. There was a lovely Christmas shop with snow coated pine trees out the front. It looked great.We visited the presidents and they were quite impressive. We had buffalo for lunch and headed off to see the carving of Crazy Horse, the Indian who was murdered while under treaty. This carving will be bigger than the presidents when it is finished but it will take years and years. It was first started in 1948 and so far they have only carved his face and arm and they have a really great museum with the Indian history and the timeline of the carving. We then started out to for Deadwood which is a small town where Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill or someone like that died. It was about 50 miles away and we got to about 8 miles away but it was snowing too much for us to feel safe so we turned back for the hotel. The snow was starting to pile up along the side of the road and there were patches of black ice on the road so I think we did the right thing by turning around.
We arrived back at the hotel and stayed there for the rest of the day as it was too too cold to venture out.
The next day we had breakfast and headed off for the Badlands and Wall. The Badlands was named by the Indians because of the spooky landscapes and the area has been used as movie lunar settings or other sci fi settings. This area was absolutely fascinating and it was all snow capped just to make it look extra spooky.
We then headed off to Wall which is famous for its drug store. We saw about a million billboard advertising the drug store as we drove in to the town and the store takes up a whole block. Wall only has about 800 people so athe drug store is the big tourist attraction. It was a great weekend and it was really different driving in the snow, too bad it was so cold.
We made it safely back to Austin even though it was a very bumpy flight from Rapid City to Denver. Our luggage missed the flight back from Denver and so it didnt turn up until the next day.
We arrived home in time to hear the end of the Rolling Stones concert and watch the fireworks from our balcony.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Down Mexico Way
With much trepidition we set off for Mexico this weekend. We were a bit concerned about the safety of this venture as everyone we told about our trip reacted with "good luck" or "why would you want to go there" and even "if the police ask for money just give it to them don't argue". We did find one person who had actually lived on the US side of the border in a town called Del Rio who said it was a great town and we should definitely go but don't stay in Mexico late at night. Well we had a great time and will make sure we tell
everyone back at work.
We left on Saturday morning at about 8am and arrived about 4 hours later. Apart from a bit of trouble finding our way to the main street in Del Rio (the street called Main Street is not really the main street) we booked in to our hotel, had lunch and started off for Ciudad Acuna (city of Acuna for those bilingually challenged). There were 3 off us, as we took a friend from work who is a US citizen but not from Texas.
There are lots of border patrols but none of them are for people entering Mexico, only for those leaving. As we crossed over the Rio Grande (big River) we were the lucky 1 in 10 car that got pulled over and the boot searched. It reminded me of all the airport checks we seem to attract. Anway that only took about 2 minutes and off to see the sights. We parked the car and hit the main road ( this one was called Hidalgo or something like that who was a famous Mexican).
Meryl & friend G in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico.
Vanilla essence is very cheap in Mexico and we had several orders from all the people at work (including those who told us how dangerous our venture was), so our first mission was to buy 12 litres of vanilla essence. We managed to bargain the price down to $50 all up which is very very very cheap compared to anything in Australia. I can't imagine what I am going to do with a whole litre of pure vanilla essence but when it was just over $4 it was too good a bargain to miss. The silver is very cheap and there were lots of great jewellry shops. Everything was a bargain but unfortunately I had to keep thinking about getting it all home to Australia so I had to curb my buying habits. Glenn bought a 740ml bottle of vodka for $4.95 and the tequila was about $3 a bottle (cheaper than vanilla) but we didn't buy that. We were on a bit of a tight budget as we forgot to get much cash and if we used a teller we would have been given pesos and we didn't really trust the shop keepers enough to use credit cards. Anyway we managed to get everything we needed and even some things we didn't need but just liked.Coming back over the border wasn't quite as easy as going in to Mexico. When we were asked if we were US citizens it would have been very easy to say yest and show our Texan driver's license but we felt that honesty was the best policy and told the truth. Of course we had to get out of the car and into the Border Patrol office where they looked up our credentials and sent us on our way.
We had a lovely Thai dinner on Sat night and then home for an early night. Sunday we went to "Whataburger" for breakfast burritos and then headed off to see the sights of Del Rio. The main attraction is a very large dam which traps the water from Rio Grande and the Pecos River. Again there are border patrols everywhere but only checking those travelling into Texas. We had to pass throught 2 of these and I accidently passed our cheque book to the first one as it is in a plastic wallet just like my passport. Thank goodness the trooper didn't think I was trying to bribe him. The second trooper couldn't understand why we would rather be in Texas than Australia. He was really surprised when he asked the question that he must ask a million times a day "are you US citizens?" and we said no.
All in all it was a great weekend and we made a killing on the vanilla essence.
Glenn is off to LA this week to catch up with his Aussie work colleagues and I will be batching. I think I might have to organise a girls night of go shopping. ( editors note - since when is a reason required).
Next weekend we plan to see some more sights of Austin and the weekend after we are heading off to South Dakota to see Mt Rushmore.
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