Click my heels...I'm home

Well, I'm back in Mid-Missouri for a couple weeks after some jaunts Eastward. As many of you out there reading probably already knew, I made two trips out of state. One road trip to NYC and another this past weekend to Chicago. Both trips were awesome. Got to eat lots and lots of good food, saw many old friends, tossed back large quantities of adult beverages and squeezed in a few hours of dancing.

For the sake of posterity, and since I'm pretty much utilizing this blog as a diary of sorts, I will outright steal a recap of the New York trip from my "Pharcyde-song-stealing" friend, the infamous "GB".

I stole this from her FACEBOOK page, but since it was a very complete retelling of the excursion it'll save me the time. =)

I will place some of my editorial comments in bold for your entertainment purposes:

DAY 1
*flight from burbank, ca to st. louis, missouri (stopover in phoenix)
(southwest flights outside of cali & vegas actually have waaaay better snackies! mmm...)
I made a two hour drive from Columbia to get her at the St. Louis airport, and watched most of the Cardinals game while we waited for her to arrive
-night cap & convo @ pin up bowl (drinks in the midwest really are dirt cheap yo!)
-slept over @ a roomy 2 bdrm townhome with a basement & backyard that friends' friends pay $800/ mo for... damn! (makes me wonder why we choose to live in cali sometimes?!)
Thanks again to Big T for letting us crash at his pad

DAY 2
-first tourist pit stop: gateway arch
i can check this shiny, silvery structure off my us monument list and/or "bucket list" as my friend kept referring to. very minimal architecture but marvelous to behold in person. i liked the outside more than actually going inside to see the view from the top. the tiny claustrophia inducing "elevators" they squeeze you in are something else. reminds me of the escape pods in the movie spaceballs.
I had forgotten how tiny the elevators were...I admit, I did feel some apprehension as the elevator ride started, but its only 3 minutes up and down
*road trip to east coast - states trekked through: illinois, indiana, ohio, west virginia, pennyslvania, new jersey, new york
-note: taking zyrtec is like being hit by a tranquilizer gun on a long road trip. i am seriously amazed how i managed to sleep that much
Yes, both of my passengers were often asleep...
-saw full length double rainbows in the sky to brighten the gloomy sky No gold tho...
-food stop: west virginia's famous dicarlo's pizza on elm grove! thanks to a recommendation from my cousin-in-law we got to experience their crumbly cheese, crisp crust & i even liked the banana peppers!
I would give the pizza 3.5 out of 5 stars. Would have been better with pinneapple and canadian bacon (Sidenote: I've probably eaten 6 months worth of pizza the past couple weekends)
-gps glitch caused a prolonged road trip but supposedly brought us to the highest point in pennsylvania? Actually, it was the highest point East of the Mississippi River
-basecamp in jersey: casa de francisco for the week (grateful that our friends' friend let 3 vagrants takeover her living room during our stay)
Yes, much love to my angry friend in NYC for letting us destroy her place

DAY 3
-commute from west new york & walked around manhattan (overcast day w/ scattered sprinkling)
-food stops: gray's papaya, magnolia bakery (banana pudding is amazing!) Pudding gets a 2.5 out of 5 for me. Would have been better with pinneapple and canadian bacon
-stroll to rockefeller center
-geeked out at book-off store Picked up a very random sci-fi book series called Wraeththu, haven't started on it yet
-quick stop by LEVI'S office to visit my cousin @ work... denim, denim & more denim!
Thanks for the hook ups!
-dinner w/ my fam @ typhoon in east village! =) cheap sushi, good food & good company!
-dessert stop @ decadently dangerous max brenner to satiate our sweet tooths
I put on about 10 lbs over the past week...sweet!

DAY 4
-our group did some light shopping damage @: topshop, uniqlo
-late lunch/early dinner @ bomb @ss cafe habana (blake lively from gossip girl stopped in while we were there) Blake wanted to talk to me, but I told her I was kinda busy
-met an adorable little filipina street vendor who is a jewelry designer, guenevere rodriguez. she was selling simple, delicate, soulful pieces and even gave us a pinoy discount. =) (They got conned, she was actually from Guatemala)
-geez... ANOTHER stop @ max brenner to clog my arteries with chocolate!
-ventured into a little nightlife @ santos party house in chinatown. spot was cool @ first & music was chill... dj rich medina & q-tip. then it got kinda ghetto so we had to leave Maybe we could all use geography lessons about the differences between Sweden and Switzerland...it seems one of my friends INSISTS that everyone from Switzerland is really from Sweden
-crazy taxi cab confessions night (evidence must be burned after viewing!!!!)
No comment here.........
-holland tunnel was closed so the ride home took even longer so a late night eats stop @ white castle was necessary! i've only had their sliders via grocery store frozen food section so we had a harold & kumar misadventure to check this fast food joint off our to do list while doing a great service to the world by coating the tummies of two very inebriated fools in the backseat.

DAY 5
-drove out to queens to meet up w/ friends' friends
Thanks again to Juice and Irish
-pleasant lunch @ 66 water street restaurant & stopped next door at jacques torres to get some frozen hot chocolates (a little too rich for my taste, felt like i was choking on chocolate!)
-strolled over brooklyn bridge & back... so much nicer with the sun out instead of snow/rain for my 2nd time doin the bb experience
-made an impromptu voyage out to coney island (a lil run down spot by boardwalk but interesting & lively with nostalgia and diverse crowd of folks)
-scarfed down a world famous nathan's hotdog @ the official spot of the annual hot dog eating contest (corn dog wasn't half bad & their giant lemonades hit the spot)
I could take Kobayashi...
-took a "scenic" drive through brownsville (reminds me of getting lost in oakland)
-stayed up during the wee hours of the night playing the chinese version of mahjong (all of our first times learning since we only knew the filipino way) BUNOT b*tches! Definitely a cool new way to play Mahjong

DAY 6
-perfect weather to wear shorts & flip flops (although i was freezing by the time night rolled around)
-made our way out to central park for Japan Day. didn't stay long but interesting to check out: people dressed up in wacky costumes, saw robot sumo battles & even hello kitty in a kimono.
-very cultural day... there was also the salute to israel day parade going on in the streets. there were also anti-zionist jews/real rabbi's peacefully protesting the celebration as well.
-headed over last minute to the MET! got to see the model as muse exhibition that i was dying to see. i like the angle they took to document fashion history. wished there was more couture to stimulate my retinal senses but for such a large concept to cover it was really interesting to take in. didn't have all that much time at the museum so i breezed past the modern art section, some photo exhibit & some of the asian art. we were gonna try to see the armor exhibit but darn museum decided to close up shop early on us. I was miffed that I didn't get to see the armor, good thing I stole a sword!
-cabbed over to tribeca area to meet for our anticipated dinner @ ninja new york! it was definitely a different experience! it is a bit campy but if you go in with a fun attitude like our group did... a good time is sure to be had by all! the prices are a little steep but it was well made cuisine with a touch of art. we luckily had a lot of silly characters as our ninja waiters and our group of highly sarcastic & playful individuals played off their vibes. as far as recommending this place... it's cool dinner entertainment to try out. in the same vein as medieval times... you wouldn't expect to go there multiples times or have a sudden food craving to go to that restaurant but would be a spot to go for a group party. it was a fun way to end the trip

DAY 7
-early departure from west new york to gettysburg, pennsylvania...
-our history buff friend was all bout it, bout it! civil war memorial park is pretty damn big so we didn't see it all. crazy to fathom 4 years of war going about within the compounds.
Wish we could have taken a walking tour, but it was cool none the less
-made a quick pit stop @ gabriel brothers in pennsylvania. there ain't nothing wrong with cashing in on some bargain shopping, baby! my cousin directed us to this little treasure trove and we walked away with some goodies.
-we weathered through some trippy lightning storms while we drove through ohio. whilst listening to weather updates on the radio the connection would simultaneously tweak out when lighting would strike the sky with it's long branchlike arms and legs spanning the sky. i absolutely hate being in rain (especially while driving) but oddly i find these kind of storms fascinating. seeing the streaks light up the sky seem somewhat majestic to me. but of course the mizzou natives who are used to these kind of crazy storms didn't quite share the same sentiment. imagine two grown men (well if that's if you can refer to them as men, jk) freaking out in high pitched voices in the car every time bolts would come down in the distance. luckily we bypassed the storm by the time we got to indiana. For the record, there were NO high pitched screams what-so-ever
-sleepover in west lafayette, indiana to make a friend's familial visit. (who knew cats could be racist?!)

DAY 8
Dropped off our narrating and sandwich making friend at the Indiapolis airport for her flight back to California.


Overall, this road trip to NYC was one of my favorite vacations!. We were able to cross off almost all of the loose itinerary goals we had talked about prior to leaving. I got to spend lots of time with good friends and great folks. I was able to load up my feeding trough with lots of good eats. And, with all of the free lodging and hook ups, it didn't break the bank.

Unfortunately I don't have a camera anymore so I'll have to wait till someone forwards me some pictures so I can post them.

I'll recap the Chicago trip next...