For several months, Nathan and I had plans to visit the northern peninsula of Michigan, to attend services for his Grandfather Crane. We were excited to see much of his family, and to honor the life of his grandfather, and we looked forward to visiting a part of the country to which we’d never been.
A day or two before our trip, we realized our first day out would be extremely crazy. We’d fly into Minneapolis around 5pm, should there be no delays, and from there it was a 10 hour drive to Sault Ste. Marie! On top of that, we’d lose an hour as we entered the Eastern Time Zone. That stressed both of us out quite a bit, but things always seem to work out somehow, so rather we not fret about it too much. There’s always a way!
The service was scheduled for 11am on Thursday July 21st (which was also my grandfather’s Birthday!), so we flew out on Wednesday the 20th. Since we bought our tickets at different times, we didn’t get to sit together, but I used that time to catch up on some much-needed reading. Once we got to Minneapolis, we ran to get our luggage and rental car. Without any delay, we hit the road, heading east through northern Wisconsin. Nate did a great job of making time, so we allowed ourselves a brief stop for dinner at a small town A&W. We scarfed our burgers ran back to the car, this time with me at the helm. Before too long, our road went from a decent highway to a small two lane road. Dusk was fast approaching as we neared the border with Michigan. I was so excited to see the UP, as I’d never been up there, but all we could see was darkness and the occasional eye glow of a deer, which was a bit unnerving. You could tell when we crossed the border, not by the giant welcome sign, but by the degradation of the road. I guess Michigan isn’t great about keeping backroads up to snuff.
Despite making good time, we decided to stop in Escanaba for the night. That way we wouldn’t be complete zombies the next day, and we could see some of the sights of northern Michigan in daylight. Our room was exceptionally clean, which always makes me happy, and we got a good rest. The next day, we hit the road by 8am, knowing it would take about 2 hours to get to the church. Along the way, we were treated to some beautiful views and quaint Great Lakes towns. We saw a billboard advertising a cruise featuring Kid Rock’s hometown, and we thought that would have been funny to do had we had more time. Well, if we’re ever back, we’ll do it! We arrived at the church just in time to greet everyone and get settled. The service was held in a lovely old church and was very nice. People recounted their memories of Grandpa Crane, and we were able to see old pictures and memorabilia from his life, as well as artwork he had done. It really was wonderful, and I’m so glad we were able to be a part of it.
After the church service, we drove over to the cemetery for the military service. It was such an interesting experience! They had the 21 gun salute (actually 18, because only 6 soldiers were available) and the presentation of the flag. The setting was lovely, and everything went beautifully.
After the service, we had a little time to ourselves, so we ran a few errands and met up with the family back at the hotel to discuss plans for the day. We decided, along with Karla, Don, and Ben, to take a boat tour of the Soo Locks. It was a wonderful two hour trip, during which we were able to ride through the Locks, rising from the lower level of Lake Huron up to Lake Superior level, 21 feet higher. The locks can accompany ships up to 1000 feet in length, so we were accompanied by some massive ships out on the water. We sailed out into the Superior side of the St. Mary’s River and skirted Canada, learning about the shipment of various ores and other goods. It was a lovely day for a boat ride, and I think we all enjoyed the fresh air, education, and overall experience.
Once back, it was nearly time to meet the rest of the family and friends for dinner at Studebaker’s Restaurant and Lounge. We had a private room and were treated to many local favorites including fresh catches from the Great Lakes. I had the walleye, if I recall correctly, and it was pretty good. It was a nice evening with good company, and it was great to meet more of Nathan’s extended family, too.
After dinner, we had plans to do a haunted tour of the Soo Locks. Nate was exhausted, so he decided to opt out, so I went along with Karla, Ben, Georgie, and Vivie. We waited around by the sign indicating the start of our tour, but the guide never showed up and never returned our inquiry call. There were at least 10 people waiting, so that was a bummer. We decided, after about 20 minutes, to head over to the observation platform of the Locks and just watch the ships come through. It was neat to see it from an outsider’s standpoint this time, especially since some of the really massive ships were coming through. While we were there, we noticed a woman holding a sign that was nearly as big as she was, with a picture of her and her husband on their wedding day. We wound up talking with her, and she told us so many interesting things about life as the wife of a Great Lakes sailor. Her husband was slated to come through the locks very shortly, on one of those massive ships, so massive, in fact, that they issue the men bikes to get from one end to the other! He wouldn’t be home for quite some time, but at least she was able to see him fleetingly here. It was fascinating to hear things about life on the ship, too – we left almost feeling like we’d experienced it all ourselves! We were treated to such a special opportunity in talking to her. We needed to leave before we could actually see her “reunion” with her husband, but we were very lucky to meet her and hear her stories.
Friday July 22, 2011
The next morning, most people were quickly on their way. We did run into Karla and the rest of the family headed for Minnesota, so we were able to say our goodbyes. Then Nathan and I hit the road ourselves. We got some gas and toured the town. It really seemed like this place was a throwback to a simpler time. It felt like people trusted each other and that the ills of the world were so far separated so as not to be of consequence. I loved that! We did a little geocaching around town, checking off Michigan, before crossing the international bridge into Canada. I really dislike going through those checkpoints. I always feel guilty even though I have nothing at all to hide. And the guards are so confrontational. “Why are you coming here? When are you leaving?” all in a booming, suspicious tone. When we told him we planned on circling Lake Superior and leaving in two days, he seemed skeptical that such a feat was possible, but he let us through, unscathed.
Once in the Canada side of Sault Ste. Marie, we decided to find some lunch. We attempted to find a brew pub, but it appeared to no longer exist. So we parked and walked along the downtown, such as it was. It reminded me of a pleasant old Victorian town, not too hustly and not too bustly. My favorite part was that music of my era (read: the 1950s) was being piped in along the sidewalk. I had to sing along, much to Nate’s embarrassment. After much searching, we settled on a pub that advertised poutine, a truly Canadian (Quebecois) dish that I love and rarely see. We went in to this somewhat gritty establishment and ordered our drinks which were delivered with a gruff, “Pay me now. Food is a separate tab.” Interesting. We wound up sitting there waiting for our food for at least 45 minutes, but it was nice to just relax for a bit. When our food arrived, there was way too much of it, particularly of my poutine (which is essentially fries covered in cheese curds and gravy…makes my arteries cringe in, um, delight?). We ate as much as we could and headed out to points north and west.
We drove through town, which was larger than the Michigan side, and eventually found our way to a two-laned highway that would circle Lake Superior. It was a lovely drive with rocky hillsides and copious trees and glimpses of the lake all the while. Moose crossing signs occasionally dotted the highway, and at times we’d be greeted to an outpost here or there. We also saw signs depicting a horned lizard type creature that intrigued us. Surely horned lizards don’t range into Ontario! We finally found a trailhead claiming to lead to such a creature, so we had to take it. We walked through some thick woods, and saw some intense sides of the lake, with waves crashing unyieldingly onto the rocky walls of the earth. I went out as far as I was comfortable with my slippery sneakers, but Nate continued on along a steeply slanting rock ledge out toward the petroglyphs where the lizard was located. I watched nervously as the waves lapped at his ledge, but he made it there and back without incident. Apparently the lizard is considered the spirit of Lake Superior, and it was watching over him that day.
We continued around the lake, making stops to wade and watch happy dogs play in the surf, and enjoying overlooks as they were presented. We stopped at Wawa (which means Canada goose) to enjoy a photo op with the largest Canada goose, and to see the waterfalls. We also saw the Winnie the Pooh statue at White River, which was good as I was starting to doze off. From there, we decided to try to find dinner, driving futilely through the town of Marathon, finding nothing at all that appealed to us. It was a lucky stop, however, because as we were driving past the cemetery on our way out of town, I glimpsed a black bear!! I was so excited I had Nate turn the car around so I could snap some pictures of it. That about made my day!
We continued up the road until we hit Schreiber, stopping for a photo op at the road to Manitouwadge and glimpsing another black bear along the highway AND a wolf which made my day even more than any bear! It was still daylight, but being so far north, it didn’t matter – it was nearly 8:30! We stopped at a ma and pa motel that cut us a good rate (we were their first customers all night), and they directed us to an Italian restaurant up the road where we had another extremely filling meal. Then we called it a night.
Saturday July 23, 2011
We made an early start of it this day, heading west along the northern banks of Lake Superior. We really didn’t do much of interest until we hit the area around Nipigon, perhaps a bit further west than that. We started seeing signs for “dig your own amethysts!” After our fun experience in the garnet fields of Idaho, I knew we had to do this. So we happened upon a privately owned amethyst field where we were given buckets to take as many gems as we could find!
We headed down to the working quarry where a couple from Wawa who works here every year stopped and talked rocks with us and gave us some really great amethysts they’d found in the private part of the quarry! Very cool! Then we did our own searching and found a few good ones. We didn’t take too many because it’d be hard to bring back, and we’re running out of room anyway, but the ones we got were very nice and I’m thrilled. When we presented our stash to the owner, he charged us a mere $5 for what could have easily been worth about $50! Score!! What a fun way to spend the morning!
We continued on toward Thunder Bay, stopping just outside of town to see the Terry Fox memorial. He was a cancer survivor who lost a leg to the disease and attempted to run across Canada after remission. Unfortunately, by the time he reached Thunder Bay, his cancer was back, and he passed away shortly thereafter. He’s considered a Canadian hero, and for good reason.
From there, we found our way to a Tim Horton’s for lunch. Canada seems to be rife with this chain, so we decided to see what all the fuss was about. I had a soup and sandwich combo, which wasn’t bad. It was ok and did hit the spot. Then we did a few geocaches near what was supposed to be the amusement park (but was actually many miles off), and headed off to Chippewa Park, site of my first Ontario roller coaster.
Chippewa Park was lovely, set on the shores of Lake Superior, incorporating park land into a woodsy surrounding. There was a zoo, camping, a farm, and general recreational facility on site, including our amusement park. I really wish I’d downloaded some caches from this area because I’m sure there were a lot of good places for them. When we got there, it had just started to rain, and they shut down the coaster, so we just walked around and enjoyed the scenery. Eventually, it seemed like the rain had stopped long enough to run the coaster, so I went back to the ticket booth to see what the status was. They were all, “I GUESS we could run it,” and, thankfully, did. I went around for 5 laps, and for being a junior coaster, it was pretty intense. It was obviously made in-house and had a personality all its own.
From Thunder Bay, we worked our way down into Minnesota. Luckily, there was no wait at the border, and we weren’t made to feel TOO guilty by border patrol. See, Canada guy, we COULD do it in two days! Ha! We stopped at Grand Portage National Monument, just before close, and toured the old fort. Then we continued on to do some hiking at lovely Gooseberry Falls State Park. On our way toward Duluth, I made a reservation for a motel in Hayward, WI for the night. The owner told me he wouldn’t be up past 11, so I better get there before then or risk getting charged for nothing. We were worried we wouldn’t be able to find anything else, so I just took it. Well, when we got to Duluth, we tried to stop at a brew pub for dinner, but the wait was too long. It’s too bad, too, because it looked like a nice place. In fact, Duluth in general looked like a nice place, and I wish I’d have waited and just gotten a room here for the night! It was a lovely Great Lakes town with a lot of history. Homes were situated on tiered hills all around – it was such a comfortable and welcoming place! I definitely want to go back.
So, hurried and stressed, we hit the road toward Wisconsin, which was easier said than done due to copious amounts of construction that presented us with many wrong turns and confusion. Once we crossed into WI, it was mostly smooth sailing. We didn’t really have time to stop for dinner at this point, so we just plugged on, through the dusk, making our way to Hayward and hoping not to hit any deer along the way. We got into town around 10:30 and got our room, which turned out to be pretty nice. Being night, it was hard to see much of town, but it seemed pleasant enough. We did get some McDonalds for dinner, as that was really all that was open, and retired to watch some Saturday Night Live.
Sunday July 24th, 2011
Antsy as always, I was chomping at the bit to get out and see the sights of Hayward. The hometown of my cousin Jenn, it’s also a place my mom and dad would frequent for fishing trips in the great Wisconsin north. According to Roadside America, it was also the site of the world’s largest muskie! We didn’t realize it due to the darkness when we pulled into our motel, but the fish was right across the street from us on the grounds of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame! This morning, I didn’t even realize that…I was too set on finding Tremblay’s Sweet Shop, as advised to me by Jenn. While Nate was getting ready, I hit the pavement and walked through downtown, getting a bagful of wonderful treats and eagerly munching them on my way back to the motel.
Once back, Nate and I got in the car and traveled an entire block to see the big fish. We paid our admission and were treated to all the fishing paraphernalia and information you could imagine! It was really fascinating. There were record-caught freshwater fish of all types on display, and exhibits featuring rods, reels, lures, bobbers, hooks, boats, motors, and everything else you could imagine that would be at all fishing related. And then, there was the main attraction: amongst gigantic replicas of all types of freshwater fish, there was the the giant muskie. You could climb inside the fish and stand in its jaws, looking out, several stories high, at the surroundings. Inside the fish were plaques of recognition for people who made the Hall of Fame possible, and pictures of this and that. It was actually pretty darned cool, and I’m glad we finally saw it, after years of thinking it was too far out of the way.
Once done, we hit a few geocaches in town before heading to points south. Our first stop was at the Leinenkugel’s factory where we took a tour and tried some samples of their beer. I’m really not a big fan of beer, but they had some really good ones! We made a quick stop out of town to pick up a 12 pack, and then made our way down to Eau Claire to have lunch at the Northwoods Brew Pub. It was ok. Nate wasn’t too happy with the beers, but we got a kick out of the fact that he was able to pair his beer sampler with pancakes.
After this, we had debated trying to make the trek to Green Bay to try the roller coaster there, but it was probably too long of a haul, so instead, we headed back toward Minneapolis. We figured we’d go to Mall of America and get those coasters out of the way. As if new coasters weren’t awesome enough, this would be the place I’d secure my 400th coaster! So we made our way over to the crowded, hectic, completely unpleasant mall and walked around. I’d wanted to explore the mall itself this time, because all previous times it was just too unpleasant to do so. Well, this time was no different. It looked like they set up shop in somebody’s unfinished basement. It was so ugly and unpleasant, and the amusement park was no better. It was wall-to-wall people, and no one was paying attention. I hate crowds, and this was the worst! Still, we got our tickets and rode the half-pipe coaster and the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge, which was my 400th. It was a lot of fun, except I hardly remembered much about that fateful ride because my shirt flew up on the first drop, and I was frantically trying to avoid flashing the world for the remainder of the ride! Too funny.
We left the mall shortly thereafter, and headed out to our hotel in downtown Minneapolis. Both of us really dislike downtowns, and staying in one wasn’t pleasant, but that’s where his conference was, so what can ya do? We got Nate checked in, secured our room, and headed out for dinner. We decided to try out a highly-rated tiki bar in town: Psycho Suzi’s Motor Lounge. Just the name says it all! Built in a former church, and on the banks of the Mississippi, Psycho Suzi’s is absolutely fantastic! Indoor and outdoor seating are available, and they don’t skimp in the kitsch. Tiki torches, thatched umbrellas, Easter Island statues, you name it. And the drinks were soooo tasty, as was the food! Since Nate’s brother Ben was in town, he came and joined us for the evening, sitting out on the patio, enjoying island drinks and some really tasty pizza. We knew we’d have to come back.
Monday July 25th, 2011 and beyond
This was a nice, relaxing day. Oh so nice, and oh so relaxing! Nate had his conference, so I decided to sleep in, and then I just lounged around the room all day. Nate came back for lunch, and we tried a sandwich shop not too far away from our hotel. Then we searched out the Mary Tyler Moore statue (which was also the site of a geocache!) and took our photo op. I spent the rest of the afternoon just lounging, reading, and playing on the computer. The only real issue that came up was with the cleaning staff. I decided I didn’t want to be bothered, so I put out the “do not disturb” sign. I mean, one day without a cleaning isn’t a big deal. It’s not like it’s that messy, and it’s our own mess as it is, so whatever. Well, the staff would have none of it. Despite having the sign out, I was startled awake by knocking when I was trying to take a nap. I went to the door and told them “No thanks,” and they stared at me with a terrified look on their face, and walked off hesitantly only to try again later. This went on EVERY DAY (though I caved and let them clean once), and they actually broke into our room while we were away, even with the sign on the door, just to clean. What the heck? Do they beat the help if they don’t do their job? Rediculous.
So basically I spent each of the days of the conference lounging around the room and eating lunch with Nate. Evenings were kind of a blur, but one night we went with Nate’s coworkers back to Psycho Suzi’s, which was a trip. We ate inside and tried a variety of foods, including “redneck sushi,” which was pickle surrounded by cream cheese, surrounded by bacon. It was fabulous, and the drinks didn’t disappoint this evening either.
We also went to the “hit or miss” night at the comedy club in Mall of America. There were 20-30 comedians, and each played for 2 minutes, I believe. Some were really good, and the awkward ones were funny, too, just for being awkward.
On the last full day, we treated ourselves to Valleyfair! the local amusement park. I’d been there years ago, and it really hadn’t changed much save for adding two new coasters and some interesting flat rides. We did all the coasters except for Corkscrew, which was closed for the day. They had an annoying rule about no pictures on rides, including the train! But we took what we could. We also met a ride op who had worked at Silverwood in Idaho, and grew up with Six Flags Great America. Small world! Overall it was a fun day, but we really didn’t need to stay ‘til close.
We flew out the next day, but not before doing a little geocaching at the sculpture park near downtown. We saw the famous cherry on a spoon, as well as a number of other unusual pieces. Then we caught our plane and headed home. It was a great trip, as always, and we’re looking forward to our next one.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
You Oughta Be In Pictures
It's been two years since I started my job as senior zookeeper of invertebrates at the Rio Grande Botanical Gardens, and as per city requirements, I am forced to take 3 months off. While this could be seen as an unfortunate situation by many, I intended to make lemonade out of these lemons and do something interesting and perhaps extraordinary with my time. After one day of being a stay at home wife and pet mom, I knew sitting home idly wasn't for me. As luck would have it, I received an email from On Location Casting, a company with whom I'd been signed up for a few years now. They find work for budding actors and people who just want to be extras, and they'd been emailing me for a while now, but seeing as how I had a full time job, finding the time to participate was difficult.
My last week of work, my coworker Megan had been asked to go up to Santa Fe to bring some roaches for the film "Odd Thomas." Once I'd heard that, I scurried to get my work done so I could join her. I mean, I didn't minor in film for NOTHING!! We drove up, but unfortunately, after sitting there for several hours (and exploring the set, including a livingroom with a toilet in it), they told us they wouldn't need us and sent us home. The next time they used our roaches, I was on hiatus in Michigan, so I couldn't come along. Needless to say, I was exceedingly bummed about missing it, though I wouldn't have traded the trip to MI for anything.
Upon my return from Michigan, I was greeted by an email from my agency asking for extras the following Wednesday. Megan's friend Dayna (who also came with us to Santa Fe) had been doing extra work with them for a while now, so I quickly emailed her and asked her if she was up for it (being a bit nervous to go on my own the first time). She was, and we both signed up! I was excited and scared, all at the same time.
The night before the shoot, they provided us with specifics on what to wear: nothing black, red, white, or dark in any way. Summery stuff that people would wear to a mall in a desert town. Ok, that shouldn't be too hard...except for the fact that nearly everything I own comes in those colors!! Since the email came at 7pm, I dragged Nate and we frantically searched the mall for anything suitable that actually looked good (that is the hard part!). We hit the jackpot at J.C. Penney, and came home, relieved.
The next morning, I had to get up around 4:30 and be at the Winrock Mall (Albuquerque's resident dead mall which they use to shoot fabulous mall films such as "Observe and Report") by 6:30. I was sooooo nervous, not knowing what to expect! As soon as I arrived at the parking lot, a van came up to tote the extras, changes of clothing in tow, to the holding area, a place with which we'd become most familiar very soon. I crawled into the van, surrounded by whorish looking teens and twenty-somethings, and I started to worry that I wasn't done up enough. Luckily, once in holding there were enough normal-looking people that I needn't have worried.
Our first day consisted of a lot of waiting around...it was a 14 hour day, and we probably only worked about 5 of them. (Still getting paid, all the while!) I sat and chatted with Dayna for a while and eventually wound up meeting a nice retired couple with whom we wound up chatting most of the day. It really was amazingly easy to meet and talk with people here! Most were quite warm and welcoming. There was one lady, a realtor, who made a comment about a kiosk we passed, saying she used to work mall duty for Coldwell Banker there. Excited that we had something in common, I mentioned I used to do the same at the adjacent mall, and she just got all snooty with me. Whatevz. Everyone else was nice!
During the times we were working, we essentially shot two main scenes. The extras wrangler gave me some kid, prolly around 8, to tote around the mall with me. We were instructed to check out the cell phone kiosk, which I'm sure was way far away from any camera action. Not being used to kids, I awkwardly chatted with him, asking him what phone he wanted and if he's extra-ed before. Between takes he'd always run back to his friends, and I just assumed he was all, "Gawd, look who they gave me for a mom!" or something. Yeah, kid paranoia stemming back from, well, nevermind. Anyway, his one friend came up to me later all, "Would you like another kid?? Please??" Haha!! He wanted me for a stage mom, too!
Later, Dayna and I were paired together, and we just zigzagged our way around the mall, looking at all the crazy stores. I told her I like my character to have a backstory (like before I was a mom looking for new shoes (hence my old sneakers) and just got sidetracked by the awesome new cell phones). So we decided we were the lesbian couple, and she was thinking about starting a band (so we spent some time gawking at the guitar store). Haha! We also got sidetracked at the pet store and koi fountain. One cool thing was that most of the shops were actual local stores - what a nice touch!
I also was within 3 feet of Anton, the star, and we made eye contact and smiled, and I had next to NO idea who he was. I deduced his identity, though, because of Dayna's rapport with him - she met him with Megan when they did the roaches, and she knows just about all the actors at any given time, she does this so much. Too crazy!
At the end of the day, they asked us if we'd like to sign up for more days of shooting. While 14 hours was rather killer, it's money, and actually quite fun, so I signed up for every day they offered!
I'd hoped to work Thursday, but they notified half of us at the last minute that they didn't need us, so I relaxed and caught up on sleep the next day. Friday, however, I was back in the saddle!
Friday was another fun day at Winrock, during which we did more scenes, this time involving some running (though not as much as they'd threatened us with). We met some more good people, but spent even more time in holding. Extra-ing is a lot of hurry up and wait...and wait...and wait... At least they feed us! From what I understand, the food was awful compared to usual extra work (most of the others had done gigs before, such as "In Plain Sight.") I was just happy to be fed! I mean, I could sit around at home and not get paid and have to buy food...or I could be an extra and sit around and get fed! No brainer!!
Saturday was more of the same...I think I worked 4 hours out of 14...there were some people who didn't work at all! 14 hours on those awful folding chairs must have been terrible. Ten was bad enough!! I'm glad I brought a book to read!
Sunday we had off, and Monday we were back at it. I was up at 2:30 so I could be ready and make the trip across town to Cottonwood Mall. They needed 500 extras that day to do the big exciting scene. I figured I'd just be a face in the crowd, if that. They sectioned us off into groups, and I met some more good people. We started at 6am, since this is a working mall and we needed to be out of the way of the customers at a reasonable hour. We did some stampede scenes, which were downright scary because you seriously could get trampled. I managed, unscathed, but there were a few people who fell. On a few shots, Anton ran right by me and we narrowly missed each other. So look for a girl with an orange tank top running away from the camera next to him...that is probably me!
Once the mall opened, we had to nix the stampede scenes, and rather took to more walking scenes and "looking around" scenes (which will be evident when you see "Odd Thomas"). They did decide to do a scene in the food court, however. Our group was chosen, and we were placed strategically around the food court, to make it look busy (even though the general public was there, too!). They took one of the girls I'd been talking with and me, and placed us at the table right next to the action!! They gave us each a prop (a plate of food) but no fork!! I figured, no biggie, we'll just talk to each other - who needs a fork, right? Well, then they go and take HER away, leaving me alone at this table to do what I do best: be awkward!
So the filming started, and I mostly just looked around casually, like I was waiting for someone, occassionally playing with my plate. I ignore the stuff going on next to me, and smile at people walking by. We did this for many, many takes. I kept expecting them to move me or something. One of my friends saw the shot on the camera and said that she could see my nose and eyes. So, as you're watching the food court scene, I'm to the right of the table with the action. Hehe.
So Monday at Cottonwood was all types of fun! Then they surprised us by asking us back again that Friday! We were back at Winrock to do some more outdoor scenes. I got paired with an older gentleman who was my "dad" for the scene. We also did a scene in which we were trying to get out of the glass doors to the mall, but they were locked. Our group only did one take - I was at the front, against the glass, and you would have thought it was for real, they way I was being pummelled. I thought they were filming us from behind, so I have no idea what look was on my face, but then I opened my eyes and saw the camera right in front of me! Whatever I did, I hope it was natural, but who the heck knows?!
Anyway, that's about the extent of it! It was such a blast, and I want to do it again and again!! Yay to New Mexico for welcoming movie production!! Let's hope the new governor doesn't screw it up!
My last week of work, my coworker Megan had been asked to go up to Santa Fe to bring some roaches for the film "Odd Thomas." Once I'd heard that, I scurried to get my work done so I could join her. I mean, I didn't minor in film for NOTHING!! We drove up, but unfortunately, after sitting there for several hours (and exploring the set, including a livingroom with a toilet in it), they told us they wouldn't need us and sent us home. The next time they used our roaches, I was on hiatus in Michigan, so I couldn't come along. Needless to say, I was exceedingly bummed about missing it, though I wouldn't have traded the trip to MI for anything.
Upon my return from Michigan, I was greeted by an email from my agency asking for extras the following Wednesday. Megan's friend Dayna (who also came with us to Santa Fe) had been doing extra work with them for a while now, so I quickly emailed her and asked her if she was up for it (being a bit nervous to go on my own the first time). She was, and we both signed up! I was excited and scared, all at the same time.
The night before the shoot, they provided us with specifics on what to wear: nothing black, red, white, or dark in any way. Summery stuff that people would wear to a mall in a desert town. Ok, that shouldn't be too hard...except for the fact that nearly everything I own comes in those colors!! Since the email came at 7pm, I dragged Nate and we frantically searched the mall for anything suitable that actually looked good (that is the hard part!). We hit the jackpot at J.C. Penney, and came home, relieved.
The next morning, I had to get up around 4:30 and be at the Winrock Mall (Albuquerque's resident dead mall which they use to shoot fabulous mall films such as "Observe and Report") by 6:30. I was sooooo nervous, not knowing what to expect! As soon as I arrived at the parking lot, a van came up to tote the extras, changes of clothing in tow, to the holding area, a place with which we'd become most familiar very soon. I crawled into the van, surrounded by whorish looking teens and twenty-somethings, and I started to worry that I wasn't done up enough. Luckily, once in holding there were enough normal-looking people that I needn't have worried.
Our first day consisted of a lot of waiting around...it was a 14 hour day, and we probably only worked about 5 of them. (Still getting paid, all the while!) I sat and chatted with Dayna for a while and eventually wound up meeting a nice retired couple with whom we wound up chatting most of the day. It really was amazingly easy to meet and talk with people here! Most were quite warm and welcoming. There was one lady, a realtor, who made a comment about a kiosk we passed, saying she used to work mall duty for Coldwell Banker there. Excited that we had something in common, I mentioned I used to do the same at the adjacent mall, and she just got all snooty with me. Whatevz. Everyone else was nice!
During the times we were working, we essentially shot two main scenes. The extras wrangler gave me some kid, prolly around 8, to tote around the mall with me. We were instructed to check out the cell phone kiosk, which I'm sure was way far away from any camera action. Not being used to kids, I awkwardly chatted with him, asking him what phone he wanted and if he's extra-ed before. Between takes he'd always run back to his friends, and I just assumed he was all, "Gawd, look who they gave me for a mom!" or something. Yeah, kid paranoia stemming back from, well, nevermind. Anyway, his one friend came up to me later all, "Would you like another kid?? Please??" Haha!! He wanted me for a stage mom, too!
Later, Dayna and I were paired together, and we just zigzagged our way around the mall, looking at all the crazy stores. I told her I like my character to have a backstory (like before I was a mom looking for new shoes (hence my old sneakers) and just got sidetracked by the awesome new cell phones). So we decided we were the lesbian couple, and she was thinking about starting a band (so we spent some time gawking at the guitar store). Haha! We also got sidetracked at the pet store and koi fountain. One cool thing was that most of the shops were actual local stores - what a nice touch!
I also was within 3 feet of Anton, the star, and we made eye contact and smiled, and I had next to NO idea who he was. I deduced his identity, though, because of Dayna's rapport with him - she met him with Megan when they did the roaches, and she knows just about all the actors at any given time, she does this so much. Too crazy!
At the end of the day, they asked us if we'd like to sign up for more days of shooting. While 14 hours was rather killer, it's money, and actually quite fun, so I signed up for every day they offered!
I'd hoped to work Thursday, but they notified half of us at the last minute that they didn't need us, so I relaxed and caught up on sleep the next day. Friday, however, I was back in the saddle!
Friday was another fun day at Winrock, during which we did more scenes, this time involving some running (though not as much as they'd threatened us with). We met some more good people, but spent even more time in holding. Extra-ing is a lot of hurry up and wait...and wait...and wait... At least they feed us! From what I understand, the food was awful compared to usual extra work (most of the others had done gigs before, such as "In Plain Sight.") I was just happy to be fed! I mean, I could sit around at home and not get paid and have to buy food...or I could be an extra and sit around and get fed! No brainer!!
Saturday was more of the same...I think I worked 4 hours out of 14...there were some people who didn't work at all! 14 hours on those awful folding chairs must have been terrible. Ten was bad enough!! I'm glad I brought a book to read!
Sunday we had off, and Monday we were back at it. I was up at 2:30 so I could be ready and make the trip across town to Cottonwood Mall. They needed 500 extras that day to do the big exciting scene. I figured I'd just be a face in the crowd, if that. They sectioned us off into groups, and I met some more good people. We started at 6am, since this is a working mall and we needed to be out of the way of the customers at a reasonable hour. We did some stampede scenes, which were downright scary because you seriously could get trampled. I managed, unscathed, but there were a few people who fell. On a few shots, Anton ran right by me and we narrowly missed each other. So look for a girl with an orange tank top running away from the camera next to him...that is probably me!
Once the mall opened, we had to nix the stampede scenes, and rather took to more walking scenes and "looking around" scenes (which will be evident when you see "Odd Thomas"). They did decide to do a scene in the food court, however. Our group was chosen, and we were placed strategically around the food court, to make it look busy (even though the general public was there, too!). They took one of the girls I'd been talking with and me, and placed us at the table right next to the action!! They gave us each a prop (a plate of food) but no fork!! I figured, no biggie, we'll just talk to each other - who needs a fork, right? Well, then they go and take HER away, leaving me alone at this table to do what I do best: be awkward!
So the filming started, and I mostly just looked around casually, like I was waiting for someone, occassionally playing with my plate. I ignore the stuff going on next to me, and smile at people walking by. We did this for many, many takes. I kept expecting them to move me or something. One of my friends saw the shot on the camera and said that she could see my nose and eyes. So, as you're watching the food court scene, I'm to the right of the table with the action. Hehe.
So Monday at Cottonwood was all types of fun! Then they surprised us by asking us back again that Friday! We were back at Winrock to do some more outdoor scenes. I got paired with an older gentleman who was my "dad" for the scene. We also did a scene in which we were trying to get out of the glass doors to the mall, but they were locked. Our group only did one take - I was at the front, against the glass, and you would have thought it was for real, they way I was being pummelled. I thought they were filming us from behind, so I have no idea what look was on my face, but then I opened my eyes and saw the camera right in front of me! Whatever I did, I hope it was natural, but who the heck knows?!
Anyway, that's about the extent of it! It was such a blast, and I want to do it again and again!! Yay to New Mexico for welcoming movie production!! Let's hope the new governor doesn't screw it up!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
4th Anniversary Trip to Texas: May 2011
Wed. May 11th
Well, it’s been several months since our trip, so let’s see how much of it I can remember! I flew into San Antonio from Chicago and arrived minutes before Nate. I had flown in on American, seated next to a British transplant currently living in Bloomington, IL of all places. Nate flew on Southwest, and we arrived in separate terminals. Luckily there were only two terminals in the San Antonio Airport, so he hastened over to find me and we took a shuttle to the car rental facility. It was already well after 10, so as soon as we got our car, we drove to our hotel, excitedly discussing the plans for the week. We’d wanted to do a trip to San Antonio and environs for some time, and there was so much to see! On the way to the hotel, we glimpsed a spectacle of a restaurant: The Magic Time Machine. We weren’t sure what it was, but it caught our eye enough to make us look into it…we even got a brochure for the place at the motel, but it really didn’t do much to help us understand just what the place was about. Still, we were to remain intrigued. Anyway, it turned out that the motel we reserved was the same one I’d stayed at with a high school friend back in 2001, situated classily between x-rated shops and strip clubs. Keep it classy, San Antonio! Regardless, it was a decent place to get some sleep.
Thurs. May 12th
Our anniversary!! And what better way to celebrate than road tripping, the thing we do best? We had a busy day ahead of us, so we got an early start and hit I-35, heading north toward Waco. On the way, we encountered an extremely threatening thunderstorm. We attempted to listen to the radio to try to avoid any tornadoes or other dangers, but of course no warnings came through. We stopped for gas, and when I ran in to get some candy, the TV’s were warning about tornadoes in the area. I couldn’t really tell if we were in the line of trouble, but I could see that Waco seemed to be in the clear, so we pressed on, hoping for the best.
We made it to Waco that morning, after battling waves of storm alternating with calm hurricanic eyes. Our arrival found us within another calm eye, but we could see the clouds roiling on the horizon. The wind was picking up and got very nasty, as well. We grabbed our things and ran from the car to our first stop: the Dr. Pepper Museum.
Now let me just say, I can’t stand Dr. P. I think it’s the vilest concoction known to man, but Nate loves the stuff, and far be it from me to miss seeing a themed museum. This particular museum just happened to be in the exact location that the drink was created. We perused multiple floors of history and kitsch, and despite it all, I still had absolutely no desire for the stuff. Once we finished our tour, we wound up downstairs at the old fashioned soda fountain where Nate could quench his cravings with a fountain-drawn Dr. P. I had a scoop of ice cream, as none of the other sodas on tap were at all appealing, particularly Big Red, which I imagine tastes much like cough medicine. Gag. I was hoping the soda fountain would be more akin to the one found at World of Coke in Atlanta. That place is incredible, offering up drinks (probably at least 50) from all over the world, and they’re all free to sample. Sure, you leave feeling sick, but I can argue I left feeling sick merely from being in the presence of so much Dr. P. Still, I had a good time, and I know Nate did, too. Now he’s intrigued to try hot Dr. Pepper, which apparently is a thing. Who knew?
By the time we’d finished touring the museum, the storms had blown by and the weather was perfect for tooling around town. Since we were in Waco, I really wanted to see the one thing that I think of when I hear Waco, TX: the Branch Davidian Compound. I’d found directions online, so we went in search of this newsworthy location. Driving through central TX, I found it to be much more lush and pleasant than I’d expected. For some reason, I’d envisioned Waco and its surroundings to be bleak and barren, but it was actually relatively rich farmland. After several twists and turns, we found the compound which is still run by “The Branch,” and has the sign to prove it. From what I understand, the current sect was at odds with the teachings of the Davidians, so I guess the former’s beliefs aren’t entirely practiced there. The land wasn’t anything special. I was hoping for some sort of commemorative plaque or memorial of some sort (which I understand existed back in the 90’s). It looked like they were trying to remain low key, though. We drove by a second time so I could snap some pictures, but we hurried off when one of the members who was walking across a field looked suspiciously at us. While it wasn’t much, it was interesting to see such an infamous locale, and the one that defined Waco in the news.
Once we’d had our fill of history, we headed back toward inner Waco, tooling around town a bit. We admired Baylor University’s campus from afar. We also were desperately hungry for lunch, but I swear there isn't a single place to eat in town! Even downtown! We resorted to eating at a nearly impossible to find restaurant inside a gift shop complex, which was alright. We were just happy to find something to eat! Then we got serious and started geocaching. I think we found every cache we sought, which is always satisfying. We also got up close and personal with some fantastic and old live oak trees. What character! Truly splendid! After caching, we checked out the zoo, but we decided not to go in because it seemed pretty expensive for what we imagined it was, and we only had an hour before it closed, so we headed out.
Now we were faced with a decision: originally we were going to haul butt out to Houston to get a ride on the new (to us) wooden coaster at Kemah Boardwalk, but based on the bad weather and the distance, not to mention the fact that there were a few more things in the area that would have been just as good to stick around and see, we decided on plan B – head back down and see the sights of Austin.
Now, I’d visited Austin (and San Antonio) back in 2001, and I remember absolutely not understanding why so many people love Austin so much. It was crowded, dirty, loud, and didn’t have much to offer unless you like night life, which I can do without. I’m always ready to offer a second chance, and went with an open mind, hoping to change my opinion.
When we got to town, we headed toward the capitol building. There were homeless people everywhere, but I was heartened to see a van going around feeding people. We stopped at a park and walked down to the river, which proved to be an oasis of wildlife in the midst of the urban sprawl. I even spotted a gorgeous yellow crowned night heron, though I had no idea what it was at the time. After exploring the river a bit, we surfaced to street level and headed over to the capitol building.
Situated amongst more of the most impressive live oaks, the stately building stood much as it did the last time I’d visited. We went through security and wandered the halls, looking down every corridor. Eventually we happened upon a session of the house, on which we decided to sit for a while. It was amazing how little got done in the time we were there: mostly it was congressmen milling about chinning with each other, if they weren’t just blatantly lounging in their chairs with their feet up on their desks. I also heard people making animal noises…I heard a rooster and a cat, specifically. It’s nice to know that our government officials are taking their jobs seriously. After about 20 minutes, we tired of it all and left.
From there, Nathan and I pressed on in search of one of the 3 brew pubs in town. In a city like Austin, known for its night life and party atmosphere, you’d think a brew pub would do well. Unfortunately, the first one we located was now some sort of banquet or rental venue. The second one we located appeared to have promise, but it had apparently recently converted into a mere bar that no longer brews. We decided to get a drink and assess the situation. We sat in the rooftop beer garden and gazed out at the scene around us. It was a madhouse below, dirty, crowded, and loud. There were a few restaurants that looked interesting – a seafood place in particular, but Nathan really wanted to try the sausage house across the street from the bar, which is kind of funny, coming from a man who doesn’t usually like meat. So we headed over (giving up on finding the last brew pub…I think there was a third).
Well, it was actually a decent restaurant, such as it was. I had the combination elk/antelope/wild boar (I think) sausage, and Nate had something with sauerkraut. We drank water out of jars and admired the giant Frankenmuth doxie that adorned the wall (since Nate loves doxies, and I used to visit Frankenmuth, MI quite often as a child). Dusk was just rolling in when we finished. I really wanted to get back to the car before dark because of all the unsavory characters milling around. Austin does not send out a feeling of welcome or safety. We hastened back and made it safely to our parking garage just as nightfall took over. There was still one more place we wanted to try: Austin’s resident tiki bar (at least the one that wasn’t rated completely awfully).
Driving out to the more bearable (read: less downtowny) part of Austin, we found ourselves at a gift shop/resort type area that was surrounded by trees. There, amongst it all, was the Hula Hut! Even more exciting, it appeared this place was actually situated on a pier! It overlooked a very large lake that turned out to be Lake Austin. We got a table outside on the pier, with the lovely night breeze caressing the water as it lapped at the stilts below us. The waitress seemed surprised that we were only there for drinks, but after all the food from the sausage place, I can’t imagine how we could have eaten another bite!
We sat outside, enjoying the atmosphere and sipping our fancy island drinks. They had a decent selection of at least 15 drinks. They weren’t Hala Kahiki quality, but they were still good, and the setting more than made up for it. It was a wonderful end to an exciting day. After Hula Hut, we headed further south. I made reservations at a Motel 6 in New Braunfels for the next two nights, as that would be the most convenient place for us. It turned out to be one of the nicer, upgraded ones in which you enter your room from a hallway, not from the outside. Plus, it had internet! And it was clean! What luck! We made a good choice.
Fri. May 13th
Friday was a jumble of a day, and I’ll do my best to recall what we did and when. We got a relatively early start (for us) and headed down to Texas Tubes, one of the river tubing outfitters on the Comal River. Back in 2001, I’d remembered seeing tubers floating down the river from Schlitterbahn and really wanting to give it a try. For years, Nate and I had discussed coming to New Braunfels so he could finally experience Schlitterbahn, and so we both could tube down the river. Now, the last time I was there, I asked one of the ride operators where people picked up tubes, and she claimed most people floated between two state parks, but it turned out going through an outfitter would be more convenient for us.
Once at Texas Tubes, we rented our tubes and headed down to the river. If we’d had a cooler, we could have gotten a tube for that as well (nothing like tubing and beer, as was evidenced by a few other tubers around us), but we opted for just us. Luckily, it was a pretty hot morning, so the cool river was more of a relief than a shock. We awkwardly flung ourselves into our tubes and slowly drifted down the river. And by slowly, I mean that we hardly moved. We seriously had to paddle ourselves to get very far. Once we found a bit of a current, we just floated, side-by-side, amongst the low hanging trees, behind resort properties, and past city parks that hosted fishermen. We mostly wanted to get a good distance ahead of the other couple that entered the river almost at the same time as us.
Once we made it to the first park, a family of 5 joined us. We got a good laugh because they were the typical Texas rednecks you think of. The dad was so vulgar, I was almost embarrassed for him, but I dunno why, as he wasn’t at all embarrassed for himself. Haha! Anyway, shortly after they joined the current, we came upon a fork in the river. Which way to go? Luckily we were nudged in the right direction…right toward the waterfall?!!!! There were signs all around saying “Weak swimmers exit now!” and “Keep right!!!” So we paddled like mad toward the right, not having any idea what to expect. I did get out and walk down the river briefly to see what the big deal was and discovered that, unless you wanted to portage your tube downstream a bit, your other option was a wickedly awesome tube chute! So I hopped back in and down the chute we went!! It was like a mini waterslide right there in the river! What fun! We were spat out at the bottom of the waterfall, amid roiling rapids. I was stuck in a loop of water for a little while, but once I was able to break free, I rejoined Nate, who didn’t get caught in the loop, and we continued on down the river at a pleasant pace.
As we continued, we paid more attention to the river itself. The Comal claims to be the shortest navigable river in the state of Texas, existing entirely within the city limits of New Braunfels. A tributary to the Guadalupe River, much of it seems to be manipulated by man with a cement riverbed (in sections) and two more tube chutes along the way. Despite this, we did come across some large turtles, one of which was basking within a foot of my tube and didn’t even flinch as I floated past. One of the kids from the family floating near us seemed to be a herpetology enthusiast, and I chuckled as I heard him yammer excitedly about the turtles and other sorts of reptiles and amphibians he’s encountered. We also saw a few yellow crowned night herons, which appeared to be quite common in central Texas, but are still very stunning, nonetheless. On top of that, a number of damselflies took it upon themselves to hitch a ride on our knees as we moseyed along the river. It was quite peaceful and serene.
One of the highlights of the trip was also one of the most anticipated: floating right past the newest section of Schlitterbahn Waterpark. It was neat to be the ones being watched from the park, as opposed to vice-versa. I pointed out a number of my old favorites like the Master Blaster: the world’s first uphill waterslide. We also admired the new additions like the sky coaster. It all just whetted our appetite for tomorrow’s adventures at the park.
After a little over an hour, we made it to the final landing, just as a number of loud twenty-somethings with boom boxes on their tubes entered the river. We exited the river and climbed a huge number of steps to reach street-level, where we caught our bus back to the outfitters. What a great way to start the morning!
On our way back through New Braunfels, we decided to try to grab lunch at the brew pub located within the Faust Hotel. Sadly, they wouldn’t be open for several more hours, so to kill time, we decided to head down to Natural Bridge Caverns, a tourist trap of sorts. We got our tickets and walked around the visitor center for a bit waiting for our tour time. Finally our group was called and we congregated outside to hear the instructions from our guide. Then we headed down, under the natural bridge, into the mouth of the cave. As a cave goes, it really wasn’t anything outstanding. It had all the famous features like cave bacon and stalactites and mites. There was a section full of centuries of bat guano that was quite impressive. Once we emerged, Nate and I headed over to see the large dinosaur statues. We were even able to climb up to the back of one to take a picture.
After the cave experience, we headed back to the Faust Hotel and had a late lunch. We tried their beers which were bad, in Nate’s opinion. The food was ok, though. We were glad to check another brew pub off our list, regardless.
From New Braunfels, we decided to head toward San Antonio for a bit. One of the quirky things I wanted to do was see the town of China Grove, the namesake of the song by the Doobie Brothers. I wanted to see if it was all that the song made it out to be. So after some crazy driving through rush hour, and struggling on both our parts to stay awake, we finally found the exit we needed which didn’t even make mention of the town. We drove several miles until we saw the population sign, and we decided to stop at the Dairy Queen, which appeared to be the only business of any note. We got some ice cream, and I asked the girl at the counter if she knew of anything commemorating the song within the town. She just looked at me blankly like she had no idea what I was talking about. Then I asked if there was a main street, or maybe a post office she could direct us to (I mean, this is a teeny tiny town – I’m sure the post office is probably the biggest landmark you could find). Again, a blank stare. I thought about asking her manager, who seemed on the ball, but thought better of it. After eating our ice cream, we proceeded on toward the village hall, thanks to our Garmin. We drove down a rural highway with sparse houses and farms. Once at the hall, we took pictures with Nate making fun of me for being such a music nerd. Then we drove back toward San Antonio, slightly bummed that there was no musical pride, nor parallel other than name between the town and the song.
Our drive to the city was mostly uneventful, save for a turtle crossing the highway. Once we made it to San Antonio, our destination was the Riverwalk. Last time I’d been here, I remember absolutely loving it, and finding it one of the most unique attractions anywhere. I was so excited to spend time along its banks with Nathan, taking in its romantic charm. We parked at the mall’s parking structure and headed through the shopping area and out onto the riverside. We walked around, watching the tour boats and looking at all the shops and restaurants. Our main objective, however, was to do some geocaching in the area. We made our way past the main touristy area with shops and such, and out into the more parklike district with the large dam and plenty of trees and serenity. Our first cache was a success, though we had to wait around trying not to look suspicious as a duo in front of us also made the find. From then on out, none of the caches were found, but we still had a great time taking in the sights of the riverfront.
It was starting to get dark, and we had to decide on dinner. Then it occurred to us: we would be passing that strange restaurant, the Magic Time Machine (which we jokingly referred to as the Magical Mystery Tour, having forgotten the name) on our way back to New Braunfels. Why not see what exactly it was all about? So that’s exactly where we set out.
The parking lot of the Magic Time Machine was nondescript with nothing to really indicate what this place would be like. Once we entered, though, it was loud both audibly and visually. We were greeted by the hostess and some wait staff, more accurately referred to as the cast. Acknowledging us amongst statues of the Simpsons and Captain Morgan, we had the likes of Tinkerbell, Velma from Scooby Doo, and Barbie. We were brought to our table, situated right across from the Salad Car – a salad bar in a car. Our booth was akin to a tacky throne, and we sat across from an amusing family of 6: mom, 4 kids, and a step dad to whom the kids did everything to make him aware he wasn’t REALLY family. Whenever a waiter would ask about their dad, they’d chime in, “He’s just our step dad.” It must have been really awkward for him.
So anyway, this place was a madhouse. I guess one pastime the kids in this place (and it is essentially a kid’s place, with alcohol to help the parents get through it) is getting a balloon and trying to have all the characters sign it. So basically there were children running everywhere, underfoot at every turn. It was loud, there was much screaming, and I really don’t know why anyone would want to work here, nor how they could without getting totally frazzled. Despite it all, Nate and I had a really great time and found it extremely amusing. Our primary waiter was Indiana Jones himself, with the help of the Cheshire Cat. I ordered a decent prime rib and an “ugly” colored bubbling drink, which was pretty good despite being pea green. We watched the kids at the table next to us accost the Riddler, Captain Jack Sparrow, Zorro, and various other characters. At one point, the whole cast got together to sing happy birthday to someone. It was like an acid trip on crack, I would imagine. Kind of like Eddie being dropped into Toon Town…that’s actually pretty accurate. Well, we were immensely amused by the place, though I don’t know that we would recommend it to most adults our age. It’s definitely a unique experience, though!
Once we had finished our meal, it was getting pretty late, so we headed back to New Braunfels so we could be fresh for the big day ahead of us tomorrow.
Sat. May 14th
Ahh, this was the day to which we were looking most forward…Schlitterbahn! Back when I first visited, this park was the largest waterpark in the world. I’d still say it technically should lay claim to that because it definitely packs way more into its acreage than Noah’s Ark in Wisconsin Dells, the current holder of that record. On top of that, Schlitterbahn is so huge that it’s actually broken into two parts between which you need to take a shuttle. Show me a shuttle, Noah’s Ark, and then we’ll talk.
Schlitterbahn is also what I would call the Cedar Point of waterparks, in that they are innovators of new types of rides, and lots of them. They were the first park to introduce an uphill waterslide, and to install special effects on slides, too. They have a number of lazy rivers, some of which are super fast and far from lazy. One of the neatest innovations is the river-slide. They have lazy rivers of sorts that incorporate a number of slide chutes as you move downhill. And most of the water used in the park comes straight from the Comal River. In fact, the largest river-slide they have actually dumps you right in the river!
Once we arrived at the park, our first task was to find tubes, which was easier said than done. They really do a nice job of hiding the stash! Once we found our tubes, we rode a few normal slides, some speed slides, did some lazy rivers, and explored most of old Schlitterbahn, the original half of the park (whose mascot is incidentally Schatze, a daschund, much to Nate’s appreciation). It was great to look at the river this time and be able to see! Last time I was there, my friend kept talking about turtles in the river, and being legally blind, I missed them. It had been such a pain navigating without my glasses, or struggling with them when I did have them. Some of the rides had multiple exits, so if I’d lost track of my friend, I’d never find her again and found myself wandering around asking anyone in a black bathing suit, “Are you my friend?” Haha, well, not really, but almost. Now I could fully enjoy the park, and it made a huge difference. Another thing I’d learned from last time is you NEED water shoes. Half the park is black top, and getting around barefoot is nothing less than torture. Needless to say, this was a much better experience.
Once we’d seen most of old Schlitterbahn, we decided to catch the shuttle over to the new section: home of Blastenhoff and Surfenburg. We opted against doing the surf machine because the lines were too long (and I really didn’t fancy the world watching me wipe out) and instead opted for what looked like a tame, short slide into a lazy river. That turned out to be one of the wildest rides we experienced, and I nearly inhaled a lungful of water upon impact with the river. From that point, the water in the river was going at a ridiculous clip, and it was awesome! We circled around that lazy river a number of times, just to experience the intensity of the speed.
Next, we went to try out the special effect-ridden Dragon’s Revenge: a water coaster with 8 uphill sections! The best part was that it was actually dedicated to my old organization: American Coaster Enthusiasts! How funny! From there, we motored over to Blastenhoff where we rode the three largest slides: the original Master Blaster, and its two smaller companions: the Wolfpack and Black Knight. We also stood under the torrents of water that rushed down: the only thing that could keep you cool after standing in line for more than an hour apiece. This was also the place that I’d lost my bathing suit to the horror of all the little children watching, the last time I was there. I made sure to wear a super snug suit this time…that’s not something you want to relive!
Once we’d had our fill of thrills (and ridiculously long lines), we headed back to Schlitterbahn West, the original part of the park, we hit the few rides we’d missed and re-rode a few of our favorites. Then, about an hour before closing, we decided we’d had our fill and headed off before the mass exodus.
We found our car and drove back to San Antonio. Nathan made a reservation at the Valencia Hotel, right along the Riverwalk. It was a really posh hotel, and our room had a view of the river (if you looked out at just the right angle). It was a challenge to find, but once we did, I ran out to see where the nearest parking was. Many of these hotels have their own parking garage, but sadly ours didn’t, though they offered valet service for an exorbitant fee. We wound up parking at the lot a few blocks away and lugging our stuff, but it wasn’t bad at all. We checked into our room and de-waterparked ourselves, getting ready for a night on the town. We decided to celebrate our anniversary at a nice restaurant this night, as we really didn’t have a chance two nights prior. Once we were presentable, we headed down to the Riverwalk.
I, of course, have such a hard time walking in heels that I just shouldn’t wear them, especially on a cobblestone walkway with a body of water at my side, but I somehow managed to make my way, slowly but surely. We were vigilant for a nice restaurant as we walked along, and eventually we came across the Ostra which looked unique and fancy, and had outdoor seating that was far enough away from the walkway that we wouldn’t risk having passers-by grab food as they passed, yet still afforded great views of the river. We had about an hour before our reservation, so we headed over to a bar at street level, still overlooking the water, and had a drink. Then we headed back to Ostra for a lovely dinner. Nathan had the lobster omelet, which I also had considered and probably should have also gotten. It was beyond fabulous. I would highly recommend it. I had seafood stew which had a little bit of everything. It, too, was fantastic, but I still say the omelet was even better. Between the romantic atmosphere and the terrific food and the splendid company, this was a wonderful belated anniversary dinner. I couldn’t be happier.
Nathan wanted to walk along the river more that evening, and as much as I wanted to, I really needed to get out of those heels. We attempted to get a drink back at our hotel, but there was absolutely no seating left anywhere, so we just called it a night. It had been another splendidly busy day!
Sun. May 15th
Again we arose early and hit the road – we needed to be out of the parking garage by 11 to avoid being charged ridiculously. Our main destination was Six Flags Fiesta Texas, unique because it’s situated in an old quarry. This was really intriguing to Nate, but I don’t think he was as impressed by it as he’d hoped. The quarry is cool, but it only skirts a couple rides, so most of the park doesn’t really feel that quarryish. I’d been to this park before, and while it’s ok, it’s not my favorite. Most Six Flags parks tend to feel the same after a while.
Luckily I had recently bought my first Six Flags season pass in years at Great America, so not only was I able to get in for free, I also had a coupon to get Nate in for half price! While waiting in line to get in, we were approached by an employee who wanted to do a survey, and I’m always happy to oblige, park fan that I am. He was impressed by all the parks we’d visited and had a wealth of his own questions about them. He asked what our favorite Six Flags were, and I think he was rather bummed that I didn’t say Fiesta Texas. Oh well!
Once we entered the park, we made a mad dash for Goliath, the new (to me) inverted roller coaster. Luckily it was just inside the gate, and we nearly walked on. I’m not sure how the height compares, but the elements were identical to the original Batman, and in exactly the same order. This is interesting because Great White at Sea World San Antonio is a perfect clone of the original Batman. Oh well, I’m probably the only person who notices these things! It’s still a solid, fun ride, and another credit in my book! Woo hoo!
From Goliath, we ran over to the resident Boomerang. I’m not a big fan of Boomerangs, and I almost sat this one out, but then I figured it’d be a waste not to ride it, so I joined Nate in line. Boomerangs are built by Vekoma, a manufacturer notorious for making painful rides, but if you pay attention, you can find a seat that is less unpleasant. As a rule, the front seat of any car isn’t too bad, and just our luck, there was a seat available! So Nate and I ran over and grabbed it for our second walk-on of the day. We sat there as the lift chain pulled us backwards, up, higher and higher, until the mechanism released us and sent us careening through the cobra roll, and then through a vertical loop before being pulled up the second incline and being released to experience it all again backwards. To my joy, the ride was actually bearable and even, might I say, enjoyable!
We pulled back into the station and they buzzed the harnesses to release us. Everyone around us exited, and we were still struggling with our harnesses. They kept buzzing us, and eventually the ride ops came over to try to get us out. It was all for naught. They told us they’d send us through again, and hopefully whatever was wrong would work itself out on the next ride. So off we went again, looping and swirling. Upon our return, the same thing happened. Despite this, they opted to send us through yet again, heads swimming through the inversions. Upon this third ride, Nate and I both had about had it. I was starting to feel the panic of claustrophobia setting in as the harness sat snugly against me. I was having visions of having to spend the rest of the day, or longer, stuck inside these restraints. It was getting hard to breathe. Panic. Panic!! And Nate certainly didn’t want to be tossed through the ride again. Luckily this time they shut the ride down and called maintenance. They were there within 10 minutes and had to open the backs of our seats to release us. Fortunately, when the harnesses fail on these rides, they tend to fail in a closed mode, rather than tossing a rider (which could have happened had they not planned for such – thank you, engineers!). In a few more minutes, we were free, and everyone who remained in the station cheered and applauded. I felt like it was for us, even though it was probably for the fact that they could ride the damn thing, finally…crazy people. Hehe.
From then on, we made our way around the park, hitting the excellent mine train: the Road Runner Express, and the enormous wooden Rattler which was much less painful than I remembered from last time. It actually went through a hole in the wall of the quarry, and its intensity made it seem like it could fall apart at any moment. It was quite fun, but definitely a one-time ride due to the long lines.
We also did the water raft ride on which we got soaked, and the train which also went through a tunnel in the quarry. Then we did Superman Krypton Coaster, a solid floorless coaster that skirted the edge of the quarry. We worked our way over to Pandemonium, the spinning coaster that was also new to me. We did the Ferris wheel, a good Scooby Doo themed dark ride that involved shooting targets, the flume, the old fashioned cars, and Poltergeist – a launched roller coaster that looks like an incomprehensible bowl of spaghetti. Nate also noticed that there were kiddy teacups that were themed around beer. Teach ‘em young, Texas! Too funny.
With the long lines and very few inspiring rides, we took off once we’d had our fill of everything. On our way out, I’d remembered that we passed a brew pub right at the entrance to the park, so we headed over to check that out. BJ’s Brewhouse is apparently a chain out of California, but it was new to us, and it appeared they brewed their beer on-site. So we had dinner and sampled all their brews. It was all pretty good, and I’m glad we stopped. Then we headed back up to the Motel 6 we stayed at the first night, reserved a room, and Nate took a long nap due to a migraine. I think we actually just called it an early night. It had been a crazy amount of adventuring, considering we hadn’t done a big trip in a long while, and it was finally starting to take its toll.
Mon. May 16th
This was our last day in lovely San Antonio, and we still had a lot we wanted to do. Luckily, Nate was feeling considerably better, so we headed back out to the Riverwalk. We made a mad dash to the ticket booth for boat tours. We only had a smidgeon of time before we had to be back at the airport, so we were really lucky to catch the boat that was sitting there before it took off. The half hour tour was absolutely worth the $8. We floated along the canals, and our guide pointed out things we never would have noticed merely walking along, from architectural tidbits, to historical ones. We even floated right past the hotel at which Carol Burnett was born! It was fascinating, and extremely informative, not to mention brilliantly relaxing. I would highly recommend making a point to ride the boats while in San Antonio.
After the cruise, we had a bit more time to spare, so we headed up to street level to check out the Alamo, since that’s basically the thing you HAVE to do when you visit San Antonio. Now, both Nate and I had been here before, but we still thought we should check it out. Last time I was here, my friend had been told to ask to see the basement of the Alamo. I was sure that was a joke of some sort, and I told her so, but she still asked our guide about it and nearly got laughed out of the place. Then I saw “PeeWee’s Big Adventure.” Yeah, there’s not basement to the Alamo…no bike, either! Hehe. Anyway, Nate and I did a whirlwind foot tour of the place, got a quick bite to eat at the food court on the Riverwalk, and then retreated back to the car. I noted how safe I felt in San Antonio. It was probably the most comfortable American city I’ve had the pleasure of exploring. I guess it’s also touted as one of the safest cities in America. You can really feel it, and it was a huge contrast to the much smaller city of Austin. I absolutely love everything about San Antonio. If it would snow there, it’d be my favorite city! (Though I’m not really sure which city would be, even with snow, so perhaps San Antonio gets that honor.)
We dropped off our rental car and headed back to the airport to go our separate ways. It was a fantastic trip, and already we’re excitedly planning our next one. It was a perfect anniversary week.
Well, it’s been several months since our trip, so let’s see how much of it I can remember! I flew into San Antonio from Chicago and arrived minutes before Nate. I had flown in on American, seated next to a British transplant currently living in Bloomington, IL of all places. Nate flew on Southwest, and we arrived in separate terminals. Luckily there were only two terminals in the San Antonio Airport, so he hastened over to find me and we took a shuttle to the car rental facility. It was already well after 10, so as soon as we got our car, we drove to our hotel, excitedly discussing the plans for the week. We’d wanted to do a trip to San Antonio and environs for some time, and there was so much to see! On the way to the hotel, we glimpsed a spectacle of a restaurant: The Magic Time Machine. We weren’t sure what it was, but it caught our eye enough to make us look into it…we even got a brochure for the place at the motel, but it really didn’t do much to help us understand just what the place was about. Still, we were to remain intrigued. Anyway, it turned out that the motel we reserved was the same one I’d stayed at with a high school friend back in 2001, situated classily between x-rated shops and strip clubs. Keep it classy, San Antonio! Regardless, it was a decent place to get some sleep.
Thurs. May 12th
Our anniversary!! And what better way to celebrate than road tripping, the thing we do best? We had a busy day ahead of us, so we got an early start and hit I-35, heading north toward Waco. On the way, we encountered an extremely threatening thunderstorm. We attempted to listen to the radio to try to avoid any tornadoes or other dangers, but of course no warnings came through. We stopped for gas, and when I ran in to get some candy, the TV’s were warning about tornadoes in the area. I couldn’t really tell if we were in the line of trouble, but I could see that Waco seemed to be in the clear, so we pressed on, hoping for the best.
We made it to Waco that morning, after battling waves of storm alternating with calm hurricanic eyes. Our arrival found us within another calm eye, but we could see the clouds roiling on the horizon. The wind was picking up and got very nasty, as well. We grabbed our things and ran from the car to our first stop: the Dr. Pepper Museum.
Now let me just say, I can’t stand Dr. P. I think it’s the vilest concoction known to man, but Nate loves the stuff, and far be it from me to miss seeing a themed museum. This particular museum just happened to be in the exact location that the drink was created. We perused multiple floors of history and kitsch, and despite it all, I still had absolutely no desire for the stuff. Once we finished our tour, we wound up downstairs at the old fashioned soda fountain where Nate could quench his cravings with a fountain-drawn Dr. P. I had a scoop of ice cream, as none of the other sodas on tap were at all appealing, particularly Big Red, which I imagine tastes much like cough medicine. Gag. I was hoping the soda fountain would be more akin to the one found at World of Coke in Atlanta. That place is incredible, offering up drinks (probably at least 50) from all over the world, and they’re all free to sample. Sure, you leave feeling sick, but I can argue I left feeling sick merely from being in the presence of so much Dr. P. Still, I had a good time, and I know Nate did, too. Now he’s intrigued to try hot Dr. Pepper, which apparently is a thing. Who knew?
By the time we’d finished touring the museum, the storms had blown by and the weather was perfect for tooling around town. Since we were in Waco, I really wanted to see the one thing that I think of when I hear Waco, TX: the Branch Davidian Compound. I’d found directions online, so we went in search of this newsworthy location. Driving through central TX, I found it to be much more lush and pleasant than I’d expected. For some reason, I’d envisioned Waco and its surroundings to be bleak and barren, but it was actually relatively rich farmland. After several twists and turns, we found the compound which is still run by “The Branch,” and has the sign to prove it. From what I understand, the current sect was at odds with the teachings of the Davidians, so I guess the former’s beliefs aren’t entirely practiced there. The land wasn’t anything special. I was hoping for some sort of commemorative plaque or memorial of some sort (which I understand existed back in the 90’s). It looked like they were trying to remain low key, though. We drove by a second time so I could snap some pictures, but we hurried off when one of the members who was walking across a field looked suspiciously at us. While it wasn’t much, it was interesting to see such an infamous locale, and the one that defined Waco in the news.
Once we’d had our fill of history, we headed back toward inner Waco, tooling around town a bit. We admired Baylor University’s campus from afar. We also were desperately hungry for lunch, but I swear there isn't a single place to eat in town! Even downtown! We resorted to eating at a nearly impossible to find restaurant inside a gift shop complex, which was alright. We were just happy to find something to eat! Then we got serious and started geocaching. I think we found every cache we sought, which is always satisfying. We also got up close and personal with some fantastic and old live oak trees. What character! Truly splendid! After caching, we checked out the zoo, but we decided not to go in because it seemed pretty expensive for what we imagined it was, and we only had an hour before it closed, so we headed out.
Now we were faced with a decision: originally we were going to haul butt out to Houston to get a ride on the new (to us) wooden coaster at Kemah Boardwalk, but based on the bad weather and the distance, not to mention the fact that there were a few more things in the area that would have been just as good to stick around and see, we decided on plan B – head back down and see the sights of Austin.
Now, I’d visited Austin (and San Antonio) back in 2001, and I remember absolutely not understanding why so many people love Austin so much. It was crowded, dirty, loud, and didn’t have much to offer unless you like night life, which I can do without. I’m always ready to offer a second chance, and went with an open mind, hoping to change my opinion.
When we got to town, we headed toward the capitol building. There were homeless people everywhere, but I was heartened to see a van going around feeding people. We stopped at a park and walked down to the river, which proved to be an oasis of wildlife in the midst of the urban sprawl. I even spotted a gorgeous yellow crowned night heron, though I had no idea what it was at the time. After exploring the river a bit, we surfaced to street level and headed over to the capitol building.
Situated amongst more of the most impressive live oaks, the stately building stood much as it did the last time I’d visited. We went through security and wandered the halls, looking down every corridor. Eventually we happened upon a session of the house, on which we decided to sit for a while. It was amazing how little got done in the time we were there: mostly it was congressmen milling about chinning with each other, if they weren’t just blatantly lounging in their chairs with their feet up on their desks. I also heard people making animal noises…I heard a rooster and a cat, specifically. It’s nice to know that our government officials are taking their jobs seriously. After about 20 minutes, we tired of it all and left.
From there, Nathan and I pressed on in search of one of the 3 brew pubs in town. In a city like Austin, known for its night life and party atmosphere, you’d think a brew pub would do well. Unfortunately, the first one we located was now some sort of banquet or rental venue. The second one we located appeared to have promise, but it had apparently recently converted into a mere bar that no longer brews. We decided to get a drink and assess the situation. We sat in the rooftop beer garden and gazed out at the scene around us. It was a madhouse below, dirty, crowded, and loud. There were a few restaurants that looked interesting – a seafood place in particular, but Nathan really wanted to try the sausage house across the street from the bar, which is kind of funny, coming from a man who doesn’t usually like meat. So we headed over (giving up on finding the last brew pub…I think there was a third).
Well, it was actually a decent restaurant, such as it was. I had the combination elk/antelope/wild boar (I think) sausage, and Nate had something with sauerkraut. We drank water out of jars and admired the giant Frankenmuth doxie that adorned the wall (since Nate loves doxies, and I used to visit Frankenmuth, MI quite often as a child). Dusk was just rolling in when we finished. I really wanted to get back to the car before dark because of all the unsavory characters milling around. Austin does not send out a feeling of welcome or safety. We hastened back and made it safely to our parking garage just as nightfall took over. There was still one more place we wanted to try: Austin’s resident tiki bar (at least the one that wasn’t rated completely awfully).
Driving out to the more bearable (read: less downtowny) part of Austin, we found ourselves at a gift shop/resort type area that was surrounded by trees. There, amongst it all, was the Hula Hut! Even more exciting, it appeared this place was actually situated on a pier! It overlooked a very large lake that turned out to be Lake Austin. We got a table outside on the pier, with the lovely night breeze caressing the water as it lapped at the stilts below us. The waitress seemed surprised that we were only there for drinks, but after all the food from the sausage place, I can’t imagine how we could have eaten another bite!
We sat outside, enjoying the atmosphere and sipping our fancy island drinks. They had a decent selection of at least 15 drinks. They weren’t Hala Kahiki quality, but they were still good, and the setting more than made up for it. It was a wonderful end to an exciting day. After Hula Hut, we headed further south. I made reservations at a Motel 6 in New Braunfels for the next two nights, as that would be the most convenient place for us. It turned out to be one of the nicer, upgraded ones in which you enter your room from a hallway, not from the outside. Plus, it had internet! And it was clean! What luck! We made a good choice.
Fri. May 13th
Friday was a jumble of a day, and I’ll do my best to recall what we did and when. We got a relatively early start (for us) and headed down to Texas Tubes, one of the river tubing outfitters on the Comal River. Back in 2001, I’d remembered seeing tubers floating down the river from Schlitterbahn and really wanting to give it a try. For years, Nate and I had discussed coming to New Braunfels so he could finally experience Schlitterbahn, and so we both could tube down the river. Now, the last time I was there, I asked one of the ride operators where people picked up tubes, and she claimed most people floated between two state parks, but it turned out going through an outfitter would be more convenient for us.
Once at Texas Tubes, we rented our tubes and headed down to the river. If we’d had a cooler, we could have gotten a tube for that as well (nothing like tubing and beer, as was evidenced by a few other tubers around us), but we opted for just us. Luckily, it was a pretty hot morning, so the cool river was more of a relief than a shock. We awkwardly flung ourselves into our tubes and slowly drifted down the river. And by slowly, I mean that we hardly moved. We seriously had to paddle ourselves to get very far. Once we found a bit of a current, we just floated, side-by-side, amongst the low hanging trees, behind resort properties, and past city parks that hosted fishermen. We mostly wanted to get a good distance ahead of the other couple that entered the river almost at the same time as us.
Once we made it to the first park, a family of 5 joined us. We got a good laugh because they were the typical Texas rednecks you think of. The dad was so vulgar, I was almost embarrassed for him, but I dunno why, as he wasn’t at all embarrassed for himself. Haha! Anyway, shortly after they joined the current, we came upon a fork in the river. Which way to go? Luckily we were nudged in the right direction…right toward the waterfall?!!!! There were signs all around saying “Weak swimmers exit now!” and “Keep right!!!” So we paddled like mad toward the right, not having any idea what to expect. I did get out and walk down the river briefly to see what the big deal was and discovered that, unless you wanted to portage your tube downstream a bit, your other option was a wickedly awesome tube chute! So I hopped back in and down the chute we went!! It was like a mini waterslide right there in the river! What fun! We were spat out at the bottom of the waterfall, amid roiling rapids. I was stuck in a loop of water for a little while, but once I was able to break free, I rejoined Nate, who didn’t get caught in the loop, and we continued on down the river at a pleasant pace.
As we continued, we paid more attention to the river itself. The Comal claims to be the shortest navigable river in the state of Texas, existing entirely within the city limits of New Braunfels. A tributary to the Guadalupe River, much of it seems to be manipulated by man with a cement riverbed (in sections) and two more tube chutes along the way. Despite this, we did come across some large turtles, one of which was basking within a foot of my tube and didn’t even flinch as I floated past. One of the kids from the family floating near us seemed to be a herpetology enthusiast, and I chuckled as I heard him yammer excitedly about the turtles and other sorts of reptiles and amphibians he’s encountered. We also saw a few yellow crowned night herons, which appeared to be quite common in central Texas, but are still very stunning, nonetheless. On top of that, a number of damselflies took it upon themselves to hitch a ride on our knees as we moseyed along the river. It was quite peaceful and serene.
One of the highlights of the trip was also one of the most anticipated: floating right past the newest section of Schlitterbahn Waterpark. It was neat to be the ones being watched from the park, as opposed to vice-versa. I pointed out a number of my old favorites like the Master Blaster: the world’s first uphill waterslide. We also admired the new additions like the sky coaster. It all just whetted our appetite for tomorrow’s adventures at the park.
After a little over an hour, we made it to the final landing, just as a number of loud twenty-somethings with boom boxes on their tubes entered the river. We exited the river and climbed a huge number of steps to reach street-level, where we caught our bus back to the outfitters. What a great way to start the morning!
On our way back through New Braunfels, we decided to try to grab lunch at the brew pub located within the Faust Hotel. Sadly, they wouldn’t be open for several more hours, so to kill time, we decided to head down to Natural Bridge Caverns, a tourist trap of sorts. We got our tickets and walked around the visitor center for a bit waiting for our tour time. Finally our group was called and we congregated outside to hear the instructions from our guide. Then we headed down, under the natural bridge, into the mouth of the cave. As a cave goes, it really wasn’t anything outstanding. It had all the famous features like cave bacon and stalactites and mites. There was a section full of centuries of bat guano that was quite impressive. Once we emerged, Nate and I headed over to see the large dinosaur statues. We were even able to climb up to the back of one to take a picture.
After the cave experience, we headed back to the Faust Hotel and had a late lunch. We tried their beers which were bad, in Nate’s opinion. The food was ok, though. We were glad to check another brew pub off our list, regardless.
From New Braunfels, we decided to head toward San Antonio for a bit. One of the quirky things I wanted to do was see the town of China Grove, the namesake of the song by the Doobie Brothers. I wanted to see if it was all that the song made it out to be. So after some crazy driving through rush hour, and struggling on both our parts to stay awake, we finally found the exit we needed which didn’t even make mention of the town. We drove several miles until we saw the population sign, and we decided to stop at the Dairy Queen, which appeared to be the only business of any note. We got some ice cream, and I asked the girl at the counter if she knew of anything commemorating the song within the town. She just looked at me blankly like she had no idea what I was talking about. Then I asked if there was a main street, or maybe a post office she could direct us to (I mean, this is a teeny tiny town – I’m sure the post office is probably the biggest landmark you could find). Again, a blank stare. I thought about asking her manager, who seemed on the ball, but thought better of it. After eating our ice cream, we proceeded on toward the village hall, thanks to our Garmin. We drove down a rural highway with sparse houses and farms. Once at the hall, we took pictures with Nate making fun of me for being such a music nerd. Then we drove back toward San Antonio, slightly bummed that there was no musical pride, nor parallel other than name between the town and the song.
Our drive to the city was mostly uneventful, save for a turtle crossing the highway. Once we made it to San Antonio, our destination was the Riverwalk. Last time I’d been here, I remember absolutely loving it, and finding it one of the most unique attractions anywhere. I was so excited to spend time along its banks with Nathan, taking in its romantic charm. We parked at the mall’s parking structure and headed through the shopping area and out onto the riverside. We walked around, watching the tour boats and looking at all the shops and restaurants. Our main objective, however, was to do some geocaching in the area. We made our way past the main touristy area with shops and such, and out into the more parklike district with the large dam and plenty of trees and serenity. Our first cache was a success, though we had to wait around trying not to look suspicious as a duo in front of us also made the find. From then on out, none of the caches were found, but we still had a great time taking in the sights of the riverfront.
It was starting to get dark, and we had to decide on dinner. Then it occurred to us: we would be passing that strange restaurant, the Magic Time Machine (which we jokingly referred to as the Magical Mystery Tour, having forgotten the name) on our way back to New Braunfels. Why not see what exactly it was all about? So that’s exactly where we set out.
The parking lot of the Magic Time Machine was nondescript with nothing to really indicate what this place would be like. Once we entered, though, it was loud both audibly and visually. We were greeted by the hostess and some wait staff, more accurately referred to as the cast. Acknowledging us amongst statues of the Simpsons and Captain Morgan, we had the likes of Tinkerbell, Velma from Scooby Doo, and Barbie. We were brought to our table, situated right across from the Salad Car – a salad bar in a car. Our booth was akin to a tacky throne, and we sat across from an amusing family of 6: mom, 4 kids, and a step dad to whom the kids did everything to make him aware he wasn’t REALLY family. Whenever a waiter would ask about their dad, they’d chime in, “He’s just our step dad.” It must have been really awkward for him.
So anyway, this place was a madhouse. I guess one pastime the kids in this place (and it is essentially a kid’s place, with alcohol to help the parents get through it) is getting a balloon and trying to have all the characters sign it. So basically there were children running everywhere, underfoot at every turn. It was loud, there was much screaming, and I really don’t know why anyone would want to work here, nor how they could without getting totally frazzled. Despite it all, Nate and I had a really great time and found it extremely amusing. Our primary waiter was Indiana Jones himself, with the help of the Cheshire Cat. I ordered a decent prime rib and an “ugly” colored bubbling drink, which was pretty good despite being pea green. We watched the kids at the table next to us accost the Riddler, Captain Jack Sparrow, Zorro, and various other characters. At one point, the whole cast got together to sing happy birthday to someone. It was like an acid trip on crack, I would imagine. Kind of like Eddie being dropped into Toon Town…that’s actually pretty accurate. Well, we were immensely amused by the place, though I don’t know that we would recommend it to most adults our age. It’s definitely a unique experience, though!
Once we had finished our meal, it was getting pretty late, so we headed back to New Braunfels so we could be fresh for the big day ahead of us tomorrow.
Sat. May 14th
Ahh, this was the day to which we were looking most forward…Schlitterbahn! Back when I first visited, this park was the largest waterpark in the world. I’d still say it technically should lay claim to that because it definitely packs way more into its acreage than Noah’s Ark in Wisconsin Dells, the current holder of that record. On top of that, Schlitterbahn is so huge that it’s actually broken into two parts between which you need to take a shuttle. Show me a shuttle, Noah’s Ark, and then we’ll talk.
Schlitterbahn is also what I would call the Cedar Point of waterparks, in that they are innovators of new types of rides, and lots of them. They were the first park to introduce an uphill waterslide, and to install special effects on slides, too. They have a number of lazy rivers, some of which are super fast and far from lazy. One of the neatest innovations is the river-slide. They have lazy rivers of sorts that incorporate a number of slide chutes as you move downhill. And most of the water used in the park comes straight from the Comal River. In fact, the largest river-slide they have actually dumps you right in the river!
Once we arrived at the park, our first task was to find tubes, which was easier said than done. They really do a nice job of hiding the stash! Once we found our tubes, we rode a few normal slides, some speed slides, did some lazy rivers, and explored most of old Schlitterbahn, the original half of the park (whose mascot is incidentally Schatze, a daschund, much to Nate’s appreciation). It was great to look at the river this time and be able to see! Last time I was there, my friend kept talking about turtles in the river, and being legally blind, I missed them. It had been such a pain navigating without my glasses, or struggling with them when I did have them. Some of the rides had multiple exits, so if I’d lost track of my friend, I’d never find her again and found myself wandering around asking anyone in a black bathing suit, “Are you my friend?” Haha, well, not really, but almost. Now I could fully enjoy the park, and it made a huge difference. Another thing I’d learned from last time is you NEED water shoes. Half the park is black top, and getting around barefoot is nothing less than torture. Needless to say, this was a much better experience.
Once we’d seen most of old Schlitterbahn, we decided to catch the shuttle over to the new section: home of Blastenhoff and Surfenburg. We opted against doing the surf machine because the lines were too long (and I really didn’t fancy the world watching me wipe out) and instead opted for what looked like a tame, short slide into a lazy river. That turned out to be one of the wildest rides we experienced, and I nearly inhaled a lungful of water upon impact with the river. From that point, the water in the river was going at a ridiculous clip, and it was awesome! We circled around that lazy river a number of times, just to experience the intensity of the speed.
Next, we went to try out the special effect-ridden Dragon’s Revenge: a water coaster with 8 uphill sections! The best part was that it was actually dedicated to my old organization: American Coaster Enthusiasts! How funny! From there, we motored over to Blastenhoff where we rode the three largest slides: the original Master Blaster, and its two smaller companions: the Wolfpack and Black Knight. We also stood under the torrents of water that rushed down: the only thing that could keep you cool after standing in line for more than an hour apiece. This was also the place that I’d lost my bathing suit to the horror of all the little children watching, the last time I was there. I made sure to wear a super snug suit this time…that’s not something you want to relive!
Once we’d had our fill of thrills (and ridiculously long lines), we headed back to Schlitterbahn West, the original part of the park, we hit the few rides we’d missed and re-rode a few of our favorites. Then, about an hour before closing, we decided we’d had our fill and headed off before the mass exodus.
We found our car and drove back to San Antonio. Nathan made a reservation at the Valencia Hotel, right along the Riverwalk. It was a really posh hotel, and our room had a view of the river (if you looked out at just the right angle). It was a challenge to find, but once we did, I ran out to see where the nearest parking was. Many of these hotels have their own parking garage, but sadly ours didn’t, though they offered valet service for an exorbitant fee. We wound up parking at the lot a few blocks away and lugging our stuff, but it wasn’t bad at all. We checked into our room and de-waterparked ourselves, getting ready for a night on the town. We decided to celebrate our anniversary at a nice restaurant this night, as we really didn’t have a chance two nights prior. Once we were presentable, we headed down to the Riverwalk.
I, of course, have such a hard time walking in heels that I just shouldn’t wear them, especially on a cobblestone walkway with a body of water at my side, but I somehow managed to make my way, slowly but surely. We were vigilant for a nice restaurant as we walked along, and eventually we came across the Ostra which looked unique and fancy, and had outdoor seating that was far enough away from the walkway that we wouldn’t risk having passers-by grab food as they passed, yet still afforded great views of the river. We had about an hour before our reservation, so we headed over to a bar at street level, still overlooking the water, and had a drink. Then we headed back to Ostra for a lovely dinner. Nathan had the lobster omelet, which I also had considered and probably should have also gotten. It was beyond fabulous. I would highly recommend it. I had seafood stew which had a little bit of everything. It, too, was fantastic, but I still say the omelet was even better. Between the romantic atmosphere and the terrific food and the splendid company, this was a wonderful belated anniversary dinner. I couldn’t be happier.
Nathan wanted to walk along the river more that evening, and as much as I wanted to, I really needed to get out of those heels. We attempted to get a drink back at our hotel, but there was absolutely no seating left anywhere, so we just called it a night. It had been another splendidly busy day!
Sun. May 15th
Again we arose early and hit the road – we needed to be out of the parking garage by 11 to avoid being charged ridiculously. Our main destination was Six Flags Fiesta Texas, unique because it’s situated in an old quarry. This was really intriguing to Nate, but I don’t think he was as impressed by it as he’d hoped. The quarry is cool, but it only skirts a couple rides, so most of the park doesn’t really feel that quarryish. I’d been to this park before, and while it’s ok, it’s not my favorite. Most Six Flags parks tend to feel the same after a while.
Luckily I had recently bought my first Six Flags season pass in years at Great America, so not only was I able to get in for free, I also had a coupon to get Nate in for half price! While waiting in line to get in, we were approached by an employee who wanted to do a survey, and I’m always happy to oblige, park fan that I am. He was impressed by all the parks we’d visited and had a wealth of his own questions about them. He asked what our favorite Six Flags were, and I think he was rather bummed that I didn’t say Fiesta Texas. Oh well!
Once we entered the park, we made a mad dash for Goliath, the new (to me) inverted roller coaster. Luckily it was just inside the gate, and we nearly walked on. I’m not sure how the height compares, but the elements were identical to the original Batman, and in exactly the same order. This is interesting because Great White at Sea World San Antonio is a perfect clone of the original Batman. Oh well, I’m probably the only person who notices these things! It’s still a solid, fun ride, and another credit in my book! Woo hoo!
From Goliath, we ran over to the resident Boomerang. I’m not a big fan of Boomerangs, and I almost sat this one out, but then I figured it’d be a waste not to ride it, so I joined Nate in line. Boomerangs are built by Vekoma, a manufacturer notorious for making painful rides, but if you pay attention, you can find a seat that is less unpleasant. As a rule, the front seat of any car isn’t too bad, and just our luck, there was a seat available! So Nate and I ran over and grabbed it for our second walk-on of the day. We sat there as the lift chain pulled us backwards, up, higher and higher, until the mechanism released us and sent us careening through the cobra roll, and then through a vertical loop before being pulled up the second incline and being released to experience it all again backwards. To my joy, the ride was actually bearable and even, might I say, enjoyable!
We pulled back into the station and they buzzed the harnesses to release us. Everyone around us exited, and we were still struggling with our harnesses. They kept buzzing us, and eventually the ride ops came over to try to get us out. It was all for naught. They told us they’d send us through again, and hopefully whatever was wrong would work itself out on the next ride. So off we went again, looping and swirling. Upon our return, the same thing happened. Despite this, they opted to send us through yet again, heads swimming through the inversions. Upon this third ride, Nate and I both had about had it. I was starting to feel the panic of claustrophobia setting in as the harness sat snugly against me. I was having visions of having to spend the rest of the day, or longer, stuck inside these restraints. It was getting hard to breathe. Panic. Panic!! And Nate certainly didn’t want to be tossed through the ride again. Luckily this time they shut the ride down and called maintenance. They were there within 10 minutes and had to open the backs of our seats to release us. Fortunately, when the harnesses fail on these rides, they tend to fail in a closed mode, rather than tossing a rider (which could have happened had they not planned for such – thank you, engineers!). In a few more minutes, we were free, and everyone who remained in the station cheered and applauded. I felt like it was for us, even though it was probably for the fact that they could ride the damn thing, finally…crazy people. Hehe.
From then on, we made our way around the park, hitting the excellent mine train: the Road Runner Express, and the enormous wooden Rattler which was much less painful than I remembered from last time. It actually went through a hole in the wall of the quarry, and its intensity made it seem like it could fall apart at any moment. It was quite fun, but definitely a one-time ride due to the long lines.
We also did the water raft ride on which we got soaked, and the train which also went through a tunnel in the quarry. Then we did Superman Krypton Coaster, a solid floorless coaster that skirted the edge of the quarry. We worked our way over to Pandemonium, the spinning coaster that was also new to me. We did the Ferris wheel, a good Scooby Doo themed dark ride that involved shooting targets, the flume, the old fashioned cars, and Poltergeist – a launched roller coaster that looks like an incomprehensible bowl of spaghetti. Nate also noticed that there were kiddy teacups that were themed around beer. Teach ‘em young, Texas! Too funny.
With the long lines and very few inspiring rides, we took off once we’d had our fill of everything. On our way out, I’d remembered that we passed a brew pub right at the entrance to the park, so we headed over to check that out. BJ’s Brewhouse is apparently a chain out of California, but it was new to us, and it appeared they brewed their beer on-site. So we had dinner and sampled all their brews. It was all pretty good, and I’m glad we stopped. Then we headed back up to the Motel 6 we stayed at the first night, reserved a room, and Nate took a long nap due to a migraine. I think we actually just called it an early night. It had been a crazy amount of adventuring, considering we hadn’t done a big trip in a long while, and it was finally starting to take its toll.
Mon. May 16th
This was our last day in lovely San Antonio, and we still had a lot we wanted to do. Luckily, Nate was feeling considerably better, so we headed back out to the Riverwalk. We made a mad dash to the ticket booth for boat tours. We only had a smidgeon of time before we had to be back at the airport, so we were really lucky to catch the boat that was sitting there before it took off. The half hour tour was absolutely worth the $8. We floated along the canals, and our guide pointed out things we never would have noticed merely walking along, from architectural tidbits, to historical ones. We even floated right past the hotel at which Carol Burnett was born! It was fascinating, and extremely informative, not to mention brilliantly relaxing. I would highly recommend making a point to ride the boats while in San Antonio.
After the cruise, we had a bit more time to spare, so we headed up to street level to check out the Alamo, since that’s basically the thing you HAVE to do when you visit San Antonio. Now, both Nate and I had been here before, but we still thought we should check it out. Last time I was here, my friend had been told to ask to see the basement of the Alamo. I was sure that was a joke of some sort, and I told her so, but she still asked our guide about it and nearly got laughed out of the place. Then I saw “PeeWee’s Big Adventure.” Yeah, there’s not basement to the Alamo…no bike, either! Hehe. Anyway, Nate and I did a whirlwind foot tour of the place, got a quick bite to eat at the food court on the Riverwalk, and then retreated back to the car. I noted how safe I felt in San Antonio. It was probably the most comfortable American city I’ve had the pleasure of exploring. I guess it’s also touted as one of the safest cities in America. You can really feel it, and it was a huge contrast to the much smaller city of Austin. I absolutely love everything about San Antonio. If it would snow there, it’d be my favorite city! (Though I’m not really sure which city would be, even with snow, so perhaps San Antonio gets that honor.)
We dropped off our rental car and headed back to the airport to go our separate ways. It was a fantastic trip, and already we’re excitedly planning our next one. It was a perfect anniversary week.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Vampirized!
In honor of Valentine's Day, the BioPark ran a number of programs involving the mating systems of various organisms. Our particular program was entitled "Love Bugs," and we aimed to have a number of arthropods on display that would exhibit a number of unusual mating systems. One of the most unusual insects, in terms of its mating style, is the bed bug, so we set out on a quest to obtain a number of specimens. I spent several days contacting local pest control companies, many of whom probably thought I was pranking them. I also contacted a few known bed bug researchers, several of whom either did not call me back or were dead ends.
On the Wednesday before the event, I finally managed to reach a fellow from Virginia Tech who was working with an active colony. He was kind enough to ship about 50 bed bugs to us overnight, also providing us with a wealth of information on care and upkeep. I set the critters up under the microscope so the event's attendees could finally see what these creatures actually look like. We discussed its violent mating technique, as well (the male essentially stabs the female's abdomen and deposits his sperm in the body cavity with the hopes that some reach the egg). After the event ended, we were left with a decision: should we maintain the colony or euthanize it?
Now, in all the Insectariums I have visited, I have NEVER seen a bed bug exhibit, so we decided we had something really unique and special. They are relevant to society, and incredibly interesting, so letting such an important specimen escape us seemed wrong. The main issue would be feeding...how, and on WHOM.
Well, I decided immediately that I would be the host. So long as none could escape, I wouldn't mind sacrificing a little of my blood to keep these critters around. They aren't vectors for disease, so my only concern would be how it would feel. But I didn't really have to worry about that until the following Wednesday...which was today!
After I'd finished all the chores I could possibly think of, that left only one thing...me and my collection of bloodthirsty arthropods. I sat down at my computer and regarded my congregation of critters. They were in a small jar that had a finely meshed screen hot glued around one end. Supposedly I should just put the screen against my arm, and for the next 12 minutes, they would do the rest. After much stalling, I finally gathered my courage and placed it to my arm.
The normally mellow bugs suddenly scurried about frantically. They knew their next blood meal was near. From the larger adults down to the tiny nymphs, they migrated quickly to the screen, and then I felt it. Tiny, prickly stabs that absolutely wigged me out! It wasn't exactly painful, just weird and really creepy. I had to stop. I waited a couple minutes and tried again, but it was just too disturbing...but I HAD to do this thing! My unique little arthropods had to live off something, er, someONE!
I decided to numb the area, to lessen the effect. I iced my arm for a good 10 minutes before mustering up the nerve to try again. And this time, I did it. I held the jar tightly against my arm and saw the bugs congregate. This time, though, I felt nothing...just the frenzied excitement from my critters. I opted to hold the jar down for an additional 5 minutes because I wasn't sure that they were feeding when my skin was so cold. After about 6 minutes, I could start to feel the prickling again, and it got pretty itchy. Still, it wasn't so bad, and I manned up for the next 11 minutes, watching in awe as the tiny, pale bed bugs morphed into plump, red capsules of blood...MY blood.
I had been told that females and people with high melanin levels tend to react more strongly to bed bug bites. Seeing as how I am female and extremely pale, I wasn't sure what to expect. Luckily, save for a bit of red bumpiness that went away within an hour, it didn't really affect me at all. In fact, if anything, it was kind of a rush! I'll be doing weekly feedings from now on, so it's good that I got used to it quickly. I find it amusing that I'm intentionally nourishing one of nature's most reviled pests...but they just want to survive like the rest of us! They're my pet project now, and I'm pretty excited for its uniqueness, if nothing else. Ah, the things I do for the love of my job!
On the Wednesday before the event, I finally managed to reach a fellow from Virginia Tech who was working with an active colony. He was kind enough to ship about 50 bed bugs to us overnight, also providing us with a wealth of information on care and upkeep. I set the critters up under the microscope so the event's attendees could finally see what these creatures actually look like. We discussed its violent mating technique, as well (the male essentially stabs the female's abdomen and deposits his sperm in the body cavity with the hopes that some reach the egg). After the event ended, we were left with a decision: should we maintain the colony or euthanize it?
Now, in all the Insectariums I have visited, I have NEVER seen a bed bug exhibit, so we decided we had something really unique and special. They are relevant to society, and incredibly interesting, so letting such an important specimen escape us seemed wrong. The main issue would be feeding...how, and on WHOM.
Well, I decided immediately that I would be the host. So long as none could escape, I wouldn't mind sacrificing a little of my blood to keep these critters around. They aren't vectors for disease, so my only concern would be how it would feel. But I didn't really have to worry about that until the following Wednesday...which was today!
After I'd finished all the chores I could possibly think of, that left only one thing...me and my collection of bloodthirsty arthropods. I sat down at my computer and regarded my congregation of critters. They were in a small jar that had a finely meshed screen hot glued around one end. Supposedly I should just put the screen against my arm, and for the next 12 minutes, they would do the rest. After much stalling, I finally gathered my courage and placed it to my arm.
The normally mellow bugs suddenly scurried about frantically. They knew their next blood meal was near. From the larger adults down to the tiny nymphs, they migrated quickly to the screen, and then I felt it. Tiny, prickly stabs that absolutely wigged me out! It wasn't exactly painful, just weird and really creepy. I had to stop. I waited a couple minutes and tried again, but it was just too disturbing...but I HAD to do this thing! My unique little arthropods had to live off something, er, someONE!
I decided to numb the area, to lessen the effect. I iced my arm for a good 10 minutes before mustering up the nerve to try again. And this time, I did it. I held the jar tightly against my arm and saw the bugs congregate. This time, though, I felt nothing...just the frenzied excitement from my critters. I opted to hold the jar down for an additional 5 minutes because I wasn't sure that they were feeding when my skin was so cold. After about 6 minutes, I could start to feel the prickling again, and it got pretty itchy. Still, it wasn't so bad, and I manned up for the next 11 minutes, watching in awe as the tiny, pale bed bugs morphed into plump, red capsules of blood...MY blood.
I had been told that females and people with high melanin levels tend to react more strongly to bed bug bites. Seeing as how I am female and extremely pale, I wasn't sure what to expect. Luckily, save for a bit of red bumpiness that went away within an hour, it didn't really affect me at all. In fact, if anything, it was kind of a rush! I'll be doing weekly feedings from now on, so it's good that I got used to it quickly. I find it amusing that I'm intentionally nourishing one of nature's most reviled pests...but they just want to survive like the rest of us! They're my pet project now, and I'm pretty excited for its uniqueness, if nothing else. Ah, the things I do for the love of my job!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)