St. Louis Road Trip.....

This weekend we went to St. Louis on a rooooaaaaad trip! It was brilliant. 11 of us went and Crabbers (Andy) and Kacy organised the whole thing and it was so much fun. The drive was 5 hours each way (yep...as much as driving to Scotland and back) and in our car was me, Lauryl, Suze and the Wang. Poor Wang had to put up with us talking absolute rubbish - like girls do - including chapters from tickle his pickle - but he took it all in good spirit.

On the Friday, when we arrived we met up with the others and went for dinner and wine. We then ended up in an Irish bar that was playing country and western music - like all good Irish bars do - it was hilarious! There was a real mix of people including hill billies (hope that's PC) and even a bride and groom and their wedding party. The red wine was the worst red wine I've ever had (like gut rot!) and it was weird that people were still aloud to smoke inside bars - apparently that rule hasn't reached STL yet.

On the Saturday morning after a giant American breakfast (where Suzy stole the muffins) we went to the Budweiser factory for the tour. It was really good fun, apart from the horses - not really sure of the significance of the horses, but I'm sure I was there to see and drink beer - not animals!

After the tour we went straight to watch the baseball - The Cardinals - and crumbs was the stadium impressive. (The photo below on the right is what I took from the top of the Arch looking down at the stadium). Very different to Wrigley (cubs) and Cellular (white sox) - absolutely massive, filled with red and white and the atmosphere was electric.

It was a roasting day and we managed to blag our way into the bleachers, so we were in the Sun (our stand was in the shade, so that was not good!) drinking beer and just having a good old crack. We met loads of different fans, including Cubs and LA Dodgers, a couple of lesbians, and everyone was up for the banter.

We did try to start a Mexican wave but the crowd were having none of it! The Cardinals lost - but Crabbers being a Cards fan hid his disappointment well (although perhaps that accounts for him googling everything when he was steamed that evening).

After the game, we went back to the hotel, had some beers and then rocked out to the landings, which was a cool bar area. We ended up going to the best bar in the World ever - called big Daddy's - I'm not sure how they substantiate this claim - but when they gave us tickets for 2-4-1 drinks, we were there with bells on. We had dinner and drinks - and even a rumblemint (yes Cousins, you can get rumblemints in the US) and then danced the night away. The dancing was immense and there was some shapes thrown around by our group that I'm sure STL have not seen before. Even the crunk came out! (And wang had a dance-off to Footloose!)

On the Sunday, we shimmied up the Arch to the viewing area which was lovely and great views of the city. A very impressive bridge and nearly old Eads is up there with our Brunel.

Highlights were:

- The Arch and the river - just so so pretty and unexpected

- The prawn (shrimp) skewers - right good and only 7 bucks

- The best bar in the world ever (apparently) and the shenanigans that went on inside

- Crabbers trying to go to Vegas at 1am

- Wang saying he loved all the girls in STL - way hotter than Chi - apparently!

- RUMBLEMINTS....

....I'm thinking that would make a good wedding present for Cousin Stu....! (as long as Webbo doesn't set the bar alight again!)

And I got my 'Bucks mug from St. Louis - complete with Arch on the front - great success.

Wisteria Lane

This week I've done a bit more travelling with work - only whistle stop tours, but they always give me the appetite to explore the massive country that is the US of A a bit more. San Diego was my first stop and what a beautiful place - Cali is definitely up there in my top destinations so far, so I can't wait to see some more places including SanFran. The weather was lush and the people I met were lovely. I then drove (well my colleague drove and I watched) from San Diego to LA - about 2 hour drive and most of it along the coast. We stayed in a hilarious hotel that was full of uber cool people. The bar had a lady whaling down a microphone, trying to be like our Flo but no where near as good and there were cool chill out areas and carpet on the ceiling (which was bizarre, but maybe I need to improve my interior design knowledge)

I then went to Hollywood to Universal Studios and what a fun day! I got to go around all the park and do the tour of the studios including where Jessica Fletcher used to film murder she wrote (pic to the right), where Jaws was filmed (pic to the left) - which scared me half to death when the robot jaws came crashing out of the water, I nearly dropped my camera. And there were lots of other sets - that I should really remember but I'm terrible at remembering films - The 'your a rotter Mr Grinch' and there was one though that was a massive plane crash - that was cool.

But the highlight though was definitely Wisteria Lane and The Desperate Housewives set - amazing. And the houses were gorgeous with the little picket fences and beautiful gardens. Unfortunately Mr Solius wasn't there...

And I got my Starbucks mug from Cali for the collection....Whoop!

The Cubs' newest fan....

I just had to add this. This is my nephew (for those that haven't heard me wax lyrical about him) and his new Cubs shirt. Just lush. I'm thinking beauty pagents next....

Audra's Birthday....and errrr wigs

On Tuesday it was Audra's birthday. Now Nat told us it was a wig dinner, so Suzy and I donned our wigs and turned up to the restaurant to find the others weren't wearing one - they had forgotten! So we looked like right royal idiots, but it didn't matter one iota.

We had massive steaks and chunky chips and the food was lovely. The restaurant was called Folkhouse in Wicker Park area and was Argentinian....yummy.



Auds (aka Amy Winehouse) got a tattoo for her birthday, so she was loving it - and a squirrel lamp - that was just weird!

Suze even got us a souvenir from the restaurant.

Turtle Racing....

So for the Wang's birthday he decided he wanted to go Turtle Racing....oh yes, there's a pub where you go, drink copious amounts of beer and watch turtles race. Brilliant!

So, me, Suze and the Val got glammed up and went to one of our favourite bars for appetizers and cocktails. Friday night is $5 martini's in Sopo and we love it. 3 martini's later, I was well on my way to bet and maybe even throw a few turtles.

So how does this turtle concept work. All will be revealed (and I'm so bringing this back to Brissle...the Bristolians would love it!) Every time you buy drinks you get given a raffle ticket and if your number gets called up, you are in and racing. You pick a ball with a number and that's your turtle in the race.

Hilariously so, were the names of the turtles. Lucky Dan (which was my sodding turtle) was absolutely pony. But even more funny was Doozy - this is what we call Dusty and Suzy - Doozy. Doozy was also half dead.

Now interestingly enough, turtles don't do a lot - especially the big fat one, so for anyone going again, don't pick the giant one. Lola - number 2 always wins. Well she was a show girl after all and I think she's just bloody hungry.

A highlight of the evening was sticky a sign that was on the door of the loo to Suze's back...it took her about 20 minutes to realise and that was after we made her pose for photos!

So, out of the group I think we had some great success. Everyone was steamed and Virginia and Fire Crotch were in the final and Fire Crotch won. At one stage I thought a turtle had peed on my foot, but I think Bart just spilt his beer (well I bloody hope so!)

And this dude is the turtle keeper (with appropriate turtle hat). He wouldn't have a photo with me until I said I'd travelled all the way from England to come turtle racing....these Yanks will believe anything ;0)