Browse Month: December 2005

Cheese-town

OK. St. Augustine may be the “Oldest City in the U.S.” with the “Oldest Schoolhouse” and cobblestone streets but I’m not sure it really needs to have tourist traps. This morning, I went on a hunt for the “Fountain of Youth” discovered by Ponce De Leon. Ryan, Michelle, and I tried to take the trolley tour but it was going to cost 18 bucks. So, we grabbed a free map and took a little walk down the street. After some wrong turns and some problem-solving, we found it. It’s too bad it looked like a rundown Santa’s Village with creepy Christmas music playing overhead and an awesome statue of Ponce De Leon out front. They charged us $5 to get in to see the “Fountain of Youth” and Ryan claimed me as his sister so I could get the AAA discount of 50 cents off…hm…me? Sister of the whitey? Interesting. Anyway, we got a sip of the Fountain of Youth…questionable and we’ll probably get cholera. They even had a fake planetarium with a huge glowing Earth with a cheesy voice overhead explaining the different route that Columbus and other explorers took. It was hilarious and Ryan said it was like a Monty Python spoof. Well, that’s $5 I won’t be seeing ever again.
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After check-out, all seven of us piled into the mini-van and went to the Kennedy Space Center on our way to Orlando. With some more wrong turns and directions from a kick-ass old man at the gas station, we found it. Since it was already 4 pm, we only paid $10 to get in and got to see the Rocket Garden, go inside the Space Shuttle, and check out the new Space Shuttle Memorial. It was cool…it’s just too bad that our space program is so sucky right now. Jes was saying how this place would have been so cool in uh…1984! On our way to the condo, we stopped on the side of the road and saw a pod of dolphins hanging out by where we stopped. We caught a glimpse of a few of them coming up for air one at a time and ended up with stinky fish-smelling flip-flops when we got back in the van. I’m sure Ryan enjoyed that the most…he hates seafood…haha.
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Well, we’re checked into our condo and we saved $59/person by passing on Medieval Times. Ryan wanted to go so bad but the rest of us were so against and got out of it. We’ve gotta save up for our day at Epcot tomorrow. What an awesome way to spend our time in the campiest state in the country. Yay…Cheese-town!!

Yucky Morning, Beautiful Evening

Last night was fun…probably too much fun. We all met up with G and Dena at some bar down the street and it was a good thing we walked there. It was like a Roebling Reunion with the six boys back together again with me, “Seven”. There was a cowboy singing some oldies and a one-eyed pirate hanging out with the crowd. The walk home was interesting and I’m amazed that we all got back in one piece. Unfortunately, I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and my tummy did like anything I put in it…including water. I missed the apparently scrumptious breakfast at 9 am and had to sleep off my headache until 12 pm. I had to hide under the covers to muffle the sounds of the parade outside and shield my eyes from the sunny morning. Jes even went for a walk with Michelle to check out the parade and colonial reenactment. Luckily, I was feeling better in time to get ready for the wedding that started at 2:00.

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G & Dena got married at a very pretty Catholic church. The historic town made the wedding seem that much more elegant. The guest list was pretty small, which made the church look even bigger. Since it was a traditional Catholic wedding it was about an hour and fifteen minutes long. They left in a white horse-drawn carriage with champagne for a ride around the town. In the meantime, the rest of us looked for a sports bar so we could watch the beginning of what turned out to be a very pathetic game between UCLA and USC. Cocktail Hour and Dinner was at Casa Monica, a really pretty castle-like hotel and unfortunately the Best Man’s speech was pretty painful. It reminded me of Victor’s “Free Kobe” speech a couple years ago.

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Well, I’m back at the B&B while the others went on to the next waterin’ hole. I need to get some sleep…this morning was rough.

Roundhouse kicked to St. Augustine

I woke up today at 6:30 am PST for a long travel day. One of Jes’ old roommates, Gerard, is getting married on Saturday and the rest of the Roebling House is going out there to help celebrate. After a 5-hour non-stop flight from LAX to Orlando (MCO), waiting an hour for the melters to arrive, driving another 2 hours in our rental mini-van, we arrived in the oldest U.S. city by 10:00 pm EST.
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The journey to St. Augustine had its moments.
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Jes and I couldn’t get upgraded because they only had one opening for us. Instead, we sat together in Economy Plus, which wasn’t bad. It was just really dry in the cabin and I had a bad case of the sniffles. At the airport, we went to Borders to buy a book or two. I thought I’d try out the Sudoku craze and bought a book of puzzles to try. Maybe it will be a good activity for the flight to Thailand.
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Eventually Bang, Vyl, Ryan, Michelle, and Tob arrived and we took a really long shuttle ride to get our dope ride. In the mini-van, we frantically searched for a place to eat. We ended up at Waffle House per the request of Vyl, our Southern girl. The diner was pretty ghetto with an interesting set of “characters” who worked there. First was our server who was missing some of her front teeth, then there was the cook who ended up making us two of everything on accident, and then the other server who was a portly woman and very protective of the dishtowel she brought from home. I guess you had to be there. Anyway, I had some waffles and cardboard sausage patties, Michelle had some grits, Ryan tried the hashbrowns with chili and cheese on top, and Bang had a gray steak with his eggs. The remainder of the drive to St. Augustine included stupid yet hilarious Chuck Norris jokes, Bang’s runny nose, and making fun of Tob, as usual.
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We checked into the B&B on 63 Orange St., which is owned by a nice lady named Jackie. I had never stayed at a B&B before so I had no idea what to expect. Jes wasn’t too pumped about the accommodations but I thought it would be a good experience. It’s basically a really old house and we each took a different room of the house. We stayed in the room that once belonged to a girl named Effie (one of the four sisters in the family). There was a guest book in the room that gave us a bit of history about the house and the room. It said that when she lived there, her mother was a widow and would rent out their rooms for some income. When guests stayed over, all the sisters had to sleep in the attic. Oooo…spooky. Jackie did mention that some same the house and town is haunted…this is going to be an interesting weekend.
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OK, we’re going out for drinks with the bride and groom-to-be now. Let the party begin!