This American Summer

Day 13
Sat June 14, 2008
Destination: Dallas/Fort Worth area
Stayed with Alex’s grandparents in Kennedale, TX

Alicia made yummy breakfast - scrambled eggs, pancakes, potatoes, orange juice
went to Mike’s bamboo farm in the morning, got a tour of the place
mike told us about bamboo on camera
i played with dogs, watched them play, took pictures
met Mike’s mom - she has a chocolate colored dachshund
she let us use her internet to upload dairy farm video

alicia made us lunch - turkey sandwiches, pickles, chips, and cold water

I was supposed to drive,  but couldn’t keep my eyes open for some reason, switched out with Alex. Got to his aunt’s house, ate dinner from Chicken Express: fried catfish, fried chicken, fried okra, fried corn, hushpuppies, dublin dr pepper

slept at his grandparent’s house - backyards are connected, in fact a path leads from one backdoor to the other, but in different towns.

Day 14
Sun June 15, 2008
Destination: San Antonio, TX
At the Guerra home

alex’s aunt fed us pancake breakfast

stopped in Austin
ate at Texas Chili Parlor: we all had Habanero Chili bowls
I got guacamole on the side
Alex got Mad Dog Margarita

then walked around Austin
found bookstore called Brave New Books
kind of a Ron Paul shrine
books on conspiracy theories, secret societies
i got a little sick - think it was overload of food, esp. fried food the day before.
talked to guy running bookstore, gave him a flyer, got some dvds on world conspiracies

got to alex’s house
parents were like, omg you said you’d be here at 6:40pm, its 6:41! haha
first thing alex’s dad did was give us cocktails
i had a Pegu Club
he is a cocktail connoisseur, gave me lots of good book titles to look up

took us to Saltgrass Steakhouse for dinner
amazing steak, really good food in general
Texas hospitality = tons of food OMG
they also ordered lots of dessert
the cheesecake = orgasmic

came home, we all collapsed
alex’s dad started cooking pork “slow and low” for pulled pork at tomorrow’s dinner bbq

Day 15
Mon June 16, 2008
Stayed in San Antonio
spent the day at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, TX (about 30 minutes away)

ate breakfast tacos, then headed to Schlitterbahn
took alex’s younger brother gabriel with us - we call him goober
Schlitterbahn = huge water-based theme park
started in Schlitterbahn West
got some tubes and rode a bunch of tube rides

then took the tram to Schlitterbahn East
went to the Wave Pool, except more like wave donut
climbed through a “pirate ship” and took a slide down that
then got in line for Master Blaster - like a rollercoaster, the ride has water jets that push you up the slide sometimes
ride was two person per rubber boat
alex and goober went first
then me and david
“i scream when i’m having fun”
next tried a boogie boarding ride
then decided to take a short water slide back into wave pool
it had backjets - david lost his glasses
spent rest of time floating around wave pool looking for his glasses
we all got very tan/burned

left around 5:30pm
alex’s relatives and friends came over for dinner bbq
dinner: ribs, pulled pork, beans, salad, coleslaw; dessert: bread pudding, something else
lots of beer and cocktails (started with an Aviator), we were all pretty tipsy the whole evening
had my first Shiner Black Lager - <3! I’ve discovered my favorite beer!!
met lots of cool people
again, food coma, fell asleep before midnight

Day 16
Tue June 17, 2008
Stayed in San Antonio

david and alex went to the mall to get new glasses for david
i stayed behind to edit video, worked on lacie madison episode
also started roughing tanner’s episode

they came back, we had lunch - alex’s mom’s soup, yum yum
shredded chicken in broth with vegetables and noodles, added hot sauce, very delicious
did more work on episodes, budget, travel planner, etc; got lots of little bits of work done
exported lacie madison’s episode, started cleaning up tanner’s rough cut
watched Futurama movie
miss christina made brownies, ate brownies and ice cream

went to Longhorn cafe for burgers
excellent onion rings and fries
i had guacamole burger yum yum! and another Shiner Black
at outside in the back - wooden picnic benches, slide and climbing structure for kids to play on in one corner

came back home, watched Be Kind Rewind
drank Sidecars (another cocktail)
again, food coma, fell asleep pretty early