When we last left our adventurers, they were in Austin for a wedding. Having known that this wedding would be the Saturday before the NCAA basketball championship, they made plans to be in Arlington that Monday for the big game...
Ok, I can't use third person the entire post. We did go to Arlington on Monday, theoretically to go to the championship game. We kept perusing stub hub for tickets, but the available tickets were fairly expensive (for obvious reasons) and far away from the court. The game was in Cowboys Stadium (officially AT&T stadium) which is a gigantic arena and one could end up miles from the court at the highest points. Plus, the game was Connecticut-Kentucky, and not one that I cared to see that much. S's beloved badgers had lost in a heartbreaker on Saturday, in the same fashion as UVA and UNC had lost that year. This basketball season took years off of my life, I do believe. Spoiler alert: we did not go to the game. But we didn't know that until just a few minutes before tip off.
We headed to the stadium area, which of course I had never seen before. The stadium where the Rangers play is right next to AT&T so we got to see both of those (from the outside). They had a booming pre-game party, which I wish we had gotten to earlier, but we were (unsuccessfully) trying to meet up with my sister in Fort Worth (see upcoming part 3). We never did figure out if you had to have tickets to enter the actual party, but we heard the band playing as we were standing to the side of the stage. At first, I thought it was just a band playing covers, but eventually S asks, "wait, is that actually Kid Rock?" Yes, it was. The pre-party featured live concerts by Kid Rock and the Killers, so note to future NCAA goers, go to the pregame party, it's worth it.
We watched fans go into the stadium area for a while and checked stubhub to see if any enticing offers arose. We noticed that many fans were not wearing UConn or UK gear, and some weren't even wearing basketball gear! What a funny situation to just wear any type of sports gear to the biggest college basketball game (well, maybe a three-way tie between the two UNC-dook games) of the year.
The sky began to ominously darken and clouds were rolling in right before tip off so we began to look for sports bars nearby. When the temperature suddenly dropped and it looked like a tornado might hit any minute, we ran for the closest establishment, a random Mexican place. It was practically empty, save for a few employees from other restaurants who seemed to be visiting their friends at this one. We enjoyed the game there, and luckily Kentucky lost. I am glad we saved the money we would have spent on the game and just enjoyed ourselves with some enchiladas instead. Stay tuned to see what our adventurers will do next!
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Texas Three Step - Part 1: Austin
Hi friends and readers!
I am writing this post on a lovely Memorial Day Sunday, looking back on another warm trip, to Texas! I'm calling this the Texas Three Step, which is a nod to the three cities we visited while we were there.
Step One: Austin
We headed to Austin first, for a wedding. I LOVED Austin. It reminded me of a bigger Asheville, probably not a coincidence since Asheville models themselves off of Austin's set up. The city is in the midst of expanding, while trying to keep its local spirit, and the evidence of that struggle was all around (and not just in the iconic "Keep Austin Weird" stickers).
Lodging: We stayed two nights with one of Scott's friends and one night in the Stephen F. Austin hotel. The hotel was very nice, but a little out of our price range normally, particularly without free wi-fi. That happens to be a pet peeve of mine in today's world of almost ubiquitous internet.
Food: obviously there are clear to-dos for food when you get to Texas: burgers, tex mex, and barbecue. We tried to hit all the major food groups. For burgers, we went to Jackalope. It was a quirky little place, that had Back to the Future playing in the background and people taking shots at noon (Austin REALLY parties). The burger was great though.
For Tex Mex, we tried this place a little off of the main stretch for Mexican/Pacific fusion food - Hula Hut. Their gluten free options were not bountiful, but they knew what they were talking about at least. Not my favorite place, but it was fine.
My favorite meal was Bangers (not the Miley Cyrus tour, thank goodness). It was a delicious sausage place with a large beer menu and family style tables. It was on Rainey Street, a street of old houses converted to bars and restaurants -- a bunch of those places are being bought out by apartment complexes so it was cool to visit that before the culture changed too much.
Nightlife: Austin has some great and quirky bars. We went to Key Bar a few times, on West 6th street. It was nice to be outside on their porch, since we had left a chilly Philly behind. We also visited the Tiniest Bar in Texas, which seemed normal-sized to me, but I guess everything IS bigger, there. My favorite was the container bar, literally built of shipping containers (on Rainey street). I can imagine that this would be a little stuffy in the heat of summer but for an April evening, it was perfect.
I will post pictures and the rest of the trip soon.
I am writing this post on a lovely Memorial Day Sunday, looking back on another warm trip, to Texas! I'm calling this the Texas Three Step, which is a nod to the three cities we visited while we were there.
Step One: Austin
We headed to Austin first, for a wedding. I LOVED Austin. It reminded me of a bigger Asheville, probably not a coincidence since Asheville models themselves off of Austin's set up. The city is in the midst of expanding, while trying to keep its local spirit, and the evidence of that struggle was all around (and not just in the iconic "Keep Austin Weird" stickers).
Lodging: We stayed two nights with one of Scott's friends and one night in the Stephen F. Austin hotel. The hotel was very nice, but a little out of our price range normally, particularly without free wi-fi. That happens to be a pet peeve of mine in today's world of almost ubiquitous internet.
Food: obviously there are clear to-dos for food when you get to Texas: burgers, tex mex, and barbecue. We tried to hit all the major food groups. For burgers, we went to Jackalope. It was a quirky little place, that had Back to the Future playing in the background and people taking shots at noon (Austin REALLY parties). The burger was great though.
For Tex Mex, we tried this place a little off of the main stretch for Mexican/Pacific fusion food - Hula Hut. Their gluten free options were not bountiful, but they knew what they were talking about at least. Not my favorite place, but it was fine.
My favorite meal was Bangers (not the Miley Cyrus tour, thank goodness). It was a delicious sausage place with a large beer menu and family style tables. It was on Rainey Street, a street of old houses converted to bars and restaurants -- a bunch of those places are being bought out by apartment complexes so it was cool to visit that before the culture changed too much.
Nightlife: Austin has some great and quirky bars. We went to Key Bar a few times, on West 6th street. It was nice to be outside on their porch, since we had left a chilly Philly behind. We also visited the Tiniest Bar in Texas, which seemed normal-sized to me, but I guess everything IS bigger, there. My favorite was the container bar, literally built of shipping containers (on Rainey street). I can imagine that this would be a little stuffy in the heat of summer but for an April evening, it was perfect.
I will post pictures and the rest of the trip soon.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Spring Break, or Something Like That
The worst part about full-time employment is the lack of regular breaks, like summer or spring break. The best part is having the resources to buy trips, particularly now that my friends are spread around the country. The even better way to do this is to buy other things, get points from those things, then get the trips for free. Thus, how I went to Orlando for practically nothing.
I am a very brand loyal person. It takes a lot for me to switch coffee places or clothing stores, once I've found something I like. This makes for great points-earning situations. I got two credit cards recently: one for Marriott, and one for US Air. For the US Air, I waited until a deal was offered on a flight, because usually these deals offer more miles in a smaller amount of time (as long as I used the credit card for most of my purchases within that time period). The card not only earns points more quickly, but also makes redeeming the points easier, since award travel requires fewer points for card members. It also comes with a $99 companion ticket once a year.
I think I also got a deal from Marriott, but just in the mail. We frequently stayed at Marriott hotels growing up, because my parents are Platinum there, and that means the incredible club level experience. This usually means breakfast, appetizers, dessert, drinks all day (mostly diet coke), and free internet/computers. By getting the credit card, I automatically got silver status, and a certain amount of points as well. Silver only offers a few perks, but the card also makes it easier to get to gold. Plus, the card comes with a free night voucher.
So with these credit cards, I earned some major points right off the bat. I used the US Air points for my flight and only had to pay $35 for a round-trip to Orlando. I used the Marriott points for a weekend stay at a hotel very close to Universal studios. My friend and I went to Islands of Adventure, including the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was so much fun, and I am looking forward to returning when they expand the Harry Potter section this summer. I would suggest drinking a butterbeer (despite the name, non-alcholic) but I heard there may be gluten in the frozen topping, so be wary. For dinner, we ate at Antojitos, the mexican restaurant at city walk. It was delicious and they knew their stuff when it came to gluten free.
The next day we did some damage at the outlet stores. For consistency, I spent the most money at Ann Taylor, my favorite clothing store of them all. I told you, very brand loyal.
I am a very brand loyal person. It takes a lot for me to switch coffee places or clothing stores, once I've found something I like. This makes for great points-earning situations. I got two credit cards recently: one for Marriott, and one for US Air. For the US Air, I waited until a deal was offered on a flight, because usually these deals offer more miles in a smaller amount of time (as long as I used the credit card for most of my purchases within that time period). The card not only earns points more quickly, but also makes redeeming the points easier, since award travel requires fewer points for card members. It also comes with a $99 companion ticket once a year.
I think I also got a deal from Marriott, but just in the mail. We frequently stayed at Marriott hotels growing up, because my parents are Platinum there, and that means the incredible club level experience. This usually means breakfast, appetizers, dessert, drinks all day (mostly diet coke), and free internet/computers. By getting the credit card, I automatically got silver status, and a certain amount of points as well. Silver only offers a few perks, but the card also makes it easier to get to gold. Plus, the card comes with a free night voucher.
So with these credit cards, I earned some major points right off the bat. I used the US Air points for my flight and only had to pay $35 for a round-trip to Orlando. I used the Marriott points for a weekend stay at a hotel very close to Universal studios. My friend and I went to Islands of Adventure, including the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was so much fun, and I am looking forward to returning when they expand the Harry Potter section this summer. I would suggest drinking a butterbeer (despite the name, non-alcholic) but I heard there may be gluten in the frozen topping, so be wary. For dinner, we ate at Antojitos, the mexican restaurant at city walk. It was delicious and they knew their stuff when it came to gluten free.
The next day we did some damage at the outlet stores. For consistency, I spent the most money at Ann Taylor, my favorite clothing store of them all. I told you, very brand loyal.
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