Ants on the Melon
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Auckland

After a 6 hour flight on Thursday, March 4th from New York to Los Angeles, a 3 hour layover in LAX, and a 14 hour flight from L.A. to Auckland, Jason and I finally arrived in New Zealand on Saturday morning to begin our trip.

After making our way through customs we found and hired a “super shuttle” to take us to our hotel. The super shuttles wait until they have a fun van of passengers and then leave for the city and drop the passengers off at their destinations one by one. Imagine our driver as what would happen if the Dukes of Hazzard decided to become taxi drivers in New York. We were in the back of the van, and were the second to last to be dropped off, so when we finally arrived at the Auckland City Hotel Hobson we were on the verge of blowing groceries. Oh well, it didn’t last long, and at least we were now on our own.

By now it is Saturday afternoon, March 6th. While walking around downtown Auckland we stop by Kiwi Country Fried Chicken and Fish, which was not what it sounds like. In fact, it was the best Chinese food I’ve eaten – I had the spicy prawn noodles. After eating we walked down to the piers in the Auckland harbor and checked out the sailboats for a while, and then found a little coffee shop with wifi so we could briefly catch up. Afterwards we took a little break and went back to the hotel to figure out what to do next. (If you remember anything about our last trip, you’ll know that Jason and I don’t make plans. We just wander around and wing it as we go. This works out well for us as we often find things along the way that send us in entirely different directions.)

For dinner Jason found this incredible little authentic Italian restaurant called Covo. We got foccacia bread and caprese for appetizers and then split a large pizza for our main meal. Fantastic stuff. After dinner we walked around the city a bit more before heading up to the top of the Auckland Sky Tower. This is the space needle looking thing that rises above everything else in the Auckland skyline, and there are incredible views from up there. Jason was able to get some nice photos with his slightly-more-expensive-than-a-canon-powershot camera.

The next day, Sunday, we picked up our RV, a Britz Explorer. This whole process was amazingly simple, which sort of became obvious later in the trip when you realize that about 5-10% of all cars on the roads are rental camper vans. The camper was very clean and in great shape when we picked it up. They have you watch a quick 5 minute DVD on how to use all of the electrical and water hookups. After picking up the RV and making a quick stop for groceries, we were on the road!

Tauranga

On Saturday night we were still trying to figure out where we were going to go with the RV once we picked it up. I’m not sure when, but at some point we thought it might be cool to drive east to the coast and stay at Tauranga. We had found what looked to be a pretty cool campsite there, so off we went.

We drove 3 hours southeast to the coastal town of Tauranga. I spent most of the time trying to wrap my brain around driving on the left side of the road. Once you are going it’s fine, but making turns is insanely confusing, especially right-hand turns. It took 3-4 days for me to get comfortable, and even still it seems about once a day Jason reminds me that I’m turning into the wrong lane.

It was around 7pm on Sunday, March 7th when we arrived at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park. This a camper park situated right at the base of the Mount Mauao Reserve (it’s a little mountain), and on the Pacific Ocean. The views from here were really amazing. We wandered around for a bit and then stopped in at Cafe Turkish Delight for dinner. After dinner we found some paths that lead us to the top of a small hill overlooking the ocean, and from up there we noticed that we could walk out to Moturiki Island. On our way down we ran into some guys from Switzerland, Phil and Fabian, and they invited us to join them for a beer at the Mount Mellick Irish Pub, so of course we did. We hung out with them for about 3 hours and chatted about New Zealand (Phil has lived in NZ for the past 4 years), and about travel in general. When Fabian learned we lived in Texas he shouted out “Chuck Norris!”. Yes, that’s right, the Swiss love “Walker, Texas Ranger.”

We’ve been waking up around 6am every morning and so we were able to catch the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean, which was pretty cool. We then headed to the Side Track Cafe for breakfast, which is right on the ocean. After breakfast we cleaned the RV, packed up, and left the camper park. We stopped for lunch at the Gusto Cafe.

Orakei Korako

We left Tauranga around 1pm on our way to Taupo. Along the way we kept seeing these towers of steam everywhere. Curiosity finally killed the cat and we decided to track one of these things down. After driving 30-45 minutes into farming country we ended up at the Orakei Korako cave and thermal park. The thermal activity is fascinating, both visually and audibly. There were bubbling pits of mud, colorful streams of hot water, and a very big cave. Jason got a pretty good video of all of it that I’m sure he’ll post somewhere later.

Taupo and Lake Taupo

After our thermal park detour concluded we continued on down to Taupo. We arrived there around 5pm, drove around a bit, found the harbour, and decided to park for the night at the Absolute Lakeview Motel, which is on the lake and within walking distance of most of the towns restaurants and shops. After getting settled in we walked over to Dixie Brown’s for dinner (because they have free wifi! )

The next morning we were up at 6am to meet Fish Lake Taupo Charters and Grant Lister. Grant is almost the stereotypical fishing captain. Salty, foul-mouthed, and funny as can be, we really enjoyed our day with him. We had a great day on Lake Taupo, and even caught some trout! It is illegal to sell trout here so that the lake isn’t commercially exploited, but you are allowed to take anything you catch to a restaurant and they’ll prepare it for you. We kept three of the trout we caught and hauled them with us down to Wellington where we filleted them and grilled them up ourselves. We thought this was pretty awesome, heh.

Wellington

We woke up at 6am, fished from 8am to 2pm, then drove non-stop for five hours to Wellington. I was pretty tired by the time we got to Wellington. But that was ok, the scenery along the drive was absolutely gorgeous, I’ve never seen anything like it. Once we arrived in Wellington we got slightly lost. Getting lost in a foreign country, driving on the wrong side of the road, in an RV can be a bit frustrating. Eventually we found and stayed at the Top 10 Wellington Holiday Park in Lower Hutt on the other side of the Wellington Harbour, which turned out to be a quite nice place.

Once we parked and plugged in we pulled the three big trout out of the fridge, found a picnic table, and started some really amateur trout filleting work. After the butchering was done some fellow campers loaned us some salt and pepper so we could give the fish a little seasoning, and then Jason cooked it up. To my surprise, it was delicious!

The next morning, Wednesday, we were up at 6am again and drove over to Wellington to explore for the morning. Wellington seems like a really cool town, and reminded me a lot of San Francisco. We parked the RV on the street (almost taking out a stop sign), and wandered down Cuba Street and around the Te Aro district. I can see why Debb and Matt chose Wellington.

We had scheduled a 1pm ride on the ferry to haul us and the RV over to the south island on the
Bluebridge Ferry from Wellington to Picton on the Santa Regina. The ride took about 3.5 hours and was some of the most beautiful water and coastline I’ve ever seen. On the ferry ride across Jason some how ended up in a conversation with a professional illusionist and a 50 year old death metal musician. It was mental!

There’s not much Internet available down here, and when we do find it it’s not free, so we aren’t doing much blogging or posting of photos. That situation may improve once we get to Australia next week. The photos that we are able to upload are available in my gallery.

For a few years now I’ve dreamed of owning a Collings mandolin. I first learned about Collings Guitars shortly after I bought my Taylor, about 5 years ago. If Taylor is the Lexus of guitars then Collings is the Rolls Royce (the comparison in relative price differences holds up too).

I recently discovered the Redbone Guitar Boutique in San Antonio, pretty much by accident. I walked in and talked with Scott Stephens for a while and learned that they carried Collings (as well as G&L!). Scott told me that he personally drives up to the Collings facility outside of Austin to pick up each instrument, so that they never have to be shipped. After I left I started thinking about how neat it would be to custom order a Collings mandolin and be able to personally pick up my instrument from the people who made it. I spent a few more days thinking about whether I wanted to make the financial commitment and once I had I went back to Scott and ordered a Collings MT-O mandolin.

A couple days later Scott called back to tell me that he was arranging a private tour of the Collings facility for Redbone customers, and wanted to know if I was interested. Although Collings normally offers public tours on two Fridays per month, but I had never made time for it. This time I wasn’t going to miss it.

Not including Scott there were only three of us on the tour, which was really nice. Our tour lasted about two hours and we were able to see the entire process from raw wood to finished instruments. I’ve never seen a company so focused on producing perfect products. Everything they do is calculated, yet each instrument is a unique work of art. Every detail is considered, even down to shaving off six thousandths of an inch of finish where the bridge meets the top.

The other thing that struck me while I was there was how honest Collings is as a company. Never once was I told not to take a picture of something, and I even asked (my pictures are here). They are proud of the entire process and welcome you to see it. In order to produce a product of such high quality they have to stay honest. Even home grown innovations such as the machines that Bill Collings built himself are explained to visitors. Most businesses protect their trade secrets and proprietary processes for competitive advantages, but Collings doesn’t need to since the instruments speak for themselves. Even prototypes are destroyed so that no instrument with the Collings name on it goes out without being 100% perfect.

They also aren’t willing to sacrifice quality for quantity. Only about 1500 guitars are produced here per year, and about 500 mandolins, and 500 electric guitars. That comes out to about 7 guitars per day, 3 mandolins, and 3 electrics. And before you think “that sounds like a lot”, consider that is with nearly 70 people working full time – for 13 instruments per day. I think it is awesome that artists produce instruments for other artists.

I would certainly recommend this tour to anyone who lives in South Texas. Even if you aren’t a musician, the tour is fascinating because of the craftsmanship and level of attention to detail they give to every aspect of their work. And at the end a beautiful guitar or mandolin is the result. I can’t wait to pick up mine.

This past summer as my thirtieth birthday began to creep up on me I decided that I wanted to have something fun to look forward when the day finally arrived. I decided that I wanted to celebrate the occasion in Amsterdam.

Prior to this trip I had only spent one day in Amsterdam, when Jason and I visited there in June of 2006. I remembered that the city was beautiful and the people there were very nice.

By way of VRBO I found this great place to stay in the heart of the city called the Amnesia Apartment. It’s a standard Amsterdam style house – tall and thin. The Amnesia is five stories with a room per floor and a jacuzzi on the top floor. There is a tiny, tiny staircase in the back of the building that goes from the kitchen in the basement to the 4th floor bedroom.

Tate and I arrived on Monday morning, October 12th, and Sandy arrived the next day. Once she joined us we starting seeing the sights and eating at some great restaurants. Tate created a Google map of the places we visited during our stay. Here’s a rundown:

Restaurants

• Sama Sebo – This is incredibly good Indonesian food. The guy who picked us up from the airport was half Indonesian and recommended that we eat here. Here’s a picture of us with the spread.
• Japanese Pancake World – This is where we ate dinner on the night of my birthday. It came highly recommended from a friend of a friend who lives in Amsterdam. He was right, this place is amazing! Pictures here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
• d’Vijff Vlieghen – This was a more upper scale Dutch restaurant that Sandy had heard about. Evidently Franklin Roosevelt, Walt Disney, Elvis Presley and many other notable people have eaten here (and they can now add us to the list as well). The food and service were both fantastic. Pictures here, here, here, and here.
• Belgisch Restaurant Lieve – On our final night we ate at this Belgian restaurant near our apartment and it was incredible as well. Tate and I ordered beer pairings with each course. I still think Belgian food is my favorite of all. Pictures here, here, here, and here.

Attractions

Other stuff we did or saw while we were there:

• Diamond Museum
• Van Gogh Museum
• Rijksmuseum
• Heineken Experience – a brewery tour
• Boom Chicago – an improv show
• Blue Boat Company canal tour
• We rented bikes at StarBikes Rental and spent Saturday afternoon at Vondelpark (Wikipedia article)
• We caught a train from the Amsterdam Centraal Station and rode out to visit the Rackspace Amsterdam office (Rackspace Benelux)

The trip worked out even better than I could have planned it. The weather was wonderful for almost the entire week we were there, and the apartment turned out to be exactly what we wanted and in an excellent location. Amsterdam is such an incredible place. Everyone is so friendly, the city is beautiful, and it’s very easy to get around and communicate with people. All the pictures from the trip are available in my gallery.

Great friends, great place, great time!

I’ve been to New York many times, but until today I had never been to the top of the Empire State Building.

Normally I visit the city on weekends, or even holidays like New Years Eve, and the crowds waiting to get to the top of the building are ridiculous. But today there were no lines and we were at the top in less than 15 minutes from the time we arrived.

The 86th floor observation deck is the one that most people visit. However, I learned last night that there is a very small observation deck at the top of the spire on the 102nd floor. For an extra $15 you can go up there, and believe me, it is completely worth the money. While the 86th floor deck had around 200 people on it, there were only 5 people on the 102nd floor when we arrived. There were only 3 people there when we left about 45 minutes later. The view from up there is incredible.

The 102nd floor was originally intended to be used as a landing platform for airships. The observation deck there was closed for several years, but re-opened in 2005. They plan to close it again soon to complete some renovations, but if you have the chance to go up there I highly recommend it.

Oh yea, I am terrified of heights.

Seriously, that was the question I had to ask myself today when I took a wrong turn in Lake Jackson while I was on my way to go surfing.

I was told to yield at the corner of This Way and That Way. Huh?

Are they letting hippies name streets again?

After spending the holiday week with our families, Sandy and I met up in New York for a few days to see friends and celebrate the New Year.

We arrived in the City Friday evening to meet up with some of Sandy’s friends for dinner. We ended up hanging out at really great bubble tea place for a while, and eventually meeting up for a nice dinner later. I can’t remember the names of these places, or find websites for them, but they were both in Chinatown and were really good. Afterwards we headed up to Rockefeller Center to see the famous Christmas tree.

Saturday we took our time and walked around the city, which included my Pilgrimage to the 5th Avenue Apple Store. Later that night we met up with Sandy’s cousin and her husband for dinner at Yakitori Taisho, an amazing little restaurant that was packed full. We got there early, and were able to get a great table in the back. You know the food has to be good when a place that is this tiny has a huge line out the door in the winter. After dinner we walked around and ended up at Veniero’s Pastry for dessert and coffee.

On Sunday we decided to see the American Museum of Natural History, which is where we spent most of the afternoon. This is a really cool museum with lots of different types of exhibits. I spent a lot of time at the physics/space exhibits, but there were also some really interesting displays with animals, primates and such.

Afterwards we headed down to meet up with some of Sandy’s other friends for our New Year’s Eve dinner at Guantanamera, a Cuban restaurant on 8th Avenue. We had a great meal (at least I did) and dessert, before heading out to a friends apartment to hang out until midnight got a little closer. Around 10:30 Sandy and I left for Central Park to find a nice place to watch the fireworks. We ended up at a terrific spot with a perfectly clear view of the sky. When the fireworks started at midnight, they went on for 10 minutes and were some of the most spectacular fireworks I have ever seen. Everyone makes a big deal about Times Square for New Year’s, but I cant imagine a better place to be on New Year’s than in Central Park.

Overall, it was a great trip and reminded me how much I love New York City (especially the smells of the food from the street vendors).

Thursday morning I drove over to Covington, Louisiana to spend Thanksgiving with the Taurman family. In addition to a wonderful meal, they had also planned a fishing trip for us to go on the following day. Friday evening 5 of us piled into Chad’s truck and headed down to Cocodrie, Louisiana.

We had a room reserved at Boudreaux’s Marina, a nice little place operated by Andre Boudreaux and his family. After getting a little sleep Friday night we woke up before 6 am and had a nice breakfast at the marina. As soon as breakfast was gone we piled in the boat to head out into the marsh and start fishing. Normally there are several different fishing guides who can take groups out, but as it turned out, all of Andre’s guides had taken the week off to go hunting, so he took us out himself.

It didn’t take long before Choose was reeling in the first fish, a speckled trout, and pretty soon we were all pulling them in. We caught lots of trout, red fish, and black drum and by the time we went in around 1pm we had caught enough food for everyone to have dinner. We also couldn’t have asked for better weather for the trip (I took this video while we were fishing, its 22 secs, 21 MB).

Andre Boudreaux is the real deal, no question about it (with a last name like “Boudreaux”, how could he not be?). He also gives guided tours for those who want to catch alligators, and his stories about those trips are pretty funny as well.

This trip reminded me of how much I enjoy fishing. Sadly, I haven’t gone much since I moved away from Virginia.

Thanks to the Taurman family for a great time!

I returned yesterday from my 5th trip to Las Vegas in the past 15 months (yes, I like the place). This time I was only out there for 2 days, for a mini family vacation (only part of the family, and only a couple days). The highlight of this trip was seeing the new Beatles’ Cirque Du Soleil show, LOVE.

After having an incredible meal at The Tillerman, we headed over to the Mirage to catch the show. This is the third Cirque show I have seen, and this one did not disappoint. Although there were less acrobatics in LOVE than most other Cirque shows, it was still amazing. LOVE tells the story of the Beatles’ lives, surrounded by their music. I’ve always been a Beatles fan (the first song I learned to play on the guitar was Lennon’s “Norwegian Wood”, thanks to Dad), so it was very exciting to get the chance to experience the Cirque show.

After the show I was thinking about other people/groups throughout history that have never been able to be replaced. Everyone pretty much agrees that there has not (yet) been another band as influential as the Beatles. But what else? The next thing I thought of was Michael Jordon. I don’t really follow sports, but when Michael Jordon was playing basketball he was seemingly invinceable, and I have not heard of anyone else like him since he retired (the first time). I imagine Steve Jobs will probably also appear this way once he retires. Alan Greenspan also comes to mind.

I imagine it would have been awesome to see the Beatles in concert, and to be around when they were changing the world. I wonder if we will ever see anyone as great as they were, or if the world we live in can handle such a revolutionary music group again.

I’ve been in Houston for a month now, and I must say that I am already happier living here than I ever was in San Antonio.

Before moving here I was a little concerned, because it seemed that most people I talked to said that they hated Houston, and I often heard people call it the “armpit of Texas.” Apparently they either never lived in Houston, or they lived in an area other than Montrose, but either way, I no longer trust those people’s opinions.

In San Antonio if I wanted to go to a coffee shop, there were only a few options. And if I wanted to go to a coffee shop after 10 pm, there was only one option: Starbucks at the Quarry. Not exactly what I had in mind. As I type this, at midnight on a Friday night, I am at a coffee shop that is 3 blocks from my apartment, and is open till 1 am. Between here and my apartment there are (at least) 3 other coffee shops that are open until 2 am, nightly. Oh, and they all have free wireless, which seems to be everywhere in this city.

And then there are all the restaurants here. In the month I’ve been here, I’ve only eaten at a couple restaurants more than once, and I eat out every meal. I’ve already discovered more restaurants here than I did in 3 years in San Antonio.

I could go on and on with all the things I like about this city, and I haven’t even really begun to scratch the surface of what Houston has to offer. Part of my happiness here is probably due to the fact that I live in an area of town that really fits me. When I lived in New Orleans my apartment was in the “uptown” area, and I loved it. There were all sorts of places I could walk to from my apartment. When I moved to San Antonio I tried to find a similar type of area, but there just isn’t one. Broadway is about as close as it gets, but that still doesn’t really offer much. The Montrose area of Houston, however, offers even more than uptown New Orleans did, and the food here is Big-Easy-esque as well.

I also really like the apartment that I found here. The rent isn’t much more than what I was paying in San Antonio, and I like this place even better. Click on the image above to see a couple pictures that I took of the place while the movers were bringing my things in.

Oh, and I don’t have to compete for a parking space when I get to work in the mornings, so thats refreshing.

These were real popular several months ago, but I didn’t jump on the bandwagon back then. I’ve been to the states and countries in red in these maps, but more importantly, I have not yet been to the places in grey. At some point I will have to fix that.

Yes, you too can create a visited states or visited countries map.