Houston: A Texas Mashup

Hello dear readers! Our apologies for getting behind on updating you on our road trip to Houston, but as they say "life got in the way". But we're back now, and ready to spill on our trip!

After our initial shock of how sprawling and city-centric Houston was, we settled in for our East Texas adventure. Saturday was spent at the rodeo with our hosts. Never been to a rodeo you say? Well, neither had we. We liken it to a state fair with cowboys and cowgirls. Plus a rodeo. 

The nosebleed section.

 

The boys fell for all the cowgirls in attendance. They've got a cute little "uniform" that caught the boys' eyes - cowboy boots and shorts or a dress. I get it. Unfortunately we don't have any pics of said hotties, because, well that would have been creepy. 

The rest of our time in Houston was spent eating Tex-Mex, visiting NASA and Galveston, and hanging with our pals. We had some delicious Tex-Mex at a place called El Real which was located in an old movie theater. 

Chunk and El Real.

We also got to visit Space Center Houston, where we even got to take a tour of the historic mission control and also got to see where they build and test a lot of the equipment. It was very cool, and highly recommended especially to space buffs. And on the way down we picked up some delicious donuts from Shipley Do-Nuts - in business for over 76 years!

Since we were close to the Gulf we decided to take a quick trip to Galveston on our last night there. Too bad it wasn't warmer. We imagine that it'd be pretty fun and happening in the summer months and during spring break. 

On our journey home we stopped in Memphis for the evening, staying at the Days Inn Graceland - an Elvis themed hotel just across the street from Graceland. It even has a guitar shaped pool, which is what everyone needs!

 A successful journey to Houston from Indianapolis indeed. Have you been to Houston? What did you think?

Happy adventuring! 

That Little Place Known As Texas

We hit the road with excitement in our blood and passion in our hearts. Our destination? Houston, Texas. Our friends just moved there from San Francisco, and we thought what a perfect time to visit! Plus, Midwest weather was moving us to take a spring break trip somewhere. 

Located in Collinsville, IL

You know we love a good cheesy roadside attraction, so we quickly stopped at the "World's Largest Ketchup Bottle". We the headed to St. Louis (however, not really on the way) for a quick peak at the Gateway Arch. Wowza is that thing big! We nervously bought tickets to ascend to the top of the arch, but once we got loaded into the tiny pods (photo to come) to ride up to the top, all our anxieties melted away. We saw some pretty cool views of St. Louis before heading on our way to Houston. 

At the very top of the arch. 630ft!

After some frustrating traffic, delirium started to set in an we stopped at a hotel in Little Rock, AR. After deciding there wasn't much to see (sorry Arkansas!), we made the rest of the trip to Houston. Our friends M and I greeted us with open arms, and we hit up the town for some dinner and adult beverages. We'll have a ton of updates and more photos, but here's just a glimpse into our Texas road trip.

Happy adventuring! 

Texas, Here We Come!

Our apologies for not being present for a while, but life has "gotten hectic" for a bit, but we're back now and headed for Texas in a few weeks! Specifically Houston and the surrounding area. And of course we are road-tripping it there! Any thoughts on what we should do or see? 

We're Getting Married!

Wisconsin Dells: The Good, The Bad, The Cheesy

Our trip to the Dell's was spurred by a wedding in Wisconsin just a short jaunt away. And why not? While one of us had been as a kid, the other hadn't ever been. So with that we headed off. 

Our first stop? Taliesin. Frank Lloyd Wright for the win! One of Chunk's favorites. Technically we didn't visit, we just observed what we could from the outside and ate brunch at the cafe. 

Image via Taliesin

We then headed off to the Dells. Our first night we stayed in Baraboo not really knowing where to find a budget friendly hotel. We took the Original Ducks Tour on the river and had dinner at the ridiculously busy Moosejaw restaurant. The tour was great, minus the annoying, screaming kids behind us (do we sound like old folks yet?). 

We also checked out Tommy Barlett's Exploratory! Totally cool. A bit dated, but still really neat. It's a shame that more people weren't there (but lucky for us!).

After moving to Monaco Motel on the strip and breakfast at Mr. Pancake Monday morning, we headed to the Upper Dells Tour. The Upper Dells tour was more enjoyable (for us at least) than the regular tour. We got to stop at this cool area called the Witches Gulch, and we saw the famous dog jumping to Stand Rock. A 47 ft. column that H.H. Bennett photographed many times as his son jumped the chasm for him in order to capture motion.

Chunk's photo from 2013. Check out that dog!

H.H. Bennett's photo from 1886. Amazing!

Tuesday we headed to Chula Vista resort since our awesome motel gave us free waterpark passes. Unfortunately the water park was not too exciting, and actually pretty small and confusing. Instead we had lunch and headed to the famed Noah's Ark water park. We lazed about in the lazy river and enjoyed a ride in the Dark Voyage....however, we've decided that we have become water park snobs. Efficiency was severely lacking, it seemed to be under construction due to weird fencing, and the employees appeared unhappy. We definitely prefer the Disney water parks in Orlando (see our old post). 

For our last dinner we went to Sprecher's, and enjoyed some beers, good food and an amazing hard root beer float!

Anyway, we're now in Madison, relaxing at a friend's house. Here's to you and yours! Happy adventuring!

Take Us to The Dells

Later this months we'll be traveling to Wisconsin for a wedding. So we figured why not extend the trip a bit and head to The Dells? There seems like there's so much to do there, and some over the top tourist traps similar to those we found on our Niagara Falls trip (see here). Not that we're opposed to cheese, we just don't want to overpay for something that's not that great.

There's also the matter of natural attractions vs. artificial (read: amusement parks, etc) attractions. Any tips out there readers?

2013's Newest Wonders of the World

Did anyone happen to catch the latest from Travel and Leisure? UNESCO (short for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) released this year's additions to the Wonders of the World, chosen for their beauty and history. Check out the story here. Beautiful, no?

Hill Forts of Rajasthan, India. (Photo: Courtesy of UNESCO/DRONAH)

Happy adventuring!

Road Trippin' West: Making Plans

For a long time we've been wanting to road trip it west. There's so much to do an see and it's about time to plan something! What better place to check out than Road Trip USA? Check out the essential trip map from them. We've already conquered a mish mash of 8, 6, 5 and 4....but we've still got so much to do! Where would you go? Any "must see" spots from our lovely readers? Happy adventuring!

Time to Vote for Indy's Best Of

Hey Indy folks, don't forget to vote for your favorite spots in and around town in Nuvo's Best of Indy!

Ground Control to Commander Hadfield

We're in love with the latest video from astronaut Commander Hadfield. His take on David Bowie's "Space Oddity". If you haven't seen it already, take a look:

Commander Hadfield also has some other pretty cool videos here, including sense of smell in space dessert in space. Check them out! Happy adventuring!

Sunday Dreaming: Kauai, Hawaii

Happy Mother's Day to all! Today we're dreaming of Kauai, Hawaii. Happy adventuring!

Image via www.gohawaii.com

We think the Magic Kingdom is magical at night. Don't you? Check out these photos from our latest visit. Happy adventuring!

Photo of the Day: Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival

Like always, the topiaries at this year's International Flower and Garden Festival  were amazing. Take a look below!

Happy adventuring!

If You Squint....

It's almost like Florida. Indiana has a lot of good things to offer, but it's still Indiana. But today has been so nice that while on a walk you could almost pretend that it was Florida. If not for the lack of palm trees and a sun that seems a bit more tropical. 

So here's a throwback to our trip which now seems ages ago. 

See if you can spot Chunk!

This was taken at Universal Orlando at the end of the Jurassic Park ride. Side note: Last week we saw Jurassic Park in 3D. All we have to say - AWESOME. So fun to see it in theaters again.

Happy adventuring! 

A Further Look Into the New Fantasyland

We can't wait for the new Fantasyland expansion at Walt Disney World to be finished! Take a look!

Who Knew Florida Had Such Great BBQ?

Well, we did actually, but for those of you who don't know Florida is a great place to find great BBQ! You may remember a little post we did back when we visited Destin and we visited The Shed (delicious!). Anyway, our friends K and T took us to 4 Rivers Smokehouse in Winter Garden, which apparently is a type of religion down in Orlando (this was explained to us as we passed numerous cars with 4 Rivers bumper stickers on them).

We arrived at 7pm, an hour before closing, and the line was out the door which we were told was the norm and often times it goes all the way down the street. The line moved fast and it was helpful that they have a giant menu on the wall outside. We settled on the Smokehouse Cuban  with a side of cheesy grits (delicious!) and fried okra (we've had better) and the Signature Angus Brisket with fried pickles and potato salad (both delicious!). 

The Smokehouse Cuban. Along with a side of fried okra and grits.

Signature Angus Brisket.

We can't say enough good things about this place. It's too bad that the internet doesn't have smell-o-vision because we're sure you'd be in heaven. The only real disappointment was that we missed out on getting Cheerwine from the soda fountain! Only available in southern states, we got hooked on it on our southern road trip. 

Anyway, read more about 4 Rivers here. Happy adventuring! 

Orlando Like You Mean It

Aaand we're back from Orlando. After a few days of recoup we can update with more than just photos on our Facebook page (although those are fun too! And don't forget to like us!). We, of course, tried to pack in as much adventure as possible into our trip. Starting with a trip to Sea World. Chunk especially like the Manta (see below) and the Kraken, while KJ was impressed with the various shows you could see (again, see below).

If you look close, you can see Chunk in the front row with our friend K.

We even made a friend!

So what else did we do? We hit up Universal Studios on Saturday which ended up being craziness on the Studio side since Pitbull was playing a concert later that night. Note to selves: Don't go anywhere where Pitbull will be. Who knew that guy was so popular?
 

The Jurassic Park ride....can you spot Chunk?

Seuss central in Universal.

 We also enjoyed some Orlando dining including Four Rivers Smokehouse (so delicious! Definitely go there if you're in Orlando.) and Cocoa Beach for a quick jaunt to the ocean. Our trip also included a trip to Disney's Typhoon Lagoon for a day of lounging and even a trip on the water coaster! 

Walt Disney World was accomplished on our final two days in Orlando. We hit up all four parks, enjoying breakfast at Tusker House (now character dining which is so fun!), the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot (how we always manage to be in Disney at this time is beyond me), movie rides at Hollywood Studios and all the magic that the Magic Kingdom always delivers. We even got to scope out some of the new Fantasyland additions, but didn't manage to make it to Be Our Guest Restaurant (next time!).

Big Thunder Railroad

Right outside of Prince Eric's castle

Gaston's Pub, his fountain and Beast's castle in the background

We love WDW, but four parks in two days was a bit intense. Not recommended for those who've never been, and while we got to hit up a lot of the things we wanted to do, we didn't get to do everything we wanted to. We're already planning our next trip back. Perhaps Christmas time?

See more of our adventures on our Facebook page.

Happy Adventuring!