Maybe we should have flown?

Okay, if you don't know by now, I hate flying (thus the idea for this trip). Well, today was a toss-up between crying in the passenger seat or crying on board a plane holding a stranger's hand. We knew it was going to be a rainy day but we figured, "aw, what the hell" and proceeded to drive the three hours to Prattville, Alabama to start the Robert Trent Jones Trail. After 30 or so minutes of "southern" rain that we haven't seen in 17 years, the BEEP BEEP BEEP of the Emergency Broadcast System kicks in on the radio. Yup, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms coming directly at us. Hmmm, Bob is now driving since I abdicated my position for second-in-command and he and I just looked at each other expressionless and kept driving. Every few minutes the EBC message kept coming on and now we could barely see through the windshield! Pull over! We parked, walked through a puddle of three inch rain and ran to the closest brick restaurant we could find. Drenched, we sat down and waited it out. Sharon called on my cell phone right in the middle and I was reprimanded by the waitress telling me that lightning passes through the cell phone and can kill me. Is that a Southern tale or is that true? I need to snope that. Wow, black skies, 60 mph winds and fat rain! When we finally thought it had passed, we jumped back into the mix only to skirt the storm. After many deep breaths and prayers, we made it!

Sweet Home Alabama

First and foremost, the A/C has been fixed! Whoo Hoo! Funny though, after the rain in Houston and now in Alabama at night, it has yet to go above 85. I guess there should be no complaints on our part. Our last night in New Orleans, we went to Emeril's Delmonico restaurant and it was one very different meal. Being the ultimate carnivore, Bob ordered the rib-eye (man food) but I created a memorable meal of a crawfish appetizer, oyster salad and Delmonico's famous blue cheese potato au gratin. The waiter looked at me kind of funny but, hey, that sounded just too good to pass up.
We arrived in Gulf Shores, Alabama to both play Kiva Dunes golf course after we took a car ferry across the Mobile Bay. The course was a links course and we ended up having this old guy, Jim from Arkansas, catch up and play with us on the back nine. Let me describe Jim to you. Picture a 74-year old Popeye from Arkansas and that is Jim- complete with that smushed up face and old tattoos on both forearms. He was a kick but boy, that man could talk!!! Believe it or not, I beat Bob with my handicap on this course (so now I like golf!)

Let The Good Times Roll- NOLa

Yesterday, was Houston. We stayed at the Hotel Indigo and they are a must if you are staying in a major city. Look them up online! They are designed with a nautilus theme and are very clean and very reasonable. Not too much else to say about Houston except my Hitler husband made us get up really early to drive to Houston as well as New Orleans to avoid the noonday heat. Actually, he was pretty smart since it was completely tolerable. Pray that part is there tomorrow!
We are now in these really cool lofts in New Orleans that I found online instead of your typical hotel- concrete floor, modern amenities and bathrooms. They are the size of a one bedroom apartment in SF. Very hip- (so us- kidding) Walking the French Quarter, we stopped in for a Mufaletta and Oyster Po' Boy sandwich and Bob was in heaven. He said that the Po' Boy was one of the best sandwiches he ever had in his life! I arranged to have a Haunting/Voodoo tour at 8 at night and off we went. Although I thought the two hour tour was fascinating and filled with history, Bob pretty much wanted to stick a fork in his left eye, he was so bored. Okay, so I can't win on everything. We have to say that New Orleans was so dead that we had a hard time trying to find a place to go afterwards- then again, this is Sunday. From what we are told, it is slowly coming back but they lost about 160K of their population. After spending limited time in Houston, I have a feeling, the refugees just stayed there.

A Blanket in Hell

You are probably thinking, "Arlene, what is a blanket in hell?" Well, I forgot to mention while we were in West Texas, the comment made by the lone mechanic who fixes "foreign" cars was that when someone from West Texas dies and goes to hell, they ask the devil for a blanket. Well, that is how damn hot it is here- even in Austin!
I would really like to tell you some fantastic news about the car but I just can't since there isn't any. I have to say that if you are an Inifiniti driver or if you ever were to buy an Infiniti, the customer service is off the charts fantastic. The Redwood City guy arranged the Austin guy to take us in but unfortunately the part has to be overnighted and of course, it's Friday. I decided to have the Austin guy arrange the part to be sent to the New Orleans guy and it can get fixed on Monday. Keep in mind though, we are driving to Houston tomorrow (3+ hours) and then New Orleans on Sunday (5.5 hours)without any A/C. I bought those little motorized fans but Bob just looked at me and and said we should have stayed in Austin until Monday but, I really want to get out of this hotel. I feel like I am staying for a conference. It is too big and also very outdated and they charged an arm and a leg. To top it off, the massage wasn't too good AND Bob almost died on the golf course. He told me he was getting heat stroke since he forgot his hat, didn't eat anything and it was 98+ degrees outside. He said he grabbed a towel on the back nine, wet it and became an Arab for the rest of the course. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that!

Underground and Overheated!

Well, this morning we started out okay with a million senior citizens grabbing breakfast at the beautiful Holiday Inn Express located a mere 40 minutes outside Carlsbad Caverns. I thought, "Wow- we better get to the place fast or we will have to wait in line with everyone else" but then again, we were on the "strenuous" tour and I doubt women in walkers would tackle me for position. Seriously, when we got to the site, there was barely anyone there which is kind of great since there are no lines.
I went here 31 years ago after I saw a story on Carlsbad Caverns on the Frosted Mini-Wheats Cereal box and proclaimed to my parents that THAT was where we had to go on our next vacation. Believe it or not, my parents actually set up a trip that included Carlsbad Caverns, Painted Desert, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest and White Sands. So here I am 31 years later dragging my claustrophobic husband to the greatest caverns in the world!
We did a specific tour where you used candlelit lanterns so you could see what it was like for the 1890's tourists. Our guide was so passionate about the caverns which made the tour even more interesting. Put it this way, Bob even agreed to walk the mile and a half self-guided tour after the special tour because this place is beyond belief. This is a man that I had to promise sex to to get him to go into California Caverns outside Sonora!
Okay, so now we are finished and are starting our 7 hour ride to Austin, Within one hour, we stopped at the Flying J Restaurant/Gas Station in Pecos, Texas (top 100 of 2008) and had an amazing lunch of "All-You-Can-Eat" salad bar of lettuce, green peppers, and Thousand Island dressing - and that was the extent of it. Starting the car, we heard a "WHOOOSH" with white steam blowing up from the hood. Not good! If you were anywhere near us, you would have thought we were going to kill each other! I am not good under stress and Bob hates asking for assistance!
Keeping that in mind, I asked the front desk at the Flying J where to go with a f*ucked up Infiniti and we were provided directions to the Chevrolet dealership (only dealership in town- Buy American!). They looked at Bob and said, "We don't do imports but there is one guy in town that might." So we drive there. He tells us he is booked for two weeks straight but it is the A/C so, it will be uncomfortable, but you can drive it. So off we go to Austin, calling the Infiniti dealer that we just paid $1100 to last week to fix the A/C before we left and he arranged for the Austin dealer to fix it tomorrow morning.
We just got here at 9:30 PM looking like two wind-blown rats- matted hair and stinky, sweaty white trash. Pray that tomorrow is a good day!

Heaven......we're in heaven!

For every woman that has ever gone away for a spa weekend, THIS IS IT! John Roberts, the owner of Watercourse Way, recommended this place as his most favorite place in the US. That comment and the drool from Gayle's mouth while she was describing her "getaway" there with her daughter, Casey, was enough for me. This was my first visit to Santa Fe and this Japanese inspired spa. There are only a few rooms on-site and all of them are nestled in among the Japanese landscaping so you truly feel like you are in Japan. At "Ten Thousand Waves", we spent 85 minutes in the private baths and then had an hour and a half of massages! Say no more! The evening was topped off with a recommendation from the spa for a local Udon noodle place (Mu Du Noodles) that was exactly what I was wishing for.
On a final note, we both fell in love with Santa Fe. In fact, this entire morning before we drove to Carlsbad, we spent with a realtor. Very interesting perspective on living here........but don't worry, we are not ready just quite yet!

Chickens and Trains

After both of us playing Sedona Golf Course and enjoying the "resort" course with the red mountains in the background, we drove out to Albuquerque. En route, we just HAD to stop in Winslow, Arizona for a photo op standing on the corner. We ended up eating in this local hole in the wall and it was off the chart incredible. I felt like Rachel Ray on $40/day-always ask the locals for good places which is what we have been doing.
At dusk, we finally made it to our exit and, let me tell you, we were not in the nicest part of town. Bob kept grumbling about picking this crappy place and how we are going to get killed and why didn't I look to see where it was. Well. okay, how could I do that when I have never in my life been to Albuquerque? We were in this trashy neighborhood when we spotted this hacienda and wooden gate. Yup, here we were!
It was only an 8-room B&B built in 1790 and was an old stagecoach stop. When you walked through the gate, we found an envelope with our names and misguided directions to our room. We went to a room that we thought was the right one and it was completely charming. Of course we found out in the morning that we slept in the wrong room all night. This one was smaller and was truly an old west Spanish room with a claw foot tub and attached shower head. A woolen Navajo blanket was on the bed and the walls were old adobe. We broke into another bottle of chardonnay from Tolosa and sat outside and read under the outside lights when we heard it.... a huge train whistle and a large freight train passing through, what seemed to feel like, our room. Remember Joe Peschi in "My Cousin Vinny" when he couldn't sleep or "I Love Lucy" when Lucy's bed was moving across the room? Well, that's what it was like. I knew the rooster's had to crow in the morning...it was inevitable and, yes, that was our wake up call. Well, that and the 5:15 train.