Travel

Sent to my update mailing list.

Hi y'all :-)

Well it's been a while. Lots of things happening, which I guess is good ... but it is making time go by.

Friday saw the half way mark to my initial stay here (yep three months already). I guess I've seen a lot in the last three months. After spending three weeks in Fairfax, Virginia, I returned home to Dallas to meet up with a friend of mine - Jason (some of you might know him) - who was visiting here, then heading over to Hawaii to recover :-) It was quite amusing with the aussie doing the tour guide thing, but we managed to get most of what we had to do done :-)) Chris remained in Virginia for the time that Jason was here, however they managed to catch up the last night Jason was here.

Two days later (after Jason left) we were jetting off to New Orleans for the Memorial Day weekend. It was heaps of fun - got drunk (though nothing near the Tram Car incident :-)) ).

We returned on the Monday, and Chris was off again to Amarillo, Texas on the Tuesday. Talk about absence making the heart grow fonder :-) Anyway, tomorrow I am off to Amarillo to spend the rest of the time with him there. Amarillo is located right in the middle of the Texas panhandle (the square bit to the north of the state). It's a country town / city. Cowboys and cows seem to be the main commodity up that way, according to Chris. I'm thinking Felicia, Mitzi and Bernadette visiting Broken Hill *evil grin*

2 to 19 May
Fairfax, Virginia

Chris was assigned to Fairfax, Virginia for storm duty. After driving through Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee (where we spent the night in the Knoxville, just on the other side of Chattanooga) and most of Virginia, we arrived in Fairfax, Virginia.

Fairfax is only 30 minutes away from Washington, DC, so parts of DC we didn't get to experience when we were there in April had the chance of being rectified.

19 to 27 May

My friend Jason is visiting Dallas today for a week and a bit (of time, not the other). I flew back from Virginia to meet him and drag him back to Frisco for his time here.

28 to 31 May
New Orleans, Louisiana

Memorial Day weekend! We all flew over to New Orleans for the weekend and to catch up with Chris' brother Jason and his girlfriend Jaime. The weekend was a hoot!! Favourite places again visited include Pat O'Briens, Oz (the dance bar) and the ever dirty Bourbon Street.

April 4

Mike and Tim have taken off to Cancun, Mexico today for a week's holiday (vacation) in the sun, and to wander through some Mexican ruins. Brian, Chris and I ventured down to Oaklawn today for Easter in the Park - where there was a dog show, symphonic music and lots of people showing as they wandered around. Oaklawn is the gay area within Dallas.

April 9
Decided late tonight that I would drive down to Shreveport tomorrow to meet up with Chris.

April 10
Headed down to Shreveport, Louisiana today. Hired a vehicle (a nice red Mercury Tracer [don't ask!]), and drove around town for a little. Today I also became the proud parent of a Qualcomm QCP1929 Cell Phone (number available if you ask nicely).

April 11

After a breakfast at IHOP (International House of Pancakes), we ventured to the tornado hit area of Shreveport. Seeing all the twisted metal and house contents strewn all over was eerie. Unfortunately, the area hit was a mobile home area (another area was hit) and the devastation was so concentrated - it was odd to look on either side of this area and see homes standing there as if nothing had happened. Chris took a few pictures, which will be uploaded soon. After visiting the site, we drove over to Caddo Lake - the only natural lake in Texas. It is on the border of Texas and Louisiana, and provides a swamp-like image when visited. A quick drive further into Texas, and we are at the Lake O the Pines - where Chris' family has a house boat. The country side is full of wild flowers: Indian, and ????bluebonnets which is the state flower (it's illegal to pick these flowers).