Mon
Apr
6
Day ten was mostly spent shopping on a block that had a bookstore and a couple coffee shops… it was quite boring here because basically we were just trying to blow some time before going to the Grand Ol Oprey. Although at this place i had the most amazing pancakes ever!! They were simply blueberry but they were better than any Ive ever had. I think a lot of what made them so good was that instead of syrup they also had liquid cinnamon sugar.. Which was quite delicious! After this we went and walked around in a mall for awhile. While waiting here Curtis, Rob, and i went and saw watchmen because they had been dying to see it all trip. The movie actually turned out pretty good, despite the mixed reviews. After this we left the mall around 9. This started the final leg of our journey.. The long overnight bus ride.. Surprisingly though it wasn’t to bad because i was able to sleep for about 4 hours. Nothing was more sweet than when someone woke me up saying, “hey wake up we are almost home!”
Fri
Mar
27
“ You only think your my son…”
-Lauren Thomas- to Curt Thomas
Day nine. This has been a pretty good day! Nashville was cool but what makes day nine even better is that tomorrow is the last day till i get home!! but besides that, downtown Nashville was fun because mine and Mehleena’s story went really well. Brook, our producer, desperately needed a cowboy hat to fit in with all the country corner singers. So we found a cowboy shop with boots and hats. Turns out the guy working there was very social and very interested in why we were carrying around a video camera/tripod. So we told him our story and what we were doing in Nashville, Tennessee. He then told us of a story idea. He told us of a 4 membered band up the street who were all brothers and sisters. He then told us of how he had some of Johnny Cashes boots in a display rack, which i thought was extremely awesome, and how they were giving some boots to a singer At the Grand Ol Oprey. So apparently this small boot shop in down town Nashville was actually pretty big, so to speak. So we headed to the bar where this family band was playing and they were very nice, agreeing to let us shoot some film of them playing and agreed to let us interview them. They ended up being pretty interesting characters, worthy of a story. So all in all the day was good, timing was good, and luck was on my side.
Thu
Mar
26
Surprise, surprise day eight is another long day spent on the bus. Nothing terribly exciting happened on the bus but once we got to charlotte, North Carolina (spelling?) we went to a nascar track. I personally thought it was dumb because only 2 or 3 of us on this bus have even watched a race.. but when given the option of a 5 dollar tour i decided i would give it a shot. Im glad i did because while im still not going to watch nascar it was very interesting. I have never been in a raceway. Our tour guide was this little old lady who new her stuff quite well. She was a lot of fun and kept it worth listening to. Although she did scare me at one point. We were in these huge vans, driving around the track. But not JUST driving.. We were going about 90 around this thing and at one point she started messing with the temperature knob! was pretty scary but we made it out alive and much more learned about nascar. After arriving to our hotel we went to their mall, which wasnt amusing at all. It was basically like ours only it smelt funny in a few places… but after awhile curt, rob, kelton, and i decided we were ready to go back to the hotel instead of going down town. So with the help of the parents we got our bus route mapped out and were on the road! well we thought we knew which stop to get off of but when we didnt see what we though we would we asked the driver if he stopped by our hotel… He said they didnt stop there any longer but that we souldve gotten off at the last stop… so a lady behind us told us we could take a train to our hotel from the place we were at. but instead we just decided to walk because we didnt know how long it would take a train to get there, nor did we know how far of a walk it would be.. so to sum this story up we ended up walking for about 25 min in rain to get back to our hotel…. was a blast! lol
Wed
Mar
25
Day seven was just what i needed to renew my vigor, patience, and interest towards this trip! We arrived in to a desolate City known as Virginia Beach. It was desolate because honestly who wants to be at the beach when its 40 degrees with a constant wind that no coat could hope to stop. It was a very nice hotel with a beautiful balcony overlooking the ocean. I spent much of the day talking to megan, which was very enjoyable and a nice change of pace from the usual texting. Believe it or not we had ice cream for lunch. I was confused why we did for it was cold enogh to not have to worry about the ice cream melting… but i imagine it was because this ice cream shop was in such a convenient location and only a stones throw away. Then i had the pleasure of watching Curt and Rob struggle to feed seagulls. This was quite an amusing spectacle! Then after that we ate at an overpiced buffet. It was verpriced because it was a seafood buffet.. and seeing as how i dont like any fish or sushi it wasnt a good deal for me. I enjoyed eating here simply because nothing is more interesting than watching Curtis Thomas try to eat crab legs for the first time.. He would give it all he got trying to get some meat out and end up cracking it while the meat flies out all over the table. After watching this several times i decided to give it a shot.. Once i managed to get some meat out i ate it after much reconsidering. I do not regret my decision because it was actually very good. It is a ver sweet meat, though it has a weird noodle like texture and is very hard to get at through the crab’s exoskeleton. Then when we got back to the hotel i participated in an activity ive been waiting for all trip.. That is getting in a hot tub and simply relaxing!!! Sadly this beach front hotel was the first with a pool and hot tub.
Tue
Mar
24
I say getting my museum fix because we spent a lot of time this day strolling through museums. We started out the day going to whats called the “Newseum” This is a museum based on the history of news, pictures, and past event that is still vividly remembered. This museum actually had a part of the berlin wall that had been taken down and stored, which was really cool. We also watched a 13 min video there on the World trade centers. This video was very intense and was about journalists risking their lives in order to get the shot. After the Newseum we went to the Halocaust museum which was very cool. It had more information then i have ever wished to know! AFter this we went and saw the White House, which isn’t that awesome but it wouldn’t feel right going to D.C. and not seeing the Presidents house. The rest of the day we basically just walked around and then ate dinner at a restaurant called Clyde’s, which had an amazing burger. Then it was back to the hotel.
I say getting my museum fix because we spent a lot of time this day strolling through museums. We started out the day going to whats called the “Newseum” This is a museum based on the history of news, pictures, and past event that is still vividly remembered. This museum actually had a part of the berlin wall that had been taken down and stored, which was really cool. We also watched a 13 min video there on the World trade centers. This video was very intense and was about journalists risking their lives in order to get the shot. After the Newseum we went to the Halocaust museum which was very cool. It had more information then i have ever wished to know! AFter this we went and saw the White House, which isn’t that awesome but it wouldn’t feel right going to D.C. and not seeing the Presidents house. The rest of the day we basically just walked around and then ate dinner at a restaurant called Clyde’s, which had an amazing burger. Then it was back to the hotel.
Mon
Mar
23
Day five was mostly spent riding the bus to Washington D.C. but this is the day where my intense soreness truly hit me! As a result i wasn’t able to get a much needed nap on the bus. Its not easy getting comfortable on a bus when you have long sore legs… Once we arrived in the District of Columbia we made our way to the famous Abraham Lincoln memorial. This was as awesome as i had anticipated and hoped! unfortunately it started getting dark around this time… and Lauren and i still had to shoot our story… Turns out the Korean Memorial that Coach wanted us to do our story on is the only memorial that is not lit very well. But we shot what we could and hopefully the story will turn out good. That same night we also looked at the Vietnam memorial, The washington Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and then to the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial. All and all it was a sweet experience getting to see these wonderful sights.
