Great Urban Race - Austin

Friday afternoon seemed to last forever...tick tock, tick tock. That's usually how it goes when you have something you're looking forward to. I've had a dream for a while of going on The Amazing Race. Annemarie and I tried out for the show last year and I really had my hopes up that we had a chance. It didn't pan out, so when I heard from my awesome friend Dana that The Great Urban race was a micro version of the show + you didn't have to be "selected" + it was in my backyard, in Austin, I was in!!!

I mentioned it last week and Mindi's face lit up…I knew I had my partner! J There was lots of chatting on the way and we got to Austin in no time to meet Dana and Liz for dinner at Shady Creek. The waiter stunk, so we decided to abort those plans and do a little pre-race shopping and grab Olive Garden for dinner.

Dana wasn't feeling well, so she and Liz decided to stay home and recover. Mindi and I sadly left on our own to make them proud on the race. We will definitely do this again with Dana as soon as she's back to her awesome, normal self!

We arrived at Pease Park at about 11:00 and hung out and made new friends until the kick off at noon. They encouraged costumes, so we got into it and dressed for the time of year as Easter bunnies. At 12:00 sharp, they passed out the clues and we were off!

We bolted to a shady spot and worked through the 12 clues. We had most of them mapped and we were so smart to buy a public transportation map to pinpoint lots of the locations! We were a tad confused as we started, jumped on and off the bus, but finally got back on track. We were headed to Whole Foods to get our canned food for one of the challenges, when we saw lots of people over at Waterloo records. We thought, "oh good idea" that they were completing a clue where you had to take a pic with a person wearing a concert tee. We found a guy with a Peter Gabriel shirt and were on our way. We got our canned food, canoed around Town Lake, took a pic at the Reagan High School baseball field and with Peter Pan at the mini golf course, then dropped off our food at the Mary Lee Foundation. After all of this running, we headed toward 6^th Street. Our "phone a friend" buddies Dana and Liz helped us solve a few clues and we took our pic at The Lucky Lizard and the big red mmmpanada stand. We did take a quick stop to dance a little to the tunes blaring on 6^th Street as people partied through the sunny Saturday afternoon. We had 2 clues left. 1) Where did Willie Nelson play on Nov 2, 2000 and 2) Take a pic with the longhorn statue at the co-op. This is when we realized that Willie played at the WATERLOO!! Oh, crap, we had to backtrack all the way to Lamar and take a pic in front of the store instead of inside. Oh, boo!! We ran our bunny tails down there then made our way to the longhorn statue. On the bus, we made friends with 2 girls from NYC and met back up with 2 other friends from the very beginning of the race. We all made our way to the statue and snapped the pic. We got back to Pease Park in just under 4 hours…hot and sweaty, but with big smiles!

It was a really fun adventure and can't wait to do it again…hopefully this season and with a bigger group so we can strategize all together and place in the top 25! Our final rank was 88 of about 230 pairs…which was just awesome for us rookies!

After a stop at Thundercloud Subs, on the way home to Houston Mindi just couldn't resist the cute bluebonnets on the side of the highway, so we stopped for a little photoshoot as the sun set! J

Copenhagen, Denmark

We pulled into port right on time. These Scandinavians aren't playing when it comes to being punctual! It was a beautiful, chilly day when we arrived. We made our way to The Palace Hotel, right on the main square. As we checked in, they played this crazy James Bond music and I felt like someone was going to come slip Alison and me a secret mission to go complete in the city. Our 007 never showed up, so we took the double decker bus from outside our hotel to tour the city.

The major stop on this route was the Copenhagen mermaid. Denmark is the home of Hans Christian Anderson, who wrote the fairytale "The Little Mermaid". She was cute, but it's odd to see which landmarks gain such attention! She is actually such a big deal, we were lucky to see her before she goes to Shanghai for the World Expo 2010! We then hopped back on the bus and decided to jump off again when we saw a big crowd gathered at the Amalienborg Palace. We hit perfect timing to see the changing of the guard. It's lots of ceremony and a cool site to see. We timed it perfectly! It only happens once a day, so pretty cool catch it. We crossed the street to see the impressive Opera House, as well.

The wait for the next bus was about 30 minutes, so we decided to walk for a while. We walked to a cute marina area with lots of outdoor cafes. These crazy people love to be outside on a pretty day, even if it's cold. They will sit outside and the restaurants even provide blankets to keep them warm! We then walked over to Christiania, which was a hippy community that formed in the early 1970s. We couldn't quite find the actual entrance to the community, so we walked to where we "thought" the next stop would be. Umm, no stop to be found, so we ended up walking back to our hotel. We got to see lots of the city and it was all worth the hike. One the way back, we walked along the Tivoli Gardens...an amusement park right in the center of the city that was founded in 1843. Sadly, we had one week until it opened, so that leaves something to look forward to on the next trip. As we walked up to the hotel, we noticed a band setting up…it was a group of Native Americans...that we saw last year in Ljubljana, Slovenia!! What one earth are the chances? Later, we found out there may be more than one group that travels Europe. Has anyone else seen these guys?

We took a quick power nap and tore up the snack bag like a pack of wolves then headed out to look for souvenirs and walk along the busy pedestrian area. My friend from HP Denmark, Lars, met us and showed us around town. Really, Alison ended up giving him a history lesson on the city…all from her keen listening skills on the double decker bus! We talked through a church, the winter palace gardens and met another beautiful pup named Freddy! He was to completely adorable and friendly!

Next, we went to the Hard Rock Café to get a pin for our friend Linda then stopped for yummy 'Danish' treats and visited a local pub to have a few drinks. We capped off the night with an awesome Italian dinner with a really sweet waitress from Bulgaria. Right as we were heading to bed, the sound of car horns blasted from the square below. I ran to the window to take a look and a bunch of guys ran from their cars up to a limo in the front of the caravan and tossed a guy, who I'm assuming was the groom, into the air a few times!! It was crazy!

We took off early the next morning and caught some unbelievable views of Iceland and Greenland on our way home! Another great trip…can't wait for the next tuck n roll!! J

Oslo, Norway

We woke up the next morning to a blizzard…OMG, it looked COLD outside. Before we set out for the day, we went to have the breakfast buffet. It was heavenly! I felt just like I was sitting down to Christmas dinner! There it all was…the cold cuts, cheese, breads, hot dishes, Wasa crackers…it was so delicious and fun to see that our Christmas tradition was legit!

Once we were stuffed, we bundled up and started our walk to the boat dock. Alison had read about a great little boat tour to all the museums with nice views of the city. When we got to the marina and all of the boats were covered in snow, we though...hmmm, we can't see 10 feet in front of our noses, it's freezing and snowing. Is this really the best way to enjoy a boat ride?!? We assumed it wasn't running and were trying to think of a plan b when Bill asked if we had been sledding before. Alison and I had both never been and we got excited for our new adventure!

As we passed the boat office, a lady came out and asked if we were waiting for the boat, it was to arrive any minute. We had gotten kind of excited about our new plan, so we asked if she happened to know of anywhere we could sled. The people throughout Scandinavia were incredible!! They are so helpful, cheery and nice. The 3 people that were in the office called the sled rental place and gave us exact directions of how to get to the hill. We were expecting to do this in the city somewhere on cardboard boxes…not 'real' sledding…but we were up for the fun. I found an adorable little pup along the way too!

We took the train to the second to last stop to rent our sleds. Then hopped back on the train to the Frognerseteren stop and finally found our way to the starting line. The train route we took was on the way to Lillehammer, the site of the 1994 Olympics. We all took off and Alison sat still on her sled, after the first run, Bill and I were pumped up and wondering what happened to Alison?? We called her with our 'hooty hoo' signal and nothing…finally we see her creeping like a snail down the hill. Side note - Alison is good at everything! So seeing the total look of contempt for the sled had us laughing our asses off! This was a lot more work than we had bargained for, but gave us some gorgeous views and once we got the hang of it…it was so much fun!!! Oh, and Alison was zooming past me by the end!

We were all soaked…Bill and I were in soggy shoes, Alison's jeans were wet, so we just raced to get back to the hotel and warm up. We packed up our bags and decided to have another bloody mary in the hotel bar to warm us up for the hike to the boat dock to catch the ferry to Copenhagen. This one was no prez-club bloody, but it was a good thing we tried to warm up a little…it was still frozen outside!

When we spotted the ferry, we realized this was a little more than a dingy, it was a full-fledged cruise ship! We boarded at about 4:30 and expected to take off at 6:00. We dropped off our bags in the teeny room and went up to have a glass of wine before dinner. We pulled away from the dock promptly at 5:00! Good thing we didn't procrastinate too long! The views were beautiful as we left and it was a bonus that we got to watch the coast before our dinner at 6:15. The buffet was another smorgasbord with a crazy selection of foods. We gorged…the highlight were the cold and hot mussels…they were SO yummy. The biggest surprise on the menu was crawfish! They weren't seasoned Cajun-style…but still odd to see them on the buffet. We also learned at dinner that there was a trucker convention on the boat, so of the 1200 passengers, 900 were men. That made for a loud night of hooting and hollering outside our cabin, but lucky me that I'm a really heavy sleeper! I felt so weak going to bed early, but Alison had drugged us to make sure no one got sea sick…it was probably a good thing!! J

Next stop, Copenhagen!

Stockholm, Sweden

We arrived in Stockholm early in the morning. Right off we got to see how friendly and helpful the Scandinavians were going to be. We met Joakim in the tourist center and he made us laugh and wake up from our long travels. He had a dry sense of humor and was totally game when we asked him to take pics and even be in the photos with us! He said, "you better not tag me in those on facebook"…so Alison memorized his name...and we totally found him…we're friends now!! Small world!

Bill arrived shortly after us and we took the train into the center of town. We knew we wanted an overview of the city and to see the Viking ship at the Vasa Museum. We hopped on the double decker bus and the trip started! The weather was chilly with ice and snow on the ground…but bundled up it was a perfect day with a gorgeous, sunny sky!

Our first stop was to see the famous Vasa that sank on its maiden voyage…actually, this majestic boat never even made it out of the harbor! It collapsed under the weight of its sail. It was built in the 17^th century…after sinking it spent the next 333 years at the bottom of the sea. It was pulled from the bottom of the sea in 1961 and restoration is still in progress. This museum is awesome! There are school-style diorama projects that will blow you away with mini scaled version of a cross section of the ship, how it was built and how it was rescued from the sea floor.

Next, we hopped back on the bus, some of us took a little power nap prompted by the sun beaming into the bus. We then stopped at Old Town to walk around and grab a bite to eat. Alison had found a coffee shop that was supposed to serve the thick hot chocolate, like we had tried in Ljubljana…and we actually found the place! We all got a hot meal and warmed up from the chilly weather outside. The food was great and the white and regular chocolate was delicious.

From there, we walked the pedestrian area of the Old Town, found a few little tourist shops with Alison's snow globes and crystals for her nieces and a few Swedish items for my family. I even found a keychain with 'mormor' on it!! I was always the only kid with a mormor, so it was pretty cool to see it pre-printed! J

We then walked back to the main area of town. There were lots of shops and the city seemed to come to life in the afternoon. It was very quiet when we arrived at 10ish, then it was totally bustling later in the afternoon. We stumbled on an open air market, took in the flowers, fruits and vegetables. There was a man from Persia at one of the stands that sold nuts and dried fruit. We chatted with him for a while…I think he is the only person in Europe I've met that liked George W…crazy dude! J We bought some corn nuts to snack on thru the trip and I got some for my mom too.

We looked at our map and debated what else to do with our day. We all had achy feet, so we decided to try to catch an earlier flight. We got back to Arlanda Airport and no luck. But, we did have a nice time relaxing in the Prez Club (stocking up on more snacks) until we took off for Oslo.

We arrived in Oslo right on time at about 9:30. Normal landing…then the fun began. After touching down, we didn't even break stride, I looked out the window and commented, "wow, we're still going really fast!" We had to have been doing at least 50mph, thru turns and all. We screeched up to the gate and everyone popped out of their seats…faster than Alison, Bill and me…that NEVER happens. All of a sudden the back door opens, the jetway is open and people are pouring out of the plane and hauling to the terminal. We all look at each other stunned at how fast everyone is moving. Are we missing something here…is there some huge line coming up for immigration? We move up to the walkway in the terminal and everyone is still practically running…Alison is elated and we're all convinced she MUST have Norwegian roots. We run/walk all the way to baggage and head for the train. These people just move fast and it's awesome!

We took the train to our hotel. The Radisson SAS is connected to the rail station by a sky bridge. It was chilly out, but little did we know, the real cold was going to be the next day!

Scandinavia bound at 600 mph

It's been a while since I've posted. I didn't post on Ireland and missed having the recap to remember the details of my adventures…so jumping back on the bandwagon and here goes. My friend, Matt, is the PM for a great little product called the HP Mini 2140 and he was nice enough to loan me one for this trip! So, I have half the weight of my mobile workstation to lug as I travel Sweden, Oslo and Copenhagen. So far, this thing rocks!!! Here's my little setup on the plane. I even had room for my meal next to it!

Today, we woke up early and Oscar took Alison and me to IAH to catch our fight to Newark. We relaxed in the president's club, had a 9am bloody mary and worked on our master cheese collecting skills. I think our chico sac is completely overflowing with cheese and cracker goodness! Oh, and we discovered the hazelnutty goodness of Nutella. If you haven't tried it, run to the store and pick up a jar…YUM!!

I also called and chatted with my mormor. She is the absolute best!! We are so much alike and it makes me hopeful that I will call or stop by and visit with her more. I mentioned that I was going to call her the night before, but was afraid 10:00 was too late…she laughed and said, 'oh, that's like noon to me!'. I think I know where I get my night owl-ness. She gave us a few tips about going back to the smorgasbord as much as we'd like and how to saw good day (gudog) and thank you (taksamika). Her mom was from Stockholm and had the last name Magnuson, so we'll see if I run across any distant relatives. I'm a total mutt of ethnicities from around Europe…but I've always felt so, so close to my mormor and many of the customs and traditions I cherish from my family and will definitely pass to my own family are from mormor, that were passed from her mom. When she was little, her mom didn't speak any English and lost her site when she was older, so my mormor would read the Swedish paper to her. We always have a smorgasbord for Christmas, with appetizers, cold foods, hot foods (including Swedish meatballs) and rice pudding with raspberry sauce. There are 2 almonds hidden in the bowl and the people who get them win a prize. Somehow it was always Beca and me…so weird! J We always had a centerpiece with candles and little angels twirling around too. Looking forward to see if the culture and people seem similar to her.

After a quick stop in Newark where I picked up my FAVORITE Swedish delicacy…Swedish Fish (haha)…that brings us to now, on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic near Reykjavik, Iceland.

I watched Australia the first 3 hours, not what I expected, but a cute movie with some nice scenery. Took a little nap with John Mayer singing me to sleep. There is something about his music and planes for me. I can just listen to him on shuffle the entire way. When I was in Taiwan a few years ago, I was listening to Brian and Kara Connelly's wedding CD and fell in love with 3x5 and been hooked ever since. My other favorite travel artist is Damien Rice…he evokes more emotion through his voice that anyone else on my iPod. Being on the plane for these adventures can make you a little stir crazy, but there is something about the peace and quiet, before the hectic travel schedule, of having 7.5 hours to yourself. To just relax and close your eyes with no distractions and lose yourself in a song, it's nice.

Looking forward to the adventures this trip has in store…see you in Stockholm! Here's the plan…