I'm on a Pilgrimage to See a Moose

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Hustled in New Orleans

I'm sure there are other places in the world where this type of thing takes place, but after my recent return visit to New Orleans, I am now convinced that I may have been to two of the worst. I was there once in 1998, but it was only for a day, and I don't recall feeling the way

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I felt this time during that visit. I do, however recall feeling this way in Jamaica in 2007, when a Caribbean cruise we took stopped there as one of the three stops.

The locals ruin it for the tourists! For Jamaica the number one way the country makes money is probably due to tourism, but instead of making the people who visit feel comfortable, I wouldn't be surprised if there are many people who've visited Jamaica who feel the way I do. I remember being asked if I wanted to "smoke some of da good stuff, mon" within about 2 minutes of getting off the ship! I remember not even really feeling safe walking the streets. There were men standing around in the streets armed with AK-47s. Like holy crap, there's a guy with an AK-47! Oh wait, that's a cop. Wait a minute.. why do they have to have cops standing around in the streets armed with AK-47s? I remember feeling really uncomfortable being consistently pulled here and lured there by locals, who simply wanted to try to sell me some of their products: art, clothing, food, and other keepsakes.

The thing about Jamaica, though, is these people are trying to make an honest living selling stuff to tourists - they are just a little too aggressive in their manor of going about it.

Then there's New Orleans. In 48 hours in New Orleans I was approached probably 25-30 times for one reason or another. And not just in the French Quarter.

"Hey sir, can I bum a smoke?"

"I bet I can tell you where you got your shoes!"

"If you tell me your first name, I'll bet I can spell your last name."

One guy asked me about the Longhorns (I was wearing a Texas Longhorns t-shirt), and proceeded to make conversation for a good 5-minutes before he, too, asked to bum a smoke.

A guy in a devil costume hustled us for a dollar to take a picture with him, and another guy in a party patrol costume (I actually thought he was a cop before looking closely) hustled us for $10 for a "free" baseball cap. I wear a lot of caps, and loved the thought of a free cap, so this was cool at first. Then he handed my wife a pink cap, and asked in so many words to "show some love" for a couple of caps. He wanted $15 for both, so we handed the pink one back, and gave him $10 for mine. Hustled again!

The people who work at the bars in the French Quarter literally try to get in your way as you're walking by, and lead you into their establishment. They all have the best drink deals, the biggest, cheapest beers, and are the only ones who make their Hurricanes from scratch.

Several times it was just a homeless person asking for a couple bucks for a burger. "I have no job, and am starving.. will you buy me a burger & fries?" Some of them probably are homeless, jobless, and hungry, but I doubt they all are. Most of them are grifters.

In 48 hours, we witnessed two drug deals. One of the groups of guys actually had the nerve to ask us if we were looking to buy some weed as we were on a voodoo/ cemetery tour. They then proceeded to go make a deal with some dude a few minutes later less than 50 feet from us. The other one took place in a restaurant - with a female officer waiting in line to buy food!

The difference between Jamaica and New Orleans is that most of these people in New Orleans - outside of the very talented street performers - aren't trying to make an honest living with their product or service. They're hustlers looking to take advantage of nice, normal tourists.. like me.

New Orleans, if you want people to come visit your city, you might try cracking down on this type of thing. I don't know.. you could call it Felony Tourist Harassment, or something.

Porto Katsiki, Lefkada Island, Greece

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Original title was "Where is This? I Wanna Go There!", but thanks to the photographer, I found out where it is. Thank you, Eek!

Its Wikipedia page..
And here is its Google Maps location..

Some Shots from Our Trip to Galveston Last Week (OC)

The beginning of a Galveston sunset..

It was just a little 2-night get-away to Galveston. We only went to the beach once - for about 20 minutes, but we do that all the time, and there are better beaches in Texas. We spent almost a whole day at Moody Gardens, and that was better than I expected it would be - especially for $47 each. The pictures aren't spectacular, but nor was the vacation. It was more about getting away for a few days, relaxing, and seeing some stuff we hadn't seen before.

I wouldn't recommend eating at the Rainforest Cafe. The food was overpriced, and not very good. Don't make the mistake of going to a new place, and trying one of your favorite dishes from one of your favorite frequent eateries - and I should've known - you'll be sorely disappointed. I had the fish tacos. (I love Los Cucos's fish tacos, so that was my big mistake.) Tortuga Mexican Kitchen, however, was VERY good.

Click any pic to enlarge..
All these are mine..

Back From Vacation Safe & Sound (OC)

Mine..

Hey everyone!

OK so very soon after my fantasy draft last Friday night, the wife and I took a short vacation to the coast. It seemed as if we were attempting to meet hurricane Isaac in Galveston. As it turned out, you would've never known by the weather the last two days down there, that there was a hurricane coming. We had a cool couple days, and made it home with a day or two to spare.

I'll have a few pictures to upload in a few days. Just know that I'm now back to posting at regular pace, and aside from normal fantasy football operations, things will be back to normal here at One For The Road.

Above is a picture I snapped quickly of the back of a truck with my phone. It was only afterward that I realized it was Michael Jordan's head. Must have been a truck carying a gigantic load of Michael Jordan cologne. At least that's what the truck says.

More to come about our little trip. Stay tuned!

Shiprocked 2012 - Godsmack, 5FDP, and More

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If you feel like taking a cruise, and also love hard rock music, this is probably a vacation for you! The 4-day (Nov. 27 - Dec. 1, 2012) cruise leaves from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and prices start at $799 for double-occupancy. Bands named so far are Godsmack, Five Finger Death Punch, P.O.D., Sevendust, Filter, Fuel, Black Stone Cherry, Lit, Geoff Tate (of Queensryche), Gilby Clarke, In This Moment, and more are said to be announced. The only port of call is Nassau, Bahamas.

Check out GetShipRocked.com for more information!

Room with a View

This is the view from one of the rooms at the Ladera Hotel in St. Lucia, West Indies. (Click to enlarge!)

Via

Lots more photos from the area..

I'm All Messed Up, But I'm Back!

Well we're home from a great vacation, which was brought to an end with a bang!

My brother-in-law and I had a bunch of beer and vodka on what amounted to our last night there. I was on my way out the back door with a couple of vodka drinks at 5am, slipped on the welcome mat on the way out, sprained my ankle and hit the ground 4 feet below on my back right side. (Here's the same steps in a picture from last year.) B-I-L says I hit no other steps on my way down - just the ground.

Anyway the image above is from my wife's camera a few minutes after the fall. She was taking pictures of us through windows and laughing, believe it or not (I can). You can see the two little red plastic cups lying there too.

I went right to bed, and woke up a few hours later in major pain, so I went to the ER. Long story short, I've since flown home (as is always the case - had to walk from one side of Dulles airport to the other for our connecting flight.. on a bad ankle.. not fun), been to another ER, and to a urologist - In addition to the bad ankle sprain, I also have a burst adrenal gland, and many bruised ribs.

So I'm on a hydrocodone diet for a few days, and I will be resuming posts shortly. Today is the first day where my pain level has dropped to something that's at least manageable. And yeah it's my insides, not my ankle. I'm shocked that 15 x-rays found no broken ribs.

Here's my ankle a few minutes ago (almost 60 hours after the fall):

Vacation Link Dump

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15 Lives Ruined by Reality Television (via EHOWA - NSFW)

The Web Is Running Out Of Addresses

Thailand's 13 Most Totally And Utterly Repulsive Dishes (via Gorilla Mask - NSFW)

9 Sports Stars Who Were Banned From Their Sport

100 Great Quotes About Life And Living (2nd Edition)

The 20 Funniest Internet Reactions To The NBA Finals

How to Grill (Almost) Everything (via Look At This)

Ten Foods In Your Kitchen That Contain Gruesome Poisons (via The Presurfer)

Freedom In The 50 States (via EHOWA - NSFW)

Vacation Rules

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Posts are gonna be a little slow this week until I get back home from a much-needed week's vacation. OK, it's much more needed for my wife than for myself, but it'll be great to be along with her on this much needed vacation of hers.

I'll have a link dump I've been preparing tomorrow to keep you all busy!

I'm Back!

...from a 3-day trip to Lubbock. Daughter had a second audition for the College of Music at Texas Tech. This trip also included a drive over to Roswell, NM, hence the banner image. Roswell is actually a fun little place, unless you are a serious skeptic to all the hype surrounding its history. The town really banks on its tourism, as there are little aliens literally all over place. Fake ones, of course, but there's probably a real one or two too.

The UFO Museum & Research Center was actually very impressive - especially for an enthusiast such as me. For only $5 you get an incredible amount of information.

Posts will resume back to normal later today!

Vacation's Over

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Blog post awesomeness will return to normal momentarily, as I regroup and get situated back into the routine. Thanks for being patient and for continuing to visit!

Gone For A Few Days

I will be posting, but just not as much.

So lower your low expectations a little, and things will resume shortly.

There is always good with the bad - I'll have a bunch of my own pics to post when I get back! Stay tuned, folks!



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