Are you ready for one of the longest posts ever? My past two week vacation post have been very long and this one is not an exception.

The trip started off with a big worry. We did not know that a visa was needed for going to Australia. I felt stupid being an avid traveler but I am pretty sure I looked through my corporate travel page before and did not see this requirement. Needless to say, it was an electronic one so we were able to get one at the checkin counter with a little hassle. I am not sure what to think of the flight from Los Angeles to Syndey. It sucked sitting in coach and I definitely did not sleep more than 2 hours of the 14 hour flight but I was actually expecting worse. Each seat had their own DVR (which went down on the whole plane with about 4 hours left). It had all kinds of new movies that were not even on DVD yet. I watched Shrek Forever and Last Air Bender. I passed on A-Team, Robin Hood, and Iron Man 2 since I wanted to see them in a HD. The other thing that sucked was that we were two rows behind the baby row which never stopped crying. What even bothered me more was that two of the mothers were talking to each other as loud as can be when everyone was supposed to be sleeping. Have some common curetesy please!

Sydney

We arrived early Friday morning to Sydney after leaving St Louis on a Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say we really wanted a shower but we could not checkin since it was only 9AM and checkin was 2PM at the hotel. Thus we wandered around Darling Harbour along all the other waterways until we got to Circular Quay. Circular Quay is where the famous Harbour bridge and Syndey Opeara house is. We eventually found our way back to the hotel after cutting back through the city and checking out the various shops and markets. One of the big things we noticed while walking around was that this was going to be an expensive trip. All the food was expensive. Like $25 for a hamburger (that is not good anywhere in Australia) and $4 for a bottle of water at a local 7-11.

One of my distributors was super gracious to take us out site seeing on Saturday.  We grabbed some cofee and breakfast in Hunters Bay then made our way along the coast to Manly. We stopped at the Grotto Point Reserve to get a view of the Harbour opening then went to see the opening in an up close view at North Head – Sydney Harbour National Park. The views were breath taking. We made another stop at Manly to walk on the beach then went to the Freshwater Reserve to see Queenscliff Bay and more of the Pacific Ocean. We headed an hour north to Ku-Ring-Gai National Park. It reminded me very much of Lake of the Ozarks but with sharks in the water and sailboats instead of cigarette boats. If you can not tell, there is a ton of water ways in Sydney. I never realized this. There were harbours among harbours that were all super blue. We got an amazing view from West Head Lookout.  We had a late lunch on the water and went back to the hotel. We took a ferry ride through the harbour right at sunset back to Manly to meet up with my distributor for dinner. The ferry ride was pretty cool and a shade under 35 mins. Manly was a very hip town at night with vibrant nightlife. A must for any person wanting to have a good night on the town. I had a delicious native fish called a Barramundi for dinner. We stopped at a German pub for after dinner drinks then rode the ferry back to Darling Harbour to pass out.

We went whale watching on Sunday morning. The swells were pretty out of control that left many people sick. I am super glad I took Dramamine with swells 10 to 15 ft high. We did see a bunch of whales but none of them were close enough to get a great picture. We did see one breach too but didn’t get a picture. We also saw a seal up close and a bunch of dolphins jumping in the distance.

The rest of the week we both worked. We fit in some medioce and expensive meals. Our only quality meal was at I’m Angus on Darling Harbour. It was an expensive steak but worth it. In the next 4 days we wandered around town whenever we got a chance. We went to Paddy’s Market in China Town. It was a cross between a flea market and New York’s China Town. We also went up in the Sydney Tower. The views were nice but the place was under construction and so unorganized. We had not planned to but we did buy a pack at Sydney Tower that gave us passes for the Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Wildlife World which were both a stone throw away from our place. We were not planning to go to these since we were going to the Zoo in the Sunshine Coast but it wasn’t that much more and we had time. The aquarium was pretty cool. They had some huge large fish and shark exhibits built right into the harbor. Wildlife World would be cool if you were not going to the Australian Zoo but almost everything you saw was behind glass so not the experience that we had in Australian Zoo. You could also get your picture next to a Koala where we got to take a picture holding one at the zoo.

Sunshine Coast

We had enough of Sydney so traveled to Sunshine Coast on Friday. The Sunshine Coast is north of Brisbane. We were originally planning to go to the Gold Coast which is south of Brisbane. Supposedly the GC is the Miami of Australia but we wanted to get as north as possible from Brisbane in the hopes for warmer weather. This was the leg we were worried about because it was on a low cost airplane company which had strict wight limits for luggage. The max was 40 lbs and an additional $10 for each 2.5 pounds over. Needless to say we managed to meet the requirement with an additional carry-on. We would have bought more at Paddy’s Market if we knew we would be okay.

Unfortunately the Sunshine Coast wasn’t very sunny. We were told by locals that they can go months without rain normally over this season but of course rained for the two prior weeks to our arrival. Fortunately we only had rain for a brief time during the day but there was an overcast most of the trip. The one exception was Monday but it was still hit and miss. Due to this and the fact that it was still spring, the Ocean was pretty unswimable but I did bear the cold one day (briefly).

Our resort was pretty cool. It was another Novotel and was in the tiny town of Twin Waters. The place was very desolate but it was a true resort with a bunch of activities on the grounds like a private lagoon, boardwalk to the “river”, heated pool, free kayaks, and a supervised beach on the ocean. The place was pretty packed. We were hoping for the opposite since it was still spring. Unfortunately it was a school holiday that week so the place was packed full of unsupervised kids. We basically didn’t go in the pool at all because there were 100 screaming kids in it at all time with only about 10 parents. We did go out on kayak on the lagoon the first day which was nice. We never got one of the catamarans as they were in high demand and we did not want to wait in line. We walked about 2 miles down the beach into a small town of Mujimba then walked back to our place. We ended up eating dinner in Mujimba at the Loaded Lizard. It was one of the only two restaurants close and was basically where we ate dinner most nights.

We rented bikes on Saturday from our hotel. I did a rough Google Map driving path and it looks like we biked around 30 miles. Not bad for some old rusty beach bikes. Becki took the brunt having a pretty bad bike and a really sore back side in the end. We basically biked in three directions checking all the small towns which were basically just small resort/surf towns. It is what I would have expected Daytona to be like back in the early days. I felt like I was in South California too with a bunch of long haired “beach bums” walking around with no shoes and surf boards.

We went to the Australia Zoo on Sunday. We were told that this is the #1 tourist destination even though it is not near any big city. This is because this is the zoo that Steve Irwin (the late Crocodile Hunter) was associated with. The zoo was pretty cool. They even picked us up at our hotel in a zoo bus for the 45 min drive. The experience was a little over whelming at first because we realized you could go in all different directions and it seemed like we really needed to go to all the shows because that is the best time to see the animals. We finally got our bearings and plan to see what shows and at what times. We fit in hugging a Koala for a fee then went on our journey. My favorite part was the roo area. They basically had two 15 to 20 acres parks where a couple different kinds of kangaroos were roaming freely. You could buy food to feed them and pet them. All totally unsupervised; I did not see one too person in the area. Since it was a holiday, Bindi (Steve Irwin’s daughter) made an appearance with her younger brother so we got a special treat. Saturday night was Mexican night at the Loaded Lizard. We made reservation the night before there after we were told that it would fill up. It was okay Mexican food. What would you expect out of a country with no Mexican people?

Monday was a relaxation day. Nothing was planned except lounging around. We walked to the other end of the beach where the beach meets the river. This is where I decided to go swimming since the rip tides were not bad. I was actually pretty scared to swim in Australia. The combination of bad rip tides and sharks were very crazy. All of the beaches in Sydney had shark fences where none of the beaches in the Sunshine coast did because of the desolation. The water was cold but I got use to it. I just love the feeling of Ocean salt water on me. That night we ate at one of the restaurants in the hotel while listening to a pretty good acoustic one man band. Great day overall!

Tuesday was the big day we were looking forward to all trip. It was a visit to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and also has the largest perched lake in the world. It was a 4 hour drive to the island so it was definitely an adventure. We basically had two tour companies to choose from and we chose Fraser Island Adventure Tours because they had the most details in their brochure. The day was pretty sweet. It was basically an off road adventure traveling up to 90km/hr along the beach. The beaches are used as highways north of Noosa so I say we probably drive over 100 miles on the beach getting to the island. The beaches are part of the Great Sandy National Park which is a huge spot for backpackers and campers. We rode in a big 16 passenger off road vehicle. We were lucky enough to sit in the front so we had awesome views. The tide had not come in for the day so the ride was extremely bumpy.

The ride back was super smooth as the tide compacted the “road” for us. We stopped for tea and cookies on Rainbow Beach which was actually one of my favorite parts. The water was blue and the cliffs were amazing. We got to see some really awesome beaches. We then continued North till we finally hit our ferry point to go take us to the island. You wouldn’t believe how many pictures we saw of people getting their SUV stuck. The sand got pretty deep at times and the tide could easily get your vehicle stuck then gobbled up against the rocks at high tide. Fraser Island was pretty cool. We drove through the island to see Lake McKenzie which is the largest perched lake in the world. The pictures made it look awesome but its hard for a crystal clear lake to look blue when its cloudy and drizzling. It was still a good experience. The lake had no life in it since it was a little acidic thus why it could stay so clear. We also went to a a pretty cool rainforest. The water was so clear in the creek running through it that you can hardly tell that there is at least a foot of water running through it. We also saw some dingos and whales driving back along the beach. We rounded out the night by going to the Loaded Lizard for Chicken Schnitzel night. I had a delicious loaded chicken which made it taste like a pepperoni pizza.

Wednesday was the super long day of traveling. First we had to take a two hour bus ride to Brisbane to catch the plane (we flew into the regional airport 2 miles from our resort when arriving). I was disappointed once we got on the plane because I thought we had premium coach flying back but apparently the plane type was different then the one we flew to Sydney and American’s website did not know this. I slept about a whole hour of the 13 hour flight but did watch some good movies. The best was A-Team and Date Night. Both were very good. Date Night was one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. I laughed out loud a lot. We also were able to get a flight 3 hours earlier from LA so our layover was only 4 hours instead of 7 which put us in around 7.

Overall the trip was very good but super expensive. A lot more than I had planned but I have no regrets. It was a trip that I always wanted to go on and I did more tourist things than any other trips I have ever been on. The only think I can say is that I probably wouldn’t recommend going to Australia right now as an American unless the exchange rate gets better or your super serious into scuba. Even with going scuba diving, we have the second best reef in the world in the Caribbean and it’s probably a third of the cost. The trip will forever be one of my favorites despite the negatives that I have claimed. It probably would have been one of the best had it been sunnier and warmer.

Here is the link to all my pictures.

I am extremely busy so just gonna go over the highlights. I tailgated bright and early at 7AM for MU’s first game vs Illinois on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We got the same spot as last year but no rain so it was pretty awesome. We grilled some great food, had some adult beverages, and hung out with a bunch of friends that I do not always get to see. Overall an awesome time. Some of us went to my place to watch the game while others went to the game. MU of course won and we reconvened at Over Under for some post game celebration. I had dinner at Ozzies afterwards and was in bed by 10AM.

I went to Sugar Creek winery on Sunday with my girlfriend, her sister, and her brother-in-law. Apparently everyone else had the same idea on a beautiful Labor Day weekend. Fortunately, we were able to score this awesome tent (the only one there) after sweating in the sun for an hour. We felt like we were kings. The wine was good but the place was definitely understaffed since it took 30 mins to an hour to get a bottle of wine at the single counter they had going. Still a great time.

I had another jammed pack weekend last week. I watched The Lovely Bones which was actually very good. Even though I knew the plot of the story, I did not know how it would play out so it was good. Peter Jackson did an awesome job. The movie was actually a little trippy. I went to a friends garage sale on Saturday morning and hung out at his house for a while then hit up a couples shower. Sunday was the big day of the annual Scott Air Show I have gone to the last 3 years. We normally go on Saturday but Sunday was just as fun. We took the metrolink there and basically saw every flight. We even got to see the Blue Angels which apparently havent flown at Scott in like 20 years. The show was awesome. We made a surprise stop at the Casino Queen for a $12 buffet. All I can say to my eating friends is that we need to hit this up again. They had an Asian, Italian, American and other kinds of foods. I stuffed myself silly.

I went to Lake of the Ozarks this weekend with my girlfriend. It was a perfect weekend to visit her dad. The weather was great and there was a lot of action due to the Shootout being a couple miles from his cove.

The weekend was a relaxing time where we ate a ton of food. We got the same delicious pizza on Friday night that we got last time we were down in which I ate twice as much as I should have. We had a huge fried fish dinner Saturday and I ate KFC buffet for lunch on Sunday. I have been wanting KFC for weeks after passing it numerous times on my various weekend get aways. We also had B&G’s both mornings. Needless to say, I got to hit the gym hard this week…lol.

We went fishing Saturday morning. We at least cost something this time but no keepers. I caught a small 12″ bass that was a borderline keeper so we threw it back. We hung out in the cove most of the afternoon but did go for a boat ride. We hit up one other cove and looked at the race. The picture above is a picture from pretty far away. There was a no wake zone forever so we did not go all the way down. There was a huge amount of boats if you can not tell. We were told that it might be the busiest weekend on the lake. All I can say is that I want a boat on the Lake more than ever. I just love going for boat rides. I can so see myself owning a place down there in 5 years.

True Blood was very interesting Sunday night. I almost felt like that could have been the season finale. That seems to be True Blood’s thing. I am pretty sure that I remember them bringing a conclusion to the major plot line right at the beginning of the last episode last season. This time they just did it at the end of the second to last episode. It’s going to be a slow next episode in my opinion but a very good season so I am happy.

This was definitely a weekend where I did not get any sleep. I feel like I might have gotten a total of 8 hours between Friday and Saturday. Very disappointing since I was just coming off a sinus infection in which I was feeling very exhausted.

I went to the Cards game on Friday night. The Cards were in a huge slump and totally at the wrong time. The slump did not end for us this game either. The highlight of the night was my friend Matt eating a bacon wrapped hot dog covered in baked beans, fried onions, and pickle spears. It was pretty funny watching him eat it for the mere fact that he told us that he was cutting high sodium items out of his diet earlier in the night. We left the game a little earlier since we saw the storms rolling in so watched the rest of the game from Paddy O’s basement. The place was not as packed as normal after the game. I am guessing because of the storm front. The people who did not show up were smart because the rain and wind was pretty bad. Basically everyone under the tent got a little wet.

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning for a friend’s wedding in Muscatine, Iowa. It was for one of my friend’s from Wash U and I was really looking forward to hanging out with the group. Thus we made the 4+ plus hour trip in the morning rather than go up the night before like some of the group did. We arrived around 1 to play a little Uno and have some tasty beverages from Mike’s new employer before going to the 5Pm wedding. The wedding was pretty cool. The reception was awesome. The food was great….had a terrific piece of steak and chicken. I also loved that there was both a live band and a DJ so there was a good mix. The band even mixed in some Katy Perry so they knew what the kids liked…lol. The band also played till 1AM and they had a midnight snack of pizza planned at midnight which was awesome. A bunch of the wedding party went back to my room after the night to indulge in a fine selection of more pizza, Taco Bell, and McDonald’s.

Not much happened on Sunday. Got back in the early evening and watched some TV and caught up on the DVR. I watched Big Lake and wasn’t impressed but I will still watch a couple more episodes to give it a chance. True Blood was awesome as it always is. A little disappointed that there is only two more episodes left. It seems like the season just started. I also watched the Big C. It was entertaining and will make my tv viewing lineup.

Last weekend was my annual guys trip to Spring Lake and Lake Michigan for the weekend. I skipped out on the stop in Chicago this year. I hear it was a blast though. They went to Wrigleyville and the Cubs were playing the Brew Crew. There were some pretty crazy stories. Instead, Mike, Troy, and I drove up Thursday afternoon and got in late that night. We tried to meet our friends at a beer tent but it was shutting down right when we got there so we went to Tip-a-Few. It was the only late night bar and it was the first time I have been there. They had cheap $2 beers so it was fun.

The trip was also different from the last two year because we could not go (nor did we really want to) go fishing on Lake Michigan because the waves were really high. The major benefit was that we got a lot more sleep. Normally we don’t get a lot of sleep the Chicago night or the pre fishing night so we always start the trip pretty tired. This benefit made a world of difference because I was able to stay strong all day Friday. We went to “the beach” finally on Friday.  This is a big deal because we have only talked about it the previous 3 other times I have gone but have never even attempted it. Needless to say it was awesome. The beach was packed and full of activities like sand volleyball and football. The only bad part was that the water was cold but we were told it was actually pretty warm for Lake Michigan. Once we got back, we grilled one of the many hamburgers I ate on the trip. I probably ate about 5 pounds of hamburger in 3 days. Not complaining because it was delicious but probably not good for me. We went out to Kirby’s that night. It was probably the best time I have ever had there. The band was awesome and I wasn’t super tired so danced a ton. The only problem was getting a cab back but that is always horrible to do. We hung around at a food stand an hour or two before we finally got a cab.

Saturday is the day to be at the Hanky Pank. After devising a plan to get around a boat issue, we finally made the cove around 1 to 2. The weather was perfect and the water was warm, unlike last year. We got an awesome spot in line where we had boats on 3 sides of us. It was a ton of fun hanging out with the guys. We went back to the clubhouse around 6 to grill some more. I was cashed out so decided not to go out with the group (two other guys felt the same way). Instead, I watched the fireworks pool side and enjoy a relaxing evening (without humidity).

We went back to the cove  on Sunday. There was only 5 boat out there at 2PM. We decided to anchor and listen to tunes and relax. There was a line about 10 boats by the time we left but we never joined in. That night we went to Grand Rapids like we unusually do. We stayed in a very swank JW Marriott that was right next to The BOB. We pregamed to a little Hall of Fame Game which was fun to see NFL again. We then went to Crush in the BOB. It was empty when we got there so we went to the rooftop to enjoy a drink. We  went back down to find it insanely packed. It was too much for some of us so we went to other bars only to find them completely empty so we made our way back. No matter what, I had fun this night too which is a first for our annual trip. Normally I am so tired but my strategy really helped. We did have a weird experience where the new hotel tested its back up generators at 2AM. Power was out for 2 hours so no AC. We complained enough so they gave us 4 passes for breakfast. You would think they would have tested it around checkout time.

The much hyped Vegas trip has concluded which brings an end to what some of my friends have refereed to as Ericapalooza or the month of Eric. The Vegas trip went very well. There was a little worrying about bringing that many people together and wanting to do different things but everything work out.

We arrived Thursday afternoon, checked into our hotel at Mandalay Bay, then headed to the Mirage to pick up our tickets for Beatles Love. We wandered around the hotel and eventually made our way into the Venetian where we wandered around some more and picked a place to eat at the Grand Lux Café. This was the first of many delicious meals. Unlike my past Vegas personal trips, this was a trip where we ate pretty well instead of eating $1 double cheeseburgers from McDonalds. I had the Crispy Caramel Chicken and Shaking Beef combination plate with rice. It was delicious and I only could eat about half. We went to Beatles Love after dinner. I really did not know what to expect. A bunch of my colleagues had seen it and loved it. I have only been to one Vegas shows in all my trips and it was to see the Blue Man Group. I enjoyed it and had awesome seats but was also glad that the seats were given to me because I do not think they were worth the $150 price tag. All I can say is Beatles Love blew my expectations out of the water. The show was amazing. Well worth the $100 to $150 ticket (we got ours for free). The show was constant action and stimulation. It makes me want to now go and see the other Cirque du Soleil shows. We followed that up with a quick and only stop to my favorite cheap beer place of Casino Royale. We met up with another couple there then went to Freemont Street to meet the rest of the group. In all honesty, I was not impressed with Freemont St. It was cool seeing all the old casinos but its allure wore off in about 5 minutes. I was expecting more from the overhead screen. With that said, I would recommend it to anyone who has not seen it but I wouldn’t make a night out of it.

Friday was the big day with all the events. I had a huge omelet at Raffles Café in the morning. The $25 restaurant.com deal paid off and as our meal for two was still $20’s after the $25 coupon. We then hit up the cabana that we rented for the day. We had a lot of choices amongst the 5+ pools and I think we made the best choice. The size and location was perfect. It was well worth what we paid for it. It had a tv in it (which allowed us to watch the Cards lose to the Cubs), a safe, and frig along with chairs and a table. Another perk (which we did not realize till the next day) was that we had multiple waitress/waiters for us which made it easy to get drinks. The drinks were expensive but worth it. We ordered a lot of fruity drinks, food, and buckets and I was dreading the bill. I was pleasantly surprised because the bill was only half what I was expecting. We really lucked out because I know there were numerous buckets and other items missing. After the pool action was the planned group bday dinner at Rum Jungle. This was my pick and I read some pretty awesome reviews and the prices were good. All the guys got the Rodizio. It is basically all you can eat meat and sides. Meetza, as my friends call it, included beef sirloin, turkey breasts, pork, chicken, chorizo, lamb, and beef tri-tip. It was delicious. Probably the best meal I have ever eaten. All the meats had delicious rubs and seasonings. We just kept eating and eating. For those not familiar with Brazilian, they basically walked around the restraint cutting off chucks of the meat at your table off a slab skewered with a sword….pretty freaking cool. The only bad part was the bill. The waitress said that she could split it but obviously couldn’t. It took her over an hour just to bring back the split bill and took another hour plus to pay after I specifically told her we were missing items but she said we were okay then came back saying we were short. Needless to say I paid for 3 meals, filed a credit card dispute, and finally had them take one charge off after three calls. At least we got a free round of drinks and a good story. We stayed there once the club opened but the place was pretty empty and did not have the top dance floor open. We walked over to one of the bars in the casino that had a big dance floor. It was playing some good songs but we left after 15 minutes because we were exhausted.

On Saturday we walked around the strip. It was pretty exhausting. It was hot but I never did sweat. Someone told me that is because it evaporates before you realize it. On the way back, we realized that the new City Center has a free tram from Bellagio to Monte Carlo then we hopped the free tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay so we had an easy way back. We chilled at a different pool off the beating path when we got back which was relaxing. We followed that up with a delicious hamburger at Red, White, and Blue. Josh got the biggest hamburger I had ever seen. Saturday was also our big clubbing night where we were meeting the bachelorette party of my other friends. The chose Haze which is a new club in Aria. We got there super early so we did not have to wait in line (long). We waited about an hour since the place wasn’t even open when we got there at 10:15PM. The place was okay but it definitely was not up to par with other big Vegas clubs. Also, paying $7 for a small glass of water or soda was ridiculous.

Sunday was our departure day. I had another delicious omelet in the The Cafe in THEHotel. We paid another $25 after $25 off from the restaurant.com deal. Everyone else had an early flight where we had the latest flight so we wandered around to the Luxor and also checked out the aquarium in our hotel. It was pretty neat and larger than I expected but the $20 price tag is pretty steep. Overall it was an excellent birthday and trip.

This weekend pretty much revolved around our “annual” float trip. I felt like I had been planning this trip for months even though we only started seriously discussing it two weeks ago. The reason it seemed like it took forever because I think about 100 emails were exchanged between where we wanted to stay, who was going, and what we were bringing. The issue we ran into was that most wanted to stay in an air conditioned unit for the night and waiting till two weeks before is not a smart idea.

We finally found a place after calling several campgrounds. The funny thing was that the place we ended up at was our original plan. They had some cancellations that freed up some spots. We chose Ozark Outdoors since we floated with them several times in the past and they are the closest. We had two rafts, 1 canoe, 1 motel room and 1 camp site. We chose a lot longer than usual float  (for some reason) so we were a little worried about doing a 9 mile float. We got there early (or at least some of us). There was no reason to worry because we got done with the float by 5PM which sucked. The water was high and had a decent current so we were just flying down the river. I was hoping to get back around dusk.

We had a lot of float trip “rookies” this year and it definitely showed. I almost thought my girlfriend died after she got swept up by the current under the raft and did not pop up till another 15 feet down the river. It was pretty scary but was out of her control. It was definitely the fastest current I have ever seen on a float trip. Especially in mid July when most of the time you are worried if there is enough water for a raft. Also, a couple of the girls took long naps during the trip. Jello shots are not for everyone…lol.

The water camera was also lost again. This is the second time in three trips so no pictures from the trip. Sorry to Mike. Hopefully it turns up.

The motel was very nice. Having your own shower and bathroom was nice. We were right next to our campsite too which was awesome. Needless to say, I still prefer not staying down the night but staying in the AC is ten times better. I would like to explore the party bus idea where we rent a bus and a driver for the day to drive us down and back. I think the cost would offset what we paid for the cabin and camping.

Not much went on Friday evening and Sunday. I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant again on Friday. We got fake tattoos again for the float trip but the alcohol in the spray sun screen quickly dissolved them. I watched the World Cup on Sunday but was bored with it mainly because I was tired. The game itself seemed very physical and fast paced. A lot of scoring opportunities were missed too. There should have been at least 3 or 4 goals that should have been made.

Wow, what a fantastic weekend! Everything seemed almost perfect. There were a ton of things going on this weekend and I had a bunch of things to choose from like Cards/Cubs action in Chi Town with a bunch of my grad school friends or Rib Fest and all of the shows (right next to my condo) but I happily chose a weekend at the Lake of Ozarks with my girlfriend’s family. Most of you know me; how could I pass up a weekend of water filled fun?

We took off Friday to head down to the Lake. We were staying at my gf’s dad’s house in Camdenton. I have always been on the Osage side of the Lake so was excited to see the difference. We got down there around 2PM, took a quick tour, and immediately hit the water for some lounging around the dock. The water was amazingly warm and relaxing. It was awesome. We ate some pretty good pizza that night and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

I had my first true fisherman experience on Saturday (in my opinion). I have fished off docks and lands numerous times as a kid but have never really done any fishing on a true fishing boat. It was a fun time but we caught nothing. We didn’t even see a boat nearby catching anything either. My opinion is we started a little too late (around 10AM) but we value our sleep.

Once we got back to the house, we ate a quick lunch and took out the big boat for a cruise and to cove out. It was a lot of fun. I was definitely amused by the difference in the sides of the lake. I have never been on a holiday weekend on the Osage side but have heard horror stories. This side of the Lake was actually pretty quiet for Lake of the Ozarks in my opinion. There was a lot more pontoon boats and I don’t think I saw a boat over 30ft the entire time. It was also interesting seeing entire parts of the Lake with no houses. I did catch a fish that night while fishing off the dock at night. It was the only fish caught by anyone the whole weekend. It was a 14″ crappie which apparently is pretty big and is worth of mounting to a wall.

We took off early on Sunday to drive back to the Lou and knock out some errands. We hit a quick BBQ and passed out early.

My girlfriend hosted a BBQ on Monday for her family. It was fun with good food. I also cleaned my BBQ pit that was in storage for two years. I am a little bummed about it because I did not store it properly. I guess the grease produced moisture under the cover which caused some mold and rust. I cleaned it good but have my doubts. I will fire it up in the coming weeks to see how it is.

My girlfriend and I went to some of the Augusta, MO wineries on Saturday for a friend’s 30th bday party. My girlfriend had been planning it for the past month. She decided on the Mount Pleasant winery since this same group had such a blast last year at the same winery. The weather was amazing. There was barely a cloud in the sky and the temperature was in the mid 80′s.

Unfortunately, Mt Pleasant was a huge disappointment. We were the first group to basically get there at 11:30. We grabbed some tables and went back to the entrance for the tasting. Upon looking at the list, we realized that the choices were pretty dismal. We were told that the sweet wines were moved to Branson but we could still buy them at local stores like Walmart. My big problem is why would you not offer all the wines even though they might be made at different locations? I just got back from Chile and went to several wineries where they made only certain wines at each locations but all the locations carried all the wines. Don’t you want to market your products? Especially in Mt Pleasant’s instance that their Augusta location has always been their bread and butter location (in my eyes). This was huge for us since my girlfriend and I both prefer Merlots. The second big problem was the winery changed their policy and did not allow food to be brought in. Thus we were told after being there for an hour that we needed to take our food out to our cars. Every single table had food and was equally distraught. They told us we could buy food at the market. The problem with this statement was that the normal market was under renovation so they didn’t even offer winery basics like meat and cheese plates. Instead they offered pulled pork sandwiches which they supposedly ran out of anyway. We continued to eat our food out of protest (along with everyone else) until we were told again a hour later. We argued that they did not state their no food policy on their webpage not are they providing an alternative source for food. They explained it was a trash issue which is just hogwash….that is the logistics of running a business. The other big issue I failed to mention was the price of the wine. It was outrageous. We were buying $33 bottles of wine which is ridiculous. Like everyone else, we decided to go somewhere else. It was actually pretty sad because the place had probably 4 or 5 small groups at 3 o’clock on a perfect day. Their policy has to be a losing proposition in their revenue plan. I know they lost a couple hundred dollars from our group of 15 since we went somewhere else.

We went to Sugar Creek because we heard from other groups that they allow food. We were a little worried that we were not going to get a table being so late. We arrived just as a group was leaving to secure a table so it was pretty awesome. The place was packed. There was a band, all the tables were packed, and even the grass was full of people on blankets. It was a great atmosphere. People even brought their own tables and chairs. We had a huge spread so it was good that we could enjoy it here. Plus we got two bottles of wine for $31 and it was better tasting so goodness all around. Also, Sugar Creek specifically stated their policy on what can and can not be brought unlike Mt Pleasant. I would definitely go back.

The one other issue I had with both wineries was their no outside water policy. I understand trying to prohibit liquor, sodas, and other liquids but water? It promotes safety when it comes to alcohol. Especially in the hot sun. Even Busch Stadium (the mother of all rip offs) allows you to bring in water. Even more is that their was another DD checkpoint on 94 which has to hurt business for the winery. I was responsible and had only one glass of wine at both locations but brought a group of people that was drinking. Should I be punished by having to buy water when I am bringing revenue to their business? I think not.

I went to Nashville this weekend for one of my best friend’s bachelor party. We were all a little worried with the potential for flood damage and no one downtown but the location was picked months ago. The trip was very fun and I would recommend Nashville for this kind of event. It musy be pretty popular because I ran into two other guys that I went to Wash U with that were also there on a bachelor party.

We immediately hit the bars upon getting to Nashville on Friday afternoon. We went to a pretty cool dive bar that had a live band playing Blue Grass music. The interesting thing about all the bars in the area that we stayed was that every bar had live music. We also ate some delicious BBQ that night too. I ordered way too much especially after I had KFC buffet (my favorite) for lunch.

We hit up the pool, an awesome German restaurant, and more bars (including a 80′s/90′s bar on Saturday. It was a fun night.

I never saw any flood water but we did feel the effect. Our hotel’s elevator was out because I think the shaft was flooded. This sort of sucked since we were on the 5th floor. We were right next to all the Country Music Hall buildings which had all the flood damage. We saw one bar that was closed and we also went to a brewery that smelled horrible from flood damage.