Back by popular demand

So we have had a great couple of days...

Stella has been the topic of many of our recent conversations, such was her wisdom. Stella was a 70 something year old widow, on a bus trip with a group of 16 OAP christians. We met her in the line queuing to board the titanic.! By the time we got to the top of the queue... both her 15 friends and the rest of the line knew that we were from Ireland. Stella talked a lot... She was highly concerned about us, and for our welfare and gave us advice such as, the need to marry someone educated and not to marry a "dummy", don't stay out past 9pm, marry someone with money - then make sure he is a christian and much more! We got more hugs from her than either of us has ever had from anybody! As can be imagined... Rebekah said very little, but smiled! To be honest Stella did most of the talking but got highly excited with lines such as, "you are full of great advice", "you are full of wisdom", "there is no way you are an OAP"... It was highly entertaining but Rebekah spent the time smiling, until she asked her name and I had to slap rebekah out of her trance! She is an awful wee girl! Stella told us we were very lovely and pretty girls.. I tell ye something, there was nothing wrong with Stella's sight! So that was stella!!

Dollywood was a slight disappointment. Like it was good, and cool to see and plenty to be doing and the way it was laid out was like an old town from yonder year but it was mostly shops and a few rides. A very good place for children though and young families and the like. We did think the tickets were a little on the wild side for the value... rebekah said it could have bought her at least two more hoodies.!!! But it was good to see, and we enjoyed the little train ride and we purchased some souvenirs and overall a good day was had by all.

The next day we went for a drive up the Smoky mountains. This was highly exciting. Stella had give us some top advice about this and so we followed it. We drove up and it was very good. When you get to the top you are above the clouds, as it was early in the morning it was not yet very sunny. I told my friend rebekah (who to be honest, stella probably referred to as a dummy), that when you are above the clouds like this you can actually touch the sun...! Wow was she astounded... She talked about it the whole way down the mountains until I broke the news to her that I was just kidding!!

We then went to the dixie stampede - well it was delightful! First we met the horses - who rebekah picked up an allergic reaction to and came out in boils all over her face! To say the least it was a little embarrassing when people were telling me that you shouldn't stand so close to people with leprosy! We went on to the show anyway... after me showing my great lasoo-ing skills... Rebekah at this point was quite embarrassed when I got myself a horse on a stick, whipped it between my legs and galloped after her trying to lasoo her around the neck... We were just asked to leave the shop, not the show!

So, the dixie stampede - well firstly we got sat beside a great big horse of a woman - who had already been to the show three times, and felt the need to scream in my ear and spit her corn in my eye! The show was great. There was an arena on the ground, then rows in a circle - like the odyssey! Well in front of you was a bench like in school with a table top! Here you had a waiter - so the show started and we got fed. But you had to eat with your hands, and it was lots of fun! We had soup and a scone, a whole chicken each (stella told us it was going to be just bout the size of our hand, turned out to be the size of a small child), some pork, some potatoes, some corn ears, an apple turnover and unlimited drinks... The show was good fun... Lots of horses and stuff!

We then left pigeon forge, sieverville and gatlinburg, with the intent to return at christmas for a ski holiday (we will be taking tracts - so all missionary aid will be appreciated)! We made our way back up to Nashville, of course stopping off for some shopping on the way. We treated ourselves to some clothing materials and drove around town.

This morning, we went to the Nashville governors mansion - we had some trouble singling it out as all the houses in the area were fit to be the governors house.! The we went to the state capitol and eventually on to the Country Music Walk and Hall of Fame and Museum. This was just super! We then went on a tour of the Ryman auditorium. Had a little walk down Music Row and were serenaded by Darby - who wants to make it big in Europe this year but to be honest by the sounds of him, he will get as far as his front porch!

We had a little visit to wal-mart to stock up on some rations for our big bus journey tomorrow. We then came back to the hotel, lay at the pool for an hour to soak up a little sun and then got dressed for our big night out!

We had to leave the car back - what a weight off our minds to get it back in one piece! We did 2300 miles with only 2-3 near death experiences! Quite an achievement for Lefty Virgins! (that is to mean driving on the left hand side of the road). We then got a very expensive taxi ride back to our concert... me being my fathers daughter was certainly not for tipping the thieving little bugger and he was a bit amused.. but i am a girl of principle.! The same man later mugged us!! He got that one dollar the little jammy git!

So the concert was a country gospel number... highly enjoyable and for you dear kirsten we recorded most of it on our phones and we do hope you received our picture messages! We then came back to the hotel and ordered some pizza!

Tomorrow, we are getting the greyhound... This will be an experience to say the least. Our bags weigh about the size of a growing family... each! It is likely we will be offline for a night or two at least to we get to new york! So we are checking out for now!!






The above is not necessarily 100% compliant with the truth.

Checking In!

Yesterday was spent in Graceland, well memphis. Home to Elvis Presley! We got to see around his house and visited a few museums. Was very good! We then went to sun studios which was very cool.

We then made the big drive to Knoxville where Dolly lives! Currently in Pigeon Forge.
Went this morning to the titanic museum, the upside down house and dollywood! We also made a new friend.. she was on a trip with 16 other christians - she was baptist but as stella says denomination means nothing, you just gotta have the love of the Lord.!

We also are wearing clean briefs - first wash complete!

We have kept this brief upon request.

Update!

We have not commented in three days due to being very busy with a very tight schedule. It seems people think we are writing too much but as we said previously, we like our blog to be entertaining and informative!

So on saturday we were still in Austin and decided to top up the tan in the 40 degree heat - we went to barton springs which was quite lovely however we didn't stick the heat too long. after a sufficient roasting we stopped off and rebekah had her first corndog as she had seen it in some teen movies - this was not a very good time for her! the sausage was a "frankfluter" (as she thinks they are called and I don't like to correct her), and to say the least it was a little undercooked! we shared it instead with the bees in the bin!

We then left barton springs for Dallas! We shared some more of our hard earned cash with ralph and tommy again and had a little drive around downtown in the evening. People have started to comment on the size of our bags a little too much with one man telling rebekah that her bag was just about as big as her and she clearly had a back like a horse - she is upset to say the least - i frankly saw the uncanny likeness! We stayed in the crowne plaza again - we were on the tenth floor with a very nice view and we really felt a change from our usual budget inns! We were awakened to the things of the world when the car park across the road started filling up - this held the adult club and beside it the couples club - dens of iniquity to say the least and so we thought it would be great fun to pop on over for a little fun!! (just kidding)

Sunday was spent in Dallas at Dealey Plaza - we truly had a marvellous day starting with the JFK sixth floor museum. We spent some time here soaking up the history. I personally wanted to phone my old history teacher who did my coursework with me on Who shot JFK but have not been able to track down her number due to kirsten thinking I will stalk her but that is a whole other story!! The museum was very good - up in the school book depository building - how dare those wee brutes kill wee jack (thats what jacqui called him)... we also had our first shave with death when we wanted to stand in the "X" that marks the spot of the shot that killed JFK. This is a main road and not a good idea when cars are coming and it is a highway and you are wearing flip flops that could flip right off your little foot!!! again, a story for another time.. to be brief - i am still here and writing this and that is all we will say about that!

We then went to a holocaust museum which was really great as well! We think Sunday was our best day! - We found that Dallas just wasn't as gospel orientated as Houston had been and we didn't see any churches to worship at - not that Rebekah would probably have let us anyway, but it was more worldly, so we just had our own church!

We then finished our time in Dallas with a trip to the Galleria - here I had a lovely chair massage! My goodness it was delightful! I even tipped the wee chinaman! I tell you something them wee boys know what they are about when it comes to giving the back rubbings! I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt my posture greatly improved! Rebekah sat and watched as she did not want her brother to be rubbing her back - she thought it would be weird!

We then made the six hour drive to Little Rock - the so-called capital of Arkansas - rebekah has christened it Little Crap! On the way there we did pass through Hope which was the birth place of ole Billy... no not king billy - billy clinton! - you know hilary's wife! In order for me to stretch my legs we stopped off to get some food! Here we dined at the drive-thru of Wendy's - Wendy knows how to cook wings I tell ye! We are not really getting on to the hang of ordering at the box instead of talking personally to the cashier! Rebekah says its a language barrier - (she doesn't do much talking - I have given up trying to tell her that americans speak english as well)!

So... before we left last week my mummy got me a money belt... so everyday I have my little money belt on!!! Well.. at the drive through when I was getting my money out to pay I was hoking in my money belt... at the window the cashier was a 20 year old african american child - as I was hoking what seemed to be down my trousers he was very taken back and asked me if I would like him to turn around while I fixed my pants! Needless to say Rebekah almost wet herself! Well anyway we had to wait for 4 minutes - and due to the inconvenience of having to wait at a fast food restaurant we were given a little treat - a chocolate frostie - it was chocolate flipping lovely! As we are mcdonalds Newry, best customers we are going to be informing them of this regulation and suggesting they implement it.!

So eventually we got our food and reached our destination - the hampton suites in Little Rock - this was a rather lovely place and the best nights sleep we have had yet!

Today, we spent a liitle time in Little Rock - we went and seen the governors mansion - where billy used to reside - and now a man Beete - he told us he was no relation of stanley and lila! We then saw the capitol and little rock and decided it was time to get out of there!

We are now in Memphis, well actually we are staying in Graceland!! It is Elvis land literally! We cannot get to sleep for Blue Suede Shoes playing over the antenna! There is a shrine in the lobby and there are a large number of photos in our room of elvis! There are a large amount of signs saying - Parking for Elvis fans only - violators will be all shook up! Brilliant!

So that has been our past few days! Some things we would just like to note!!

- Police men take very young girls out to dinner in their police cars and it is very strange.
- We are highly disappointed with McDonalds and have not had a good one yet!
- Air conditioning blowing in your face for five hours causes you to get a draft in your eye.
- When the driver has difficulty distinguishing left from right - it poses a large strain on a friendship
- Cruise control can be very dangerous
- Rebekah will not be doing any more driving (5 miles was more than enough for both of us to know that we made the correct decision - no more will be said on this matter other than, for a second i thought i would never see my poor mamma again!)




here endeth the lesson...

Living it up in Austin

Our shopping trip on Thursday to San Marcos proved to be a big hit, admittedly not tax free but a whole lot of cheapness was going on!! Our favourite shop was Ralph Lauren!! Judith met her husband to be there.. to be honest i don't think the feeling was overly mutual!! Abercrombie and Fitch was a MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT!! we also had our first taco bell which was really quite lovely!!

The rest of thursday was spent travelling to Austin, the capital of Texas it seems as i just learnt today.. we did experience a little rain, however our hotel made up for it! The crown plaza has been home for the past two nights, it has been a little more expensive than our other stop overs but its very classy and we do feel right at home.

Today we missed the luxury of having free breakfast.. here at the plaza it costs 9 dollars, so we opted for a cheap snack in town!! we hit downtown Austin and started off at the Tom Bullock History of Texas museum which had a delightful exhibit of the restoration of the governors mansion which burnt down in 2008. it also held an exhibit on the story of austin from before it was a state and was taken over by the mexicans - this was less interesting to the likes of me! we then went to state capitol which is kinda like stormont, but with no big Ian, although on like a bigger scale.. we also sat in on some school debate thing in the senate which was a bit weird.

we spent the rest of the afternoon on foot in the scorching heat, which was not cool. ooohh we also went to the university of Texas Austin and got our tan topped up further.. we then went to the texas longhorns football stadium and bought ourselves some t-shirts but the tours were closed which was rather unfortunate but judith proved an educated guide - her immense knowledge courtesy of wiki is quite astonishing.

after a quick stop at the hotel we went to congress avenue bridge at dusk. this was quite a treat for judith much to my distaste. i was more worried about the large dragonflies flying around my head and feet and the bats getting stuck in my hair. there also was a family beside us whom judith is now annoyed that she can not figure out which wife belonged to which husband and who was sister and brother.! she says its a mcmullan thing to do!



oh and the picture is me standing beside the statue of liberty - judith says the real one is in new york!

time is ticking on and so tomorrow we are moving on up to dallas and then heading out of Texas. We have our wheels until Friday and so we need to keep moving if we ever want to get to Dollywood!!

Cock be a lady tonight!!

Last night as we were updating out blog, Jud felt something on her arm, at first she thought it was a mosquito but we later decided it was a jumping cockroach....to say the least I was not amused.

while I jumped around the bed Judith managed to kill it after about three attempts with the more magazine. after much searching of the room no more could be found and we both settled down for the night in the same bed with the light on to that cockroaches could be quickly identified... (my idea)... a good nights sleep was not had by all to say the least.!

then this morning Judith was highly disappointed that we slept in missing the FREE hot breakfast that was served between 6 and 9.

when checking out, i decided i would tell gabby and julie about our experience last night - they seemed to think this was funny and common - i was not best impressed and so we checked out never to return!

today we explored San Antonio, Gabby and Julie on the desk in the hotel last night told us to go downtown. the buckhorn Texas museum was our first stop, then we headed off to market square, soon realising this was a mistake as it was 100 degrees and we were both feeling very sorry for ourselves after yesterdays roasting. market square proved to be full of crappy shops (ecuadorian kind of stuff judith said) and we both decided we were more high street shoppers.

we then went to the alamo - the most visited attraction in Texas! this was quite interesting.. however judith had did some background reading last night on this and was filling me in on the way into town on the car.. turns out she got her information from wiki, and according to the signs and memorabilia it was quite inaccurate.

the rest of the afternoon was spent dandering round quarry market a rather upper class shopping area. After last nights creepy crawlie shock we have checked into a new hotel and are currently gettin ready for bed, last nights traumatic events are begining to take its toll and at 10pm we are ready for bed...

judith keeps saying that the only thing that looks good pink is a pig... this is certainly the case for her thighs which really do look like raw bacon dear love her, although she is doing her best not to complain! i on the other hand have a very painful belly and every so often feel like having a little cry!!

after some after sun application we will be lying down for the night...

tomorrow we are going to san marcos and then onto austin to see what fun will find us there!

Day 3 / 4

So we did not get to blog yesterday due to a very hectic schedule and some dodgy accommodation that will be kept between ourselves and limited readers (i.e. not to be shared in the house of 23)!

Yesterday we made our way down to Galveston Island with a stop at NASA.! Houston really did have a problem when rebekah forgot to put on her deodorant!!! We got a little tram drive around the NASA village - which employs 10,000 people and is about 300 acres - like its own wee village - just for NASA people - all the astronauts live onsite etc... (yes, i hear you thinking - this blog is not just entertaining, but also educational).!!!! rebekah nearly got rode over by some indians on the tram - this caused us to be seperated due to me wanting to stand up for the british race and push against the indian - whereas rebekah decided to leave me and go and find another seat... this resulted in me sitting with the indians and rebekah sitting in the tram behind!!!! we then went to the control room to have a little talk about what went on when young neil landed on the moon in 69... here rebekah made a new friend... a 70 year old mexican who fell asleep and decided to snore the whole way through the talk!!

We left the space centre and had an early late lunch in quiznos!!! the little waitress here clearly did not have her NVQ level 1 customer service and was allowing her daughter to avail of the drinks machine!!... they do say it doesn't take people long to pick up the twang and this certainly has been our experience... the lady had some trouble taking our order and so i proceeded to order my tom-a-toes in an american accent!!! did i mention she was mexican? how rude, making me feel like a foreigh national.!

we spent a little time in clear lake city and then made our way down to galveston island - this is where hurricane ike was last year and there were parts with quite a lot of devastation. however, it was mostly lovely! on the drive down we came across walmart - how exciting - what you have seen in the emails is very real and we very much fitted in!!! i think we will be spending a lot more time in these.. i wanted to buy a video camera but rebekah would not let me!! we also came across randalls - its like an upmarket version of walmart! here, i found some nice almond pastries and so the weight has began to pile on.!! oh also, remember jolly ranchers and mountain dew??? well they are also here!

THEN......... we reached our "motel 6" - we decided that we would drop our bags of at or accommodation!! what you see in the movies is no exaggeration - you know the freaky ones with the even freakier music?? yes those ones!!! misty was our check in administrator which really does say a lot (faith, name possibility??)... the room itself was very nice - but our naked, overweight neighbour was a little less than lovely - and worse still he was sanding his table on the decking and was a little too chatty!!

When we started to settle for the evening, rebekah realised that she (we) left the adaptor plug and extension lead behind us, so out we went again to walmart.! we went for a little drive anyway, and ended up doing some driving, and driving to the end of the world - well technically the end of Texas - but i didn't like to disappoint rebekah!!..

We went for a little walk on the beach then and then settled for the night - i have to say we had a lovely nights sleep, and chunk (our neighbour), never caused us any bother and it altogether was a pleasant stay!!

Today, we had went and bought breakfast at randalls and eat it in the park - it was very lovely! we went to Moody Gardens and Jamaica Beach! still all on the island!! here we watched our first 4D movie!! watch this space - coming to newry any time soon!! we then spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach! rebekah was a big girl and did not need too much cream, i on the other hand was much more sensible!! i spent most of my time in the water while rebekah spent ALL of her time reading a book (she is now onto "a veiled reflection") - i kid thee not - thou dost protest too much when one says they do not need too much suncream!!! - we are two very sorry wee girls tonight - lying writing this literally on fire and that sure is no exaggeration! our motto is pain is pleasure and we are sticking to it!!!

we left for san antonio at about 4pm and had a very lovely drive down! we are starting to get the hang of the roads alrite we thinks.! the sun started to set as we were driving down and it was very lovely!! as you can imagine - driving straight for 180 miles - rebekah got the book out and so i got the country music turned up and the window down and it surely was a road trip!! i picked up some great lines listening to the words of the country songs including - you can't put a dollar sign on a peace of mind!! - clever eh?

we also encountered our first tolls - these were very confusing!! they cost 1.50 and we did not have that amount in change - we proceeded to the toll anyway, and rebekah took a hissy fit - but after a few minutes and a few toots we got the money!!! on our second encounter with the toll - a mere 10 minutes later - we were very unfortunately unable to get into the right lane and so went through the EZ Tag toll resulting in a barrier coming down and crushing the roof of our car..!!!




NAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTT!!!... however, we imagine we might get a bill from our car hire company about that!!

we have found pottery barn and so are excited about going there tomorrow! think we are going to stay here two nights as there seems to be quite a bit to do! we are also going to the alamo and there are also a range of outlet stores which we are highly excited about!

We are staying tonight at another motel - although it is more like a hotel!! it does kind of smell like old people but to be honest - anything is better than the smell of rebekah's oxters!

well off to bed we go - still trying to figure out how we can sleep without our skin touching us!!!

goodnight bloggers!!!

Rebekah's first post

so today I was a little raged as jud took a picture of me rough as a dog sleeping she also rushed me and i left my phone in hotel room but lucky for me juanita didnt steal it.

today was our first big journey in the car, we headed downtown and was sad to find that no where was open as everyone was in church (where we should have been according to judith, though i didnt bring my hat with me) . so we drove round in our car stopping off in the odd park wattching the kiddies cool down in the water squirters.

we also almost got our first parking offence in a no parking zone but were nicely notified by paris wannabe.

as down town was boring we headed uptown...much more suited to the likes of us...... we came to the conclusion that people first go to church and then hit the shops

i made some errors with budgeting and slightly overspent.....you may think this wrong on the Lords day but they were all necessities including my new purse which i am running out of money to put in

Rita has been entirely helpful on our trip this far, her wisdom cost us 60 dollars and although at times we are close to throwing her out we somehow dont think we would be able to cope without her... faith...before you think we have picked up a hitchhiker... we have not... YET!!! Rita is of course our satellite navigation system appropriately christened by Judith.

we have now made our way home and tomorrow we are going to Galveston Island hopefully the weather will be a little better although we are convinced we got burnt today

Judith probably wont let me make anymore posts as my navigation capabilities are already posing a strain on her patience never mind my typing skills

now going to get some tea

chow.. or as judith correctly told me to spell... ciao! (that is the little chinese coming out in me)

arrived in houston, texas

so after some delays our flight was 10hours.. Rebekah's mood was at an all time low but on the plus side for me she did get her book finished.. The on board entertainment was great, and we sat and had a little cry at dear john.! Great show.! We did think it a little nasty that they make you walk through the first vlass section to get to your common seat.. How rude!! We eventually got off plane, got throug customs where they are really quite rude and got our luggage. here we met our first of no doubt many idiots.. A little indian girl who kept taking random peoples luggage off the belt, realising it wasnt hers and didnt think to put it back on.. Needless to say i shouted at her as she couldnt get the bags lifted off and when she did they weremt even hers.. I then had to lift them back on for her.!

Anyway, we then got a little shuttle bus to get out car.. I think they would give one to ayone!! We have ourselves a little chevrolet - very swank.. Looks like so,ething pansie morrow would drive around in.. With becky navigating and me driving we made it to the hotel.. I did forget to mention the thunder storm last nte.. The thunder and lightening was unbelieveable but the heat waa deathly,, we did arrive safely at our destination and pretty much zonked out straight away. it is now 7.45am and becky is still snoring.! Not sure what the plan is today but she better be wakened for breakfast at 9.30!!

Taco bells and wendy's just down the road - already excited about tea :)... Laters!

arrived in london town...

so after some tears from roberta and sharon we were on our way... Only to go through vigorous security procedures causing us to be man-handled and loving it. we did get split up on the plane much to rebekahs delight as she is now on page 116 of 'sabrina'.. Her far from inspirational or challenging book.! I on the other hand fell asleep after making a lovely american friend who was on an OAP bus tour of ireland.! I was asleep before take off and was greatly enjoying it only to be wakened by a less than lovely air hostess breathing in my face sayin excuse me miss.. We are now sitting in london town.. Rebekah is reading and i thought i would update the blog.. I am patiently waiting until rebekah gets to page 150 as that is when we are allowed to go for our first of many mcdonald.