Nautie Adventures :: Bubbly and Cheese...Oakland Style

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I've been planning this trip to California for months. Landing in Oakland almost felt surreal.

It was hot. I was hungry. I wondered if it was a mistake to put all my thirtieth birthday happiness eggs in one basket.

Then I went over to my friend Ari's house and it felt like magic.

As I spread goat cheese over an apple slice and slathered it with fig and orange jelly I knew that I was exactly where I needed to be.

Ari put out a total spread. Bubbly and cheese. I know, right?! There was also a cupcake and a birthday song.

Ari, I love you.

Eat Cake Bitches.

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Djibouti, Djibouti :: The Camels

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I've been to Djibouti many times.  In fact, one of my favorite wildlife encounters occured in the aqua waters of Djibouti.  Gosh, I really love me some dolphins. I've only been to Djibouti on a tanker - and we were far from town.

This time, on a multi-purpose vessel we were right in the thick of things.  Our dock was literally IN TOWN.

It was also directly accross from a camel pen....and we were moored behind a camel ship.

IT WAS AWESOME.

We were in and out in 4 hours.  Very quick turnaround but, if you're guessing that I made time for a camel photo shoot you are oh so right.

I will admit even though seeing the camels was the highlight of my day it was a bit sad.  These camels were for eating.  You heard me.  For EATING.

They were about to be transported to The Emirates.

Apparently, they eat camel in The Emirates.  Who knew?

Minus the sadness here's what's awesome about these camels:  their knuckle like knees, the fact that they always look like they're smiling, their incredibly long and flirty eyelashes, the fact that they didn't spit at me and of course the hay stuck to their beards.

I won't waste any more of your time.  Let's flirt with some camels.

Smiling Camels

Oh, there are so many more it's not even funny:

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Suck Up and Be Nice

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Nautie Friends, it's been a doozy of a few days.   This is a story about:  A hard port stay, an iPhone in the water, and the Suez Canal.

We departed a port that shall not be named...I know, that makes you feel like I'm keeping secrets...and I am....sorta.

What I will say about said port stay is that it was a lot of work.  The crew did the majority of the rigging and they also did the majority of the 'difficult' lifts.  This meant that after three days we were tired.

Every night, they made us shift to a different berth at midnight.  Do you know what you don't want to do at midnight?  Shift to a new berth.

During one of the shifts I dropped my iPhone in the water.  I'm sure this seems like no big deal.  Except, I'm addicted to my iPhone.  I am now without a means of taking pictures on a whim while on deck and I am also without an alarm clock.  This is a big deal.  I also don't want to talk about how I had just activated my very pricey international data package.

Once the hard port stay drew to an end and after I cried about my phone (I didn't really cry but I could of if I had had the time) it was a ten hour transit to the Suez Canal.

Throughout the last week I've had an Ani DiFranco song lyric stuck in my head.  It has gotten me through the days.  It helped me modulate my tone of voice on the radio when I'm really cranky but know the other person doesn't deserve crankiness.  It helped me remember that everyone is tired.  It helped me remember that it might suck but it will suck more if people stop being nice.

'Maybe you don't like your job, maybe you didn't get enough sleep, well nobody likes their job, nobody got enough sleep.  Maybe you just had the worst day of your life, but you know, there's no escape, there's no excuse, so just suck up and be nice.'

I was so nice in the Suez Canal it isn't even funny.

Thank Goodness at some point I decided to sit down and write all about how crazy the Suez Canal is.  Thank Goodness I've also written about how it sucks going from a port really close to the Canal straight into the canal.  (Also, just fyi the previous link is missing some photos...I don't know where they went...my bad...)  Because seriously, the last thing I feel like doing when I get out of the ditch is write about it.  

I wanted to pretend like the last few days didn't even happen and just provide you with some old posts to read!  But then I decided to suck it up and be nice....so I provided you with some old posts to read and some new photos!

A Suez Canal View

A mini gallery for your viewing pleasure:

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The Road Trip :: New Orleans

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I've always wanted to go to New Orleans. When we got to Baton Rouge, LA we were faced with a small decision.  We could head East for a stop in New Orleans (NOLA) or we could head West towards our final destination of Houston.

I still hadn't received confirmation on whether or not the apartment I wanted would be available - or rather if my finances had been approved.  This was making me mental.  I was a little stress ball.

Since there was really no point in rushing to Houston without a solid place to land we figured we should enjoy ourselves and spend a day in New Orleans.

Enjoy ourselves we did.

We got in fairly late in the evening and immediately bunkered down in our hotel.  This was mostly because I was driving and I had to pee really, really badly.  So I flew into the first hotel parking lot I could find and raced to the bathrooms.  No lie.

We woke up first thing in the morning with one thing on our minds.  Beignets and Coffee at Cafe du Monde.  We hauled butt into the middle of the city and sat down at the first available spot we could find on the terrace.

Here's the thing....I had really been dreaming of beignets at Cafe du Monde for a really long time and...my beignet experience just wasn't what I imagined.  Don't get me wrong.  The beignets were a treat.  The coffee was delish.  The people watching had potential for greatness.  But...yes there's a but...

We were hustled right to our table.  A very efficient Oriental waitress immediately brought beignets and coffee to our table.  We had to pay right then.  No one asked us if we wanted another.

So we wolfed down our beignets and chugged our coffee and left.

Like I said, it wasn't what I expected however; I'd go back again to wolf down beignets and chug some coffee!

Next stop?  Signing up for a Double Decker Bus Ride.  You know the dorky red ones that allow hop on hop off?

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  If you're in a city for a day take the hop on hop off.  You get to see so much more than you would on foot, it's a pay once mode of transportation (often times overseas you can use a credit card for the ticket which eliminates some need for foreign currency) and you get to learn a little history through headphones or a tour guide.

The only bummer about NOLA is that you can't go through The French Quarter - the streets are just too narrow.  You get to see lots of other places / neighborhoods though....you even get to see Mardi Gras World where they build floats.  I know you've been dying to go to Mardi Gras World (I really shouldn't joke.  Some people probably are really excited about Mardi Gras World...)

Following our Bus Tour we did do a bit of walking on foot.  We needed food.  Badly.  The hanger (you know...hunger induced anger) was quickly becoming an issue.

We settled on the Palace Cafe.  Hallelujah.  It was gooood.  We started with a crabmeat cheesecake appetizer and then both dug into Poutine Po-Boys.  It was scrumdiliumptious. For realsies.

A little more wandering around and we ended up back in the parking garage picking up our car.  The ride to Houston was our crappiest drive of the trip.  Pouring rain, lots of accidents and darkness...not ideal...

Sidenote:  I really wish that I had added Eat a Beignet at Cafe du Monde to my 30x30 list.

Disclaimer.  90% of the photos were taken from the bus....don't judge the crookedness....

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