Wedding Presents

I had three goals to accomplish on my trip down to Alabama aside from the main goal of visiting my extended family. One is to get as many training rides in as possible; which I did, three days in a row. Another is to rediscover my passion for Landscape photography and capture some interesting pictures. Third is to find two wedding presents for two of my best friends' weddings that already occurred. In fact, one has already been over a year ago...

The world is full of people that make sense, methodical and logical. It's okay, needed and necessary. I am just .... not one of those. For some, the act of tardiness in this regard might seem like I do not care. For me, it's quite the opposite. I care ... enough that I need to look for that 'thing' that I feel is just right. Wedding Registry? I haven't yet been to one in my life so I have no idea what it looks like.

For me, buying a wedding present is slightly harder than normal because I am not buying just for one person but for 'that' couple. It must represents who & what they are and what they do. I take into consideration of how the piece(s) will fit into their home, the color, material and also the usefulness of the item in general. The more I know about them, the easier it gets, I guess? Still, I need the time to look for it. Since the work I do is not conducive to allowing me to do that, I usually have to wait until I am on vacation to do so.

The whole time on this trip, I juggled those three goals along with spending quality time with the folks down here. I went to countless art galleries and gift shops. Searching through shopping outlets in two different towns and went through two different beaches in search of those items. Second to the last day before I had to leave, I gave up everything and dedicated the whole day searching for the presents. Funny enough, the search brought me back to the very store in the town that I stayed at that I kept skipping over thinking that it's a furniture store.

Did I buy them and what did I buy? It's not that important, really. What's more important for me here was the effort I took in finding them. I certainly do not think that my approach is the right approach for everyone. Rather, I would like to encourage you to just 'be' yourself. Define who you are and just be. The world goes 'round because we are the same but different. I am fine with who I am and I like who you are just the way it is. Well, for the most part, as long as your way is not to be outwardly vicious and harmful to others.

Anyway, Let's just say that I left there the following day with all my goals accomplished!

Po' Boy

I have always been intrigued with this name. Why are they calling it a Po' Boy. Usually, for something so delicious, people always name them with wonderful, delicate, colorful or sensational names. But a Po' Boy?

First of all, I wouldn't have cared if what I had eaten wasn't so good. My host family here who has been so kind to me and always makes sure that I get to experience everything this lovely southern town has to offer. I had it the last time I was here and I made sure to go back there for my first lunch on this visit. It's that good! The place is called Market By The Bay Seafood Cafe. Just a simple small little restaurant with at most ten table-for-twos inside and about another six larger tables outside. Come during lunch time and you most likely will not find an available table to sit. I think they do substantially more take-out business than dine in.

Like most things these days, when in doubt, Google it (or Bing it if you are a Microsoft fan or Yahoo it if you ... never mind..). I found the explanation of Po' Boy on Wikipedia here. I am not going to bore you with the details as you can read them yourself on Wikipedia. But, since there are several possible origins of the name Po' Boy, I just want to point out that my host family here believes that it came from the words "Poor Boy".

What you see in the picture I took above was an Oyster Po' Boy. Conventional believe is that it can be anything fried seafood related but I am told that it's not necessarily true. My host family is determined to show me a Roast Beef Po' Boy sometimes before I leave. So, we will see. Anyway, my tips for you guys seeking a good Po' Boy are:

1. The bread must be thin and crusty outside but very soft and airy inside (Louisiana French Bread).
2. Protein must be 'lightly' breaded and fried (for fried version that is).

This is a simple but deadly delicious food. For my cycling peeps reading this blog, I am not saying that it's good for athletes on training to eat this everyday. But c'mon, it's soooo good you have to try it at least once in a while.

Staunton - Virginia

It was my intention to write blogs about my first road trip down to Alabama. So, I could start my first blog by writing something like "I woke up at 2:50AM. I put my clothes on at 2:52AM ...". Nah..., I think I'll spare you from that.

Instead, I'll write about this little town I discovered along the way down called Staunton, VA (ignore the 'u' when pronouncing). The trip started as planned around 3:30AM. Though, I encountered a snowstorm around Liverpool, PA that scared me enough to stop, filled up my tank and bought a special deicer windshield wiper fluid.

But, just as it mysteriously came, the storm all of the sudden stopped 15 minutes thereafter. Since I had very little sleep before departing and I left very early, I was sleepy for a couple hours before sunrise. After literally a stop every hour to refresh myself, the sun came up to greet me when I arrived to Virginia. In celebration, I was ... naturally, looking for a Starbucks wanting to get a nice cup of Refresh tea to kick start my day.

The search took me to Exit 222, Staunton, VA. I wish I could've come to the more exciting reason why I discovered this town but no, it's all because of Starbucks. :) Driving up to it, I saw several signs promoting different sites in the area. So, once there and waiting for my drink, I asked the barista what this town has to offer. He suggested the historic downtown Staunton. Moreover, two ladies overhearing my conversation with the barista kindly chiming in to encourage me to visit the downtown area also. Not knowing how to say no after three people trying to convince me to visit, I said "what the heck, let's do this!" to myself and went.

Once there, I discovered that the Visitor Center doesn't open until 9:30AM. I had an hour to burn so I started walking around the area myself. I was looking for the Glass Blowing place called Sunspots intended to explore the possibility of landing that yet-to-be-found two wedding presents..... After several blocks without success and bitingly cold temperature, I asked a man sitting on a bench smoking chillingly for directions. To my surprise, he decided against giving me the directions but instead walked me up to the place himself. He introduced himself as Keith. I asked what he was doing sitting outside in the cold this early in the morning and he said it didn't bother him one bit. He said he was originally from Connecticut so he actually likes it. He went on to show me the water tower area where I could walk up and would be able to see the whole town. Never wanting to put myself in an isolated location under this situation, I moved along and kept walking toward the store. As it turned out, the place won't open until 10AM. I couldn't be here that long so I thanked Keith and walked over to visit other sites.

I walked up and visited Mary Baldwin College. This place is unique architecturally because all building are painted in a shade of white and many buildings were built dated back from 1844. I took several pictures of the place then went back down into town and checked out all the stores and coffee shops.

It's pretty much typical college town. Several cool shops and definitely cool coffee shops. Since I just had my caffeine, I didn't pop into any of them but went back to the Visitor Center instead. There, I learned a lot more about the town and realized that this town has so much to offer. It will take at least one whole day to get a full experience out of it. Some of those interesting sites are:

• The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
• Frontier Culture Museum. An outdoor, living history museum. Current exhibit is West African. They literally brought the actual homes from West Africa over to the site for us to see and learn!?!?
• American Shakespeare Center. A re-creation of Shakespeare's original indoor theatre, the Blackfriars Playhouse. How cool is that?!?!
• Stonewall Jackson Conference Center. A 1924 building renovated and fully restored to it's original state.

I left there feeling good that I took the advices from those folks from Starbucks and Keith, my personal tour guide. This town definitely has a lot to offer and I am sure to come back and visit to fully experience it sometimes in the near future.