the one with the red collar has fear aggression...

just to catch you up to date. after the crazy ferry experiences, we headed to northen massachusetts, and even to new hampshire. we had a short stop in boston to visit tonys aunt, cousin, and cousins son. that was a nice break. its always fun to play with a little one. from there it was clear across the state of new york, which by the way, is really long. we ended up in the last available non-smoking room in the state, in rochester. that of course meant sharing a king size bed in a handicapped equipped room. needless to say, it was great. saturday found us driving to cincinnati to stay with our good friend paul bonner and his family for the weekend. they have two lab mixes. one of them, duke, is very friendly, but has an issue with new folks, so he growls and barks at you when entering the room. fun stuff. thanks to cesar milan, i knew exactly what to do. use my calm, assertive enrgy to control the situation. we got to go to the reds game and see some cool sights. tony and i went to the cincinnati vineyard church. it was crazy big. nothing like ours in nb but felt just like home. if you are ever in cincinnati, i highly recommend going. today has us jumping around ohio before ending up in memphis for the night, then its homeward bound. what a great feeling.

theres even a helicopter on top...

after waking up in hyannis, ma, we hopped on our first ferry of the day. this two hour hike to nantucket took us by the kennedy compound. not bad, not bad. as we came into the nantucket harbor, we reveled over the "lady christine". look her up. i believe she around 153', and around $90 million. there was a rather large ski boat and helicopter sharing the top, aft deck. a short stay in nantucket had us back on the two hour float to hyannis. we took care of a shop close by then came back into town to catch the six o-clock to marthas vineyard. yea... this was only a one hour trip. marthas vineyard, at least where we were at, wasnt much different than new orleans. Tony tried to pick up a quarter off the ground. it was glued to the street. amazing. we got back to hyannis around 10:30 and headed toward boston for the night. six hours total on ferries yesterday wore us out.

the hamptons even smell nice...

we woke up in queens and had pancakes that my sister in law mariella made. very nice. our day started in rockaway park. we drove through some questionable areas of town. from there seaford, then east hampton. oh my gosh. can you say dollar signs? the smell of jasmine was amazing. when we got to our account, donna karen's (dkny) daughter was there. the store owner is good friends with her and every other celeb who has ever needed sunglasses in the hamptons. he partied with rene zelweger a few nights ago. we saw a couple of ladies get their first parking ticket ever. kinda funny to see their amazement. we are pretty sure they can afford it. we are currently on our third ferry of the day and will most likely be on a fourth. crazy.

the big apple never sleeps...

yesterday was great. we got to shop at the original ron jon surf shop. yup. then we played at the beach in long island beach, nj. tony swam and played in the water while i avoided all the sharks i know are out there. it was a nice break and decent sunday. from there it was the capital of pa, harrisburg. we traveled east through hershey back into nj. after finishing up the nj stores, we headed for nyc. coming out of the lincoln tunnel was awesome. so awesome that the gps decided to send us the wrong way. i got the pleasure of driving on broadway in nyc during peak people crossing the street time. i couldnt believe the amount of folks trying to get hit. crazy. i did however manage to get through the city without being honked at, even with texas plates. my brother and sister in law, robert and mariella, were gracious enough to let us stay with them in queens. very cool. tony and i got to hang with my cousin michelle for a bit. i think it took me longer to parallel park the car though... tony says i bumped a mini van. i say, when in new york, hit a mini van. this city is not what the media makes it out to be. not at all scary. families are out eating and kids are playing stick ball in the streets (not really). tomorrow has three accounts in ny. we are gonna have lunch with my aunt, then continue our trek north. what a blast.

when in atlantic city..

yesterday started off on the maryland coast. great beach and waves. after leaving ocean beach, we worked our way up the coast and came to a stop at a ferry terminal. lucky for us we were right on time and got on the boat that had just come
in. one hour later we were on the south jersey shore. stone harbor and cape may are nice little tourist traps. from there it was the glitz and glam of atlantic city, which by the way, other than the casinos is just a big outlet mall. we lost a few dimes at the slots and moved on up to beach
haven. the inn we stayed at instantly reminded me of my florida grandparents. you cant beat that smell. it is definitely a wood paneling paradise. this is where our journey continues today.

playing in the presidents backyard...

after spending the night with a good friend, we spent the day playing in the d.c. area. we saw the pentagon. not very impressive from the highway. it looks more like a square. the washington monument and the capital were cool though. from there we enjoyed annapolis, md. very cool town. but the winner thus far is ocean city, md. holy crap. we have never seen so many hotels. they line the entire island. the boardwalk was cool but definately a childs paradise. street drummers, stars wars characters, magicians, balloon people, sponge bob tickling the ivories and giant slices of pizza made it all worth while. its a huge carnival with folks from all over the world. tony is scared of carnies. we are going back in the morning to work on three cases. it was way too busy to do them tonight. from there its the jersey shore. total miles thus far, 2089.

the navy was there to protect us...

the morning started in carolina beach, north carolina at a hardware store. great folks there. they lead us to the nations number two best small town donut shop. it was on the boardwalk and reminded us of the movie "big". the donuts were awesome. they only sell glazed! we got to step in the sand and see the waves before a lovely five plus hour jog to virginia beach, va. while there, we watched the navy practice their landings and take offs. i loved it. tony was scared. onto arlington to stay with friends, then work manana.

ha ha we're back....

so tony and i have officially started the north east portion of our journey. of course it didnt start without a hitch. tony unfortunately disposed of our beautiful dashboard hula girl by dropping her in the driveway. oh well, it happens. we left dallas yesterday after lunch and stayed in tuscaloosa, al. from there we were at our first store in birmingham. marks outdoor sports. might as well been call ammo-ville of alabama. mucho guns, knives, bears, bullets, you name it. needless to say, tony was shaking in his shoes. from there its on to carolina beach, nc. so far we have driven 1247 miles! eat that lance armstrong. that 7 states in less than 2 days ladies. i think we are staying on a battleship tonight. we will be staying in virginia tomorow night. if you know of any sweet, clean, non smoking, free places, let us know.

random videos

day... what day is it???

so the trip continues. we will pick up from where we last left off.

tampa and st pete were good to us. the don cesar is a pretty nice place. you should look it up. i have included pictures somewhere in the entry. we made it down to guy harvey's island grill in marco island thursday evening. i think. they have panthers in their city! check out the warning sign. in texas is would be a deer, not a giant cat that will eat you. from there we drove through the everglades and a little stretch of heaven called "alligator alley". we found out from friends you are not advised to drive through there at night. we did it at around 11:30pm. needless to say, no alligators, and we made it. stayed in ft lauderdale thursday night and took care of the stores that were closed on sunday and monday. unfortunatley one was closed so that has thrown a slight wrench in our trip planning. we saw lebron james in key biscayne. highlight for sure. his ferrari in very nice.

our great friends craig and becca hill were in the florida keys and invited us to stay the night with them in key largo. this was perfect since we had two stops in key west. tourist heaven by the way. tony and i made it to the southern most tip of the u.s. , and were happy to see the navy was protecting the marker. while having lunch i got to see a couple of manatees! what a joy for me. i use to play with manatees when i was younger hanging out with my dad. side note, the speed limit in the entire stretch of the florida keys is 45 mph. not cool. it did however allow more time to see the beautiful water colors.

we ended up back in miami at the lincoln center. mucho dinero flying around that place. after playing what seemed to be an endless game of labrinth in miami, we ended up in a sweet hojo on the 8th floor that my darling wife hooked up. i highly recommend getting AAA. discounts galore. the police sirens are nice touch. thanks miami dade.

oh yeah. bentleys, range rovers, benzes, etc. they are like honda civics here in miami. the lambo was a sweet touch.

enjoy the pics.

day 2 and three...

WARNING... THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS ARE IN NO ORDER AT ALL. THIS SITE WONT LET ME PUT THEM IN ORDER. AAAHHHHHH!!!! THEY WILL BASICALLY BE BACKWARDS. OH WELL, YOU GET THE IDEA...

sorry to have left the followers hanging yesterday, but here is whats been happenin...

we started the day in new orleans. the hotel we stayed at was not the greatest "4 star" we could have found. many issues with over charging and not having free high speed internet or breakfast. we dont get the fact that expensive hotels dont have free things. i would think the more expensive the more you have to offer at no charge. whatever. anyway, tony and i got to spend some time walking around the french quarter in the early morning. it was nice. then we met a maui jim sales rep, ray, for a photo shoot after crossing the longest bridge in the world. seriously, its 24.5 miles long.

after new orleans, we stopped by convington, then through mississippi to mobile. from there, spanish fort, foley and orange beach, alabama. the folks at shades in orange beach were kind enough to hang out a little late so we could finish their hybrid. we were able to relax at a sports bar there called rafters. very cool. we had a couple of salads then it was back on the road to destin where we stayed the evening.

we took care of the shops in the destin area, had a little waffle house, then stopped off at the beach for a minute or two...

after that, it was off to pier park in panama city beach. fun times. did you know there is a ron jons there? small, but its there. nothing like the real thing. then i got to spend some internet quality time with andrea and isa. that was perfect. thanks starbucks, and thanks to my boy tony for asking them to turn the music down so we could "hang out" 1500 miles apart.

from there, we landed in tallahassee. we will leave early for tampa and st. pete. then on to marco island and the everglades!!!

morning numero uno...

we woke up to an amazing morning in jackson. the air was cool and crisp and we were leaving the red roof inn. got calls from both Donny Parker and Ray Lizana to set up the store visits. great folks to talk to. tony and i talked about how awesome MJ folks sound on the phone and how much they must enjoy their jobs.

our first stop of the trip was at lakeland optical. we took care of the tower display there. windell and gene were very nice and helpful.

this place makes really, really big pools...

optical shoppe, baton rouge and hybrid case

side trip to ideal vision care, baton rouge

st charles vision, new orleans and hybrid case

loyola university

view from hotel room, downtown new orleans (more about this place later)

talkin to the ladies back home

my wife dared tony

surviving...