New Orleans - Day 2

Day 2 started out a little rough. Well at least for Brownbear. Big Cat rallied pretty well, but I guess we already knew this after the Daytona Jello wrestling event and Big Cats defeat of Bear Claw. We decided to get a good breakfast and finish our laundry that was in need of a solid wash from Daytona. Our night began around 6 o’ clock as we headed to dinner at the world famous Acme Oyster House. After a small meal of 2 dozen raw oysters, a pound of boiled crawfish, 1 poe boy that was rated the 4^th best sandwich in the country, and some hush puppies we headed out to New Orleans for the night.

We crept through a tiny tunnel and the BC gave a special knock requiring numerous scratches and roars. The door slowly opened revealing an all brick room that resembled a large weathered wine cellar. At the front of this cellar sat two dueling pianos whom had been ordered to play and song the BC requested.

We ordered a few hurricanes and took at seat at the front.We travelled the city of New Orleans and contemplated what it is like to grow up in the Midwest while others call this “city” their home. We moved down Decatur until we heard a familiar yell. “RIDDLE!” We quickly turned around wondering who was foolish enough to use the Big Cats pack name. Luckily it was one of our recently graduated classmates, Bryan Christies and his roommates, so I was able to prevent the BC from devouring them whole. After a quick update on the previous night we parted ways, they went to dinner and we went to get the party started at Pat O’Briens. Stories from this bar reach far back through the Big Cat’s pride, so we knew it would be a great time.Within twenty minutes the place began to fill up and we were joined by at least ten recent UD graduates. Also in attendance was a group of guys from Purdue who were in a frat, they could not play a sport we assumed, and about 15 girls from LSU. At one point a guy from an adjacent table asked us if we knew Ross Fumagalli. Big Cat looked at me totally confused. “Who?” We had no idea who that was so instead of answering we gave him a high five and quickly walked away. For the next few hours we drank with our UD brothers and sang along to Wagon Wheel, Little Lion Man, and much more.

Knowing that we could not stay there all night we gathered up our newly created pride and headed for one last night on Bourbon Street. Surprisingly Monday nights were not as popular as Sunday but it was fun nonetheless. For the next two hours we moved our pack from one watering hole to the next while Bryan and BC regaled the locals with dances from their native land. Based on the way they were dancing they hail from a small village that still considers themselves part of the old Soviet Union.

Their amazing dancing ability left everyone hungry so we continued on to Alibis, a local bar with the best Po Boy in the Big Easy. The highlight of this meal was the Crawfish Hush Puppies, which might have been the best food we had in New Orleans (or it was 2:30 in the morning and we had too many Hurricanes). The meal allowed us to wake up the next morning and continue our Great Migration. The next stop Austin, Texas!

Broken Blog

Hello everyone! Sorry we have not updated recently, but due to technical difficulties and the size of Big Cat's paws we have not been able to update the blog. But, the site is back on track and as we near the end of our great migration we have kept up on documenting our adventure and now that the site is up and running again we will be posting out stories for you to enjoy. Now where did we leave off......oh yes....Day two of New Orleans.

N'arlins Day 1

After a hell of a week in Daytona Beach Brownbear and Big Cat arrived in a city named after it’s great music, crazy bars, and thousands of girls “stripping there way through college”….The Big Easy. This was the first day not filled with free alcohol, crowded pool decks, and a huge head ache; we both agree it is a bitter sweet feeling. We checked into our hotel, which could have been The Plaza compared to the Conch House, and got ready for a great

Cajun dinner and a relaxing night. After all it was Sunday around 10:30 P.M. and even the “Big Easy” needs a day of rest.

We moved to Decatur Street and after a quick inquisition of a few locals we found a little

restaurant called Coops Place. This was easily some of the best food we had ever eaten; the jambalaya was filled with well-cooked rabbit, perfectly seasoned sausage, and rice as soft as risotto. Despite the Big Cat being used to zebras and the occasional disabled gazelle he left Coop’s satisfied. But Brownbear’s are used to a little honey after dinner so we decided to scavenge around Bourbon Street knowing it would be deserted late on Sundays. As we neared our destination we soon realized this street was far from asleep and even farther from a Church. Some have called alcohol “nectar of the gods”, in this case Bourbon Street was heaven.

Bourbon Street was insane. Covered with people from sidewalk to sidewalk, we felt as if we had stumbled into Zombieland. Locals and tourist alike dragged their feet, stumbled into walls, and would mumble words that too often resembled a cry for “Brainnnnns!” In a desperate act of self-preservation we quickly purchased a huge round of “Hand Grenades”, the zombies drink of choice.

Grenades in hand, we made our way down Bourbon Street. Live music poured from most doorways attempting to lure the Big Cat closer but one called to him like a Siren. The irony was not lost on me as the Big Cat made a beeline for the bar aptly named “Fat Cats”. Other than the awesome name, they had a live 80s rock band. Surrounded by lesser cats known as Cougars we hopped onto the dance floor and began to air guitar Foreigner’s Juke Box Hero. Once we taught an older generation the Y’s could still rock, we grabbed drinks To Go and headed down the street.

Being a little hot and sweaty drove us to find shade in the cool den of “Live Blues’ where a man, who looked like he learned Jazz during the Great Depression, wailed on a guitar and sang inappropriate pick up lines in a “cool way”. Never before have I heard the words “fat, watermelon, or horizontal” make great compliments for a woman. But surprisingly every woman in there could not stop staring at him like the Big Cat stares at lesser mammals for dinner….maybe he’s on to something. Anyway, we sat down at the bar and started talking to a girl that was our age who looked like she was there with her parents.

After a few drinks and a quick spin on the dance floor with a Panther, which is a generation older than your everyday cougar, (Sucks to suck Kline) we discovered she was there with her boss. Both of whom were interior designers. In a odd twist of fate they missed a flight to Pittsburgh and decided to stop by New Orleans for a few days. They both seemed very nice and we had a round of drinks before heading to another bar.

The girl resembled any young 22 year old from the Midwest. What we found off setting was her boss. He was a man no taller than 5’6 whom must have been pushing 55 years of age. He resembled a taller George Castanza with the haircut of a 16^th century monk, naturally bald in all the wrong places. It was kind of cool that her boss would take her to New Orleans. However, as the night went on it got a bit creepier. To make a long story short we went to another bar with them and Mr. Castanza starts hitting on every girl he sees including the girl that worked for him. Furthermore she refused to be more than three feet from his side at all times. Now as sad as it is this is probably not all that uncommon in New Orleans. But Brownbear’s impeccable animal instincts began to sense something was off as he talked with George. The two continually changed small details of their story, such as their original destination being Lebanon Pittsburgh, while earlier it had been Lancaster and other small facts. As the inconsistencies grew so did our uneasiness. We finally escaped the two only to have the girl yell at us for walking away… I could not shake the thought of waking up in bathtub full of ice while the two had dinner on a nice pelt of Big Cat. This horrifying thought rocked me to sleep as our first night in New Orleans came to a close.

We just almost hit a dead cow.....o shit!!!

Dayton 2 Daytona 2011

Hello everyone! I know it has been 5 long days of silence but we have finally made it out of

Daytona Beach. This first leg of our trip has became one giant blur which included a lot of laughs, too many tears, and one Daytona drunk tank. But since we cannot talk about what all five days entailed, lets talk about some of the highlights of Dayton2Daytona 2011.

After finishing our six hour drive from Atlanta we arrived in Daytona and checked in to the Conch House. The room was as nice as could be expected and I am positive the last guest in room 235 was an 80 year old women who smokes Virginia slims and has an odd obsession with ferrets (were imagining a future version of Blake Saul after his long awaited sex change).

From there we got ourselves checked in and Dayton to Daytona began. Each day consisted of a huge pool party fueled by 90 degree weather and free beer *provided by Bud Light. This combination, plus the Men of an Exotic and a Magical Existence (we will call them the MEME’s for short) were all the ingredients needed for a good time, but there were a few instances that really stood out in the past few days we need to mention.

On day 2 Breakaway Tours set up a deal for UD students at the 509 Lounge. The 10 dollars for all you can drink was an easy yes for the Big Cat and Ross….. but alcohol only holds the BC’s hunger at bay for so long. At 1 a.m. they decided it was the appropriate time do take the Crusin Café 2 lb. burger challenge, this was a mistake. Big Cat made quick work of his small prey while Ross, in between introducing himself to everyone in the bar with a handshake and whimpering quietly, took a little bit longer. As a reward both received pretty great T Shirts, their names on a giant trophy, and the knowledge that instead of having fun with their friends they were busy being fat.

This massive burger provided sustenance for what was to come on Day 3, Ross’s birthday. Knowing that it would take a little bit more than a birthday for Ross to crawl out of bed we had Mac Miller and LMFAO hold concerts on the pool deck. While Mac Miller provided a great show after free beer LMFAO was the star of the night with their concert at 8 P.M. LMFAO took to the stage wearing skinny jeans, reminiscent of the ones Brad brought back from Barcelona, and began to play. The stage, bathed in bright red light had a massive lightening storm over the ocean as its back drop. This was perfectly contrasted by 1,000 UD students armed with glow sticks that had packed onto the pool deck to watch the show. As the concert ended the Big Cat led the charge into the pool, the MEME’s close behind him. I viewed this awe-inspiring sight and realized Big Cat had just been baptized, he was officially a MEME. It only seems fitting that this baptism took place not in the Jordan but in a pool so filled with beer and pee you could not see the bottom.

Eventually the last day was upon us and we were all wearin it pretty hard. But through his spur of the moment baptism Big Cat found the strength to rally and as the day began to get a little crazier Brownbear entered BC in the dancing contest. After a series of dance moves which more resembled Parkinsons than dancing. But he completely redeemed himself when it came time to Jello Wrestling. Over the past year the mighty Tims bouncer, Bear Claw, has terrorized UD students. While many a MEME have tried to be the last inside of the legendary bar few could fight against the behemoth which is the Bear Claw. The Big Cat stepped into the ring on this day and took him down not once but THREE times! Now I know what your wondering, is grappling with a half naked man in a vat of Jello really the way to exert ones dominance in a situation? But after watching this heroic victory we decided it is….. after the BC cried out “No Homo”!!

Later that night we went to our traditional sushi dinner at a great Japanese steak house with Warford, Vasey and Johnston and did some poorly planned Sake bombs to the horror of the restaurant. After dinner we headed up to the senior send off where the term “See ya Never” might have been thrown around a little too lossely, (Catherine). The night ended with some rum buckets at crusin café and corndogs at the Arcade (just as every other night did) and then a huge crying fest by all the seniors (For the record Big Cat and Brown Bear didn’t cry……Ross might have….Brad definitely did………… but that’s because Erin had been drinking and things got violent)

Anyway it was a good ending to a great trip and in the words of the old country…….SO LONG GAYBOYSSSS!!!!!

Day #1- Fried Chicken and Pre-Teens

Day 1- Brownbear

The day started out like any other. I woke up, productive as usual, and packed the car in between kicking Joan awake (in the head) and

prepping for Big Cats arrival. We were about to begin our Great Migration. First stop, Dayton2Daytona.

Today was the first day it seemed like summer and we arrived in Atlanta by 5. After a little research we found one of the famous Diners Drive inns and Dives

stops in the ATL called Colonnade. As said on Flavortown.com it is the place to take grandma.....I agree because I felt like i was at the mall at 8 in the morning. The world famous Fried Chicken was awesome along with a little corn bread, mac and cheese and some finely whipped potatoes. (pictures well be on the way) After the cashier chased us to our car and accused us of not paying we got on a road to the Fairfield hotel in

We got settled into our hotel (complements of Mr. Everett....a big thank you to him) the Big Cat and I decided to take a little dip in the pool and hot tub. This is where things got a little interesting. Sitting in the pool we saw that a few girls came walking down the hall with towels. Well looks like were gonna have a little company. Walking in, we saw that the were a tad bit under age. (one kinda looked like a ghost and the other....well she was kinda cute...in a 3-5 year sentence type of way...) anyway as were sitting in the pool they get in the hot tub. After about 20 min of sitting in the pool were kinda cold and wanna get in the hot tub. However, the giggling pre-teens were there and we were trying to avoid an awkward encounter on the first day so we waited. So, when they finally got out and moved to the pool we got up and went to the hot tub making the situation even more awkward and finished the last day with a bang. (i swear to god no pun intended)Macon.

Getting ready for another great day. We'll be in Daytona around 10:30 a.m.

Hope you like our pics and let us know how you think.

Just leaving for daytona!!!!!!!!