Zipped up and ready to go we carried out stuff down to Nathan’s truck – well, Nathan carried a lot on his own. He’s a strong boy!! Anyway we were away! We went to Dennys for breakfast where we were served by this really nice albino guy. The food was good! Pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and toast. So yum!

By the time we finished eating though it was time to head to the airport. We said goobye to Michelle in the parking lot while Jen and Nathan came inside with us, Nathan carrying both our hikers backpacks because of our tattoos, and because he’s that strong!! Though he really did love our backpacks, thought they were brilliant, which they are!

Anyway we got checked in and then it was time to go through security, where Nathan and Jen can’t go with us. Trying hard not to cry, we hug them both goosbye really hard and thank them for everything, especially Jen for without her we couldn’t have gone to Texas! And as they walk away we go through customs.

There was no issue going through Dallas other than we had late numbers for boarding the plane. It meant that by the time we got onto the plane, we couldn’t sit together. I was lucky and two guys who knew each other moved over so I could have the isle seat, while Sam sat in the row ahead on the other side. Sam doesn’t like to fly so flying apart wasn’t a great thing at all.

I spent the 40 minute flight talking to the guys next to me. We talked sports and about our trip. They had been in LA and were flying home to Austin after seeing the TU Longhorns play in the semi finals for the Rosebowl which they won. The Longhorns now face Alabama in the Rosebowl final on January 7 2010! GO LONGHORNS! Anyway they were really nice. I explained to them the rules of cricket after one of them asked how it worked because it had always intrigued him.

When we got to Austin, we had 30 minutes to get off the plane, buy a shot glass, go to the toilet and board our plane to LA! We managed it and this time, the guy Sam had been sitting next to on the flight to Austin had saved us a seat so we could sit together because he doesn’t like to fly either so he knows what its like! Wasn’t that lovely of him?

We talked to him about our trip and how much we love Dallas and he told us how he was going to LA from Dallas on business but he lived in the Frisco area. We love Frisco, its so beautiful there.

Anyway we got to LA on dusk, and we had to find our way to the correct terminal, go upstairs, check in and then go through security all over again! While we were waiting to check in to V Australia we got to chatting with this lovely young lady from the south island of NZ who was going to Bible College in Virginia and very excited about going home to see her family for Christmas. She was on the flight to Australia ahead of ours, destination: Sydney.

We checked in and headed to security. This time, customs didn’t like the look of my carryon duffle – the pucks came up as unusual on the x-ray! I was amused. I was pulled aside and “asked” if they could search the bag. Of couse I giggled and said sure. He riffled through the bag and pulled out the pucks, frowning. I told him they were hockey pucks. He said that some of them had monoliths on them. I replied that they were autographs, actually! Anyway satisfied that I wsnt carrying dangerous goods he zipped up my bag and sent me on my way!

We went looking for dinner then. Our choices were Starbucks, Burger King or some cafe bar place that was expensive. Since we were down to our last $20 we chose BK. The line was long and the place packed so when I saw a spare table for 2, I took the bags and sat down with them while Sam stayed in line and ordered. Food tasted goooooood. Actually cardboard would have tasted good at that point!

We had about a two and a half hour wait for our flight to Australia. Sam read, and I reorganised my duffle that Mr Customs ruffled. Sam went and got us coffee with the last of our change and when he came back, he told me that a cop had staryed talking to him at Starbucks and she looked remarkably like Kate Beckinsale! Its only fair since I got to talk to Jensen Ackles I guess!

We were tired by the time we boarded the plane and we actually had the last row in the plane. Turns out they are GREAT seats! No one behind you! But down side: last pick of the food unless you request a special dish.

The flight was pretty smooth I think. I don’t really know I was passed out for 10 of the 12 and a half hour flight thanks to some Tylenol night sinus because I was still sniffling from the previous 3 weeks. Sam slept for about 5 hours which is awesome for him. He watched “District 9″ and was disappointed. I didn’t get to see the end of “Public Enemies” but I really want to!

Anyway we landed in Brisbane at 6.05am and we were at home by 7am.

We have had the best 6+ weeks ever on this trip, and have met amazing people (Paola, Sue, Emma, Cynthia, Julie, you all kick ass), seem some amazing sights and had a load of laughs, tears and a rollercoaster of emotions. And of course special thanks and love to Bel, Terry & the kids – we miss you guys so much!! Thanks for everything!!

These last couple of weeks however has been better than ever.  It was beyond fantastic to see our friends again.  No, not friends… family.  Rhonda, Jen, Jesse, Kelly, Val & Nathan, Julie, Mickie & Frederick, Clay & Harry, Leni, Amber & Grady and the Short family… all of y’all are more than just friends, you go beyond that.  We are blessed to have you as friends.  While we may be miles away in Australia, our hearts will be in Dallas.

We will be back.  Our plans to return will begin as soon as we land in Australia!

For those back home, our flight lands at 6:30am Friday morning local time.  Thursday will not exist for us at all, as we take off Wednesday evening and land 13hrs later on friday morning.  Wiggy eh?

To the cities we visited and our friends… we love you all.

This isn’t goodbye.  It’s Seeya later

After practice, the three of us waited in the autograph line to wait for 6 players: Jere Lehtinen, Mike Modano (unlikely spotting as he usually ducks out the back), Brenden Morrow, Steve Ott, Stephane Robidas and Marty Turco.

Skeezy came out of the locker room first, apparently he does that a lot, because then he usually runs back into the locker room “for something” and does the line twice, just in case someone missed him the first time. *Rolls eyes*

Brenden came out first (of our list) and was very happy to pose quickly for a photo. He was smiling, happily putting his arm around each of us and didn’t complain at all, even though the tunnel was bitterly cold with the wind coming through it. A lady who was standing near us got Brenden to sign a piece of paper, which we thought was weird, and then after a few of the other boys came out, she’d gotten Trevor Daley’s autograph. She then came to me and asked who he was! I replied, “Trevor Daley.” She didn’t understand my accent. I even had to phonetically spell it for her! It was rather unusual, and yet hilarious.

Next off our list was Stephane Robidas, who was gracious as always and like Brenden, happy to pose and smile. Jere Lehtinen was next and, well, Jere doesn’t smile, but he was happy to pose for the photo and was then on his way. Otter was next, and happily smiled and posed with us. He’s a real champ!

Marty Turco is notoriously the last member of the team out of the locker room. Whether it be onto the ice for practice or out of the locker room to go home from practice or a game (which is ironic because during a game he’s the first one onto the ice!). In 2006, we had gotten a frosty reception from Marty, which was a little disconcerting as we’d never spoken to the man before. I said to Sam that maybe he was having a bad day, or perhaps he was just in a rush and didn’t want to hang around. We were near the end of the line after all. So, in 2009 we wanted to give him another chance.

Shouldn’t have bothered, really. Marty, dressed in a suit, came out of the locker room last and we politely asked him if we could have a photo taken with him. We didn’t want anything signed, just a photo. He said, “Sure, no problem!” loudly, and then Sam and I turned around and posed. Marty kind of rubbed his hands together and then just stood there while Jen lined up the shot.

Marty muttered, “C’mon, c’mon, just take the damn photo!”

Whether he meant for Sam and I to hear it or not I don’t know, but it was rude and uncalled for. I don’t care how cold he might have been from the tunnel – we’d been standing out there in that cold cement tunnel for an hour waiting for them. The least he could do was be courteous and keep his thoughts to himself. Jen didn’t hear him, but she did say that Marty in the photo wasn’t Marty. Usually he was all over the fans, and they’d had trouble getting him to shut up.

Maybe it was just Sam and I?

Whatever it was, I then said to Jen and Sam that I wanted to leave then and go to the store. I didn’t want to hang around and see if Mike snuck down the tunnel after everyone had left. I didn’t want to chance my heart being broken a second time by a player I adored above all others, after Marty Turco was just rude to us for the second time in 3 years.

We went into the Stars Stuff Store and got a few more things that we wanted (Sam got a jacket and a couple of t-shirts. I got a scarf, and a couple of other things). After we got our loot, we headed to Ulta, a cosmetics store near Jen’s that sells brand names often on sale. She was sure I’d be able to replace what I’d lost through Bella’s washing machine!

Jen was right, they sold EVERYTHING. >From perfume to cosmetics, hair care and even fluffy robes and slippers. A truely pampering place. I managed to get L’Oreal foundation, powder, 3 different eyeshadows, eyeliner, and consealer, and 3 Revlon lipsticks all for $73USD, which at the moment is about $77AUD.  Can you believe that? The lipsticks alone were $3.99 each! Back home, those exact lipsticks are $20.95 each! BARGIN! With the money we had left over, Sam got some cologne from Bvlgari – OMG SO GORGEOUS. I love it!

Then it was time to head home to Jen’s and wait for Jesse and Rhonda, who were coming over after work so that all of us could go to Jen’s parent’s house for Chicken Fried Steak and watch The Hangover. Our friend Julie also came along (she lives in Fort Worth, like Jen’s parents, and she’s friends with everyone – we met Julie through Jen!) which was awesome because we had only seen her twice – at the basketball game and she also came to Stratvos with us and Rhonda’s family.

Jen’s Mum is a riot. She’s so like Jen! While we waited for Julie to get there from work, Rhonda, Jesse, Jen, Sam and I played some weird card game we’d never played before called Skipbo (a game that was created in Texas in 1967), but it was a lot of fun!  When Julie arrived, we’d moved onto Uno and Jen had disappeared from the table. Dinner was old fashioned southern chicken fried steak, veges and gravy, with sourdough biscuits on the side. It was DELICIOUS! After dinner, we watched The Hangover. While it was funny in parts, it wasn’t really Sam’s and my cup of tea. But it was entertaining none the less.

By the time the movie was over, it was midnight, and time to head back to Dallas and say our farewells. We said goodnight to Jen’s parents, and then goodbye to Julie in the carpark of the motel where Jen’s Mum is the live-in manager. The hour long drive back to Dallas seemed to take no time at all, and then it was time to say farewell to Jesse, who isn’t into long goodbyes. Leaving Jesse is hard for me, because he’s such an awesome guy and I love him to pieces. Anyway, we said “See you later!” because it’s not a goodbye, according to Jesse, and then he left and went home.

Rhonda stayed a little longer and she and I snuggled on Jen’s couch before it was time for her to leave too because she had school in the morning. Hugs and kisses and fond farewells later, and it was time for us to go to our room and pass out on the bed. Tomorrow it’s time to pack up and ship out… well… fly out. It’s the end of our journey, but boy have we got a ton of wonderful memories to take home to Australia!

This time, when we walked in, Rob was in the hallway watching the end of practice and talking to someone. He recognised us and he and I had a short chat before he had to get back to work. He did tell us that there would be another Stars practice tomorrow morning at 10:30am, if we wanted to get autographs. I told him that we hadn’t expected to be there for a Stars practice so we arranged with a friend to pick up a jersey we’d already bought and he’d kindly got the autographs for us. (I didn’t want to impose on Rob and the gang.)

Anyway, we wandered around the Stars Stuff Store for a while before we all piled back into Jen’s Mustang, Thor, and headed Stonebriar to see if there were any suitcases we could get in our price range. Sam wanted to head to a Super Wal-Mart since he had done some online research and found that Wal-Mart had a special on, but we checked out Stonebriar, just because it was the big-ass mall beside Frisco StarsCentre. We went through Macys and Sears and there was nothing. So we headed back to Thor and went across the road to Target. Nothing. Jen, remembering there’s a Wal-Mart on the way back to her place via the Dallas Tollway, heads south and with Jesse (and his trusty blackberry!)  as her navigator we find the store we’re looking for.

Super Wal-Mart is awesome! Not only did we find what we were looking for (a small suitcase on wheels, with a matching carryon duffle on wheels and a bag big enough to hold my macbook to use as my computer bag) for a great price ($30!), we also found Sam a couple of Stars shirts, also for a good price! Jesse and Jen picked up a couple of things and then we were on our way back to Jen’s to wait for Rhonda to get home from work (school). Before we got there though, we stopped in at Pinkberry, a frozen yoghurt place that sells the most amazing chocolate frozen yoghurt ever! My allergy to dairy didn’t stop me from getting a tub of this one to eat away, even if I did pay for it by scratching my allergy-itched skin for a couple of hours afterwards!

For dinner that night, the four of us headed out to Momo’s! Momo’s is an Italian restaurant that serves very good pasta, and according to Jen, Rhonda and Sam, awesome red wine too! The food though came second to the company for me. These three are the most awesome people I’ve ever met and I can’t believe that in a day and a half I have to leave them! It sucks!

When we got back to Jen’s house from the restaurant, we all sat around and played Jen’s Wii bowling and tennis for a while. It was a lot of fun! And, it turns out I’m as bad at virtual bowling as I am at real bowling! Sam thoroughly got his butt kicked by Jesse and Rhonda. Soon, though, it was time for Rhonda and Jesse to get some sleep as they both have to go to work tomorrow.

Mickie and Frederick have been such wonderful friends to us over the years, and it was Mickie who first messaged the Dallas Stars and asked them to do something special for us the last time we were there – which started the whole ball rolling with being the Stars Fans Of The Game, being at the first game early enough to meet Ralph on the concourse, who got us in to see Mike Modano through Rob Scichili… they really were the catalyst for how brilliantly our trip was last time here in Big D, so there was no way we weren’t going to spend some time with them this time around!

Their 14 yr old son Alex plays hockey for a team called the Stars on Sunday mornings (Bantem level I think?), so we were invited to watch him play, and then they took us and Alex’s friend out for lunch. Alex’s game was as the StarCenter in Plano, so Mickie picked us up from the hotel, and with a stop at Starbucks (for caffeination) we were on our way. The StarCenters are owned by The Dallas Stars, and help to build hockey in Texas. They have 2 sheets of ice in the buildings along with a Stars Stuff Store. The Plano SC was overrun with families preparing for and leaving games that had just finished. By the time we got there, Alex’s team was on ice and warming up!

They were pretty good! We got some great photos of Alex’s team playing, and of Alex who is a winger. He also got a few penalties – oops! – but he was strong on the forecheck and seemed to have good positioning. There were a few players out there who were just so, so fast! And a few scary parents in the crowd too! But the people we were sitting with were just lovely. I think the couple beside me were parents of another child on Alex’s team, and they were interested in hockey in Australia as well as our trip. Everyone is fascinated with the weather difference. It’s kind of bizarre but whatever!

Alex’s team won 5-3, it was all very exciting because at one stage it was 3-2, then 3-3, then 4-3 so it was rather edge of your seat stuff. After the game, Mickie took us down to the Stars Stuff Store to have a look around. We saw their clearance rack had different stuff from the Frisco rink, so we went at it, buying 6 shirts for $10 each! And I got an Ipod case for my classic Ipod for only $14! It’s AWESOME! We also picked up some car decal’s for our “Dallas” back home, and Sam bought me a Stars bracelet that I liked. All in all, it was a pretty good haul for $140! Plus, on the items that weren’t on sale, Mickie let us use her season ticket holder’s discount of 15%, so that was very generous of her!

Then it was off to lunch at SeaBreeze. We had a seafood basket that had a toasted lobster sandwich, fries and coleslaw (though I don’t eat coleslaw so I just had the sandwich and most of the fries), like Mickie did. Frederick had muscles (I think) and fish, and I’m not sure what the kids had, but it all looked so good. Over lunch, Sam and I gave them a small book on Australian Wildlife, as a very small token of our very large appreciation for what they’ve done for us over the years. Really, there are no words and nothing big enough that could ever compensate, but a little something goes a long way.

During lunch, we mentioned that we hadn’t done any of the things that we had wanted to while we were here, such as the Gallery or the Museum or even the grassy knoll where JFK was assassinated. Mickie and Frederick immediately offered to drop the kids off at home and take us downtown to see it! So that’s what we did!

Elm Street, ironically where it happened, still looks like it did on November 22, 1963. The buildings are all the same, the road hasn’t changed and even has white X’s on the road where the shots hit JFK. It was morbidly awesome! And there is even a tour that you can go on that follows the procession’s route, to the point of speeding up after the grassy knoll and driving to the hospital they took JFK to.

After the Grassy Knoll, we walked around downtown and passed the TGI Fridays we went to last time we were in Dallas in 2006. Good times. By the time we got back to the car, it was time to head to the hotel to drop us off because we had an appointment with Bob Shaw from Shaw’s Tattoo Studio at 5pm. We chatted to Mickie and Frederick in the parking lot of the motel until we had to leave.

We got to Bob’s at 5pm on the dot, and Bob was waiting for us, chilling out and watching the Cowboys game on tv (they were losing to San Diego, 7-10 at the time). After our introductions, and Bob mentioning that he knew nothing about hockey, and me telling him to watch a real sport instead of this padded NFL crap, we got down to business and checked out the designs he’d sketched out. They were exactly what we wanted.

When we had discussed the designs with Josh on Wednesday, he’d mentioned that they probably wouldn’t be able to do the shading on the celtic knots on the sides of my Stars logo. Bob, however, merely shugged his shoulders and said he’d adjusted the design just a little to make it wide enough to do the shading I wanted, instead of having to fill the whole thing in.

Sam went first, because he’s a whiney little girl and needed to go first for fear of backing out – he doesn’t like pain, and he’s terrified of needles. How he’s managed to get three tattoos before is a miracle I’ve yet to work out! Anyway, Bob shaved Sam’s back, lined up the tatt, made sure it was where Sam wanted it, right across his shoulders, checked the shade of green we wanted for the star in the middle – the largest part of shading so it had to be right – and then got him straddled on the chair and set down to work.

Sam’s tattoo took about two hours to do, and Sam spent most of that time calling out expletives and grouching at me when I told him to “Suck it up princess! You’re the one who wanted this!” Bob thought this was hilarious. He was also amused by both of us singing along to Sublime on the playlist he had going through the studio while he worked, and me dancing and singing along to Eminem as well.

Sam kept saying to me, “Just wait until you get yours done, you’ll be crying out too!” Which just made me all the more determined not to say anything when I got mine done, even if it did hurt. Bob thought we were hilarious! At least, he kept chuckling the entire time. By the time Sam’s was done though, Bob needed a break.

When he came back, we got me set up, the tattoo placed on my lower back where I wanted it, got me situated on the chair and then got down to work. Mine took about an hour and a half to do, as it is a little smaller than Sam’s. Sam took off to get us some coffee, and Bob and I talked family, kids and married life. It was kinda cool. He could tell when it hurt, because my back would stiffen a little, but I didn’t complain about the pain until nearly at the end when he was doing the shading on the Star right on my spine. That really hurt. Bob did say at the end though that I took my tattoo like a trooper! I was so proud, really!

After we paid him (including a nice tip), we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up some Aquaphor ointment for the tatts, and I found some Dallas Stars pj pants in my size – I was so excited! I picked up a pair that are DS Green with the Stars logo all over them, and a green and white plaid pair with the logo stitched on in one corner. We spent the rest of the night chilling out at our motel, after trying to walk Jen’s dog, Stellina (unsuccessfully I might add – we tried three times!), with some Jack In The Box for dinner. It was a quite night, online and letting our tatts breathe.

1. Seeing Rhonda’s kids highschool play / show
2. Watching Jesse play hockey
3. Watching the Stars play the Kings

We hit the hat trick, and went one further with a stop at a really great greek restaurant.  But let me start at the beginning.

Our day started like any other… waking up, showers, etc.  Breakfast today was done over in Jen’s place where Rhonda, Julie and Jesse were still there from last night.  Jen had taken Stellina (her dog) to the doggy daycare place and picked up eggs, sausages, cheese and biscuits (kinda like english muffins, but not) for breakfast so we had a hot cooked meal for breaky.  The raspberry jam was to die for!

Julie and I made a Starbucks run while the others got ready and by the time we returned we all jumped in Rhondas car and headed over to Garland, TX where Rhonda works as a drama teacher.  Her class were putting on their latest show, “Moon Over Buffalo” so we all went to watch.  The show was incredibly good and we found ourselves laughing all the way through it.  It’s always great seeing young talent like this in action and there are some amazingly talented actors in this group!

After the show we all decided to get dinner so went to “Stratos” Greek restaurant.  I’d never had proper greek food before so it was quite an experience.  I can’t remember the name of the meals we got, but it was a lamb type of wrap.  Delicious!  Wendy had the greek lasagne, which she swears was absolutely outstanding.  We also had the flaming cheese thing (can’t remember the name) and pita bread.  The whole experience was incredible and really look forward to hunting down a good greek place back home upon returning.  That’s Italian and Greek we’ve had in the last few days.. how Mediterranean of us

After dinner we went back to the hotel for 20 minutes so that Jesse could get his gear as he was playing hockey.  Jesse is the goalie for the “Hellfish” a local team, and we’d all decided we would go and watch him play down at the Ice Training Center (ITC).  The game was pretty good and chatted with friends there and grabbed some pretty good photos.

After the game we all loaded back into the car and yet again headed back to the hotel where we all planned to watch tonights Dallas Stas Vs Los Angeles Kings game.  We were a little nervous about this game as the Kings have been on a hot streak of late and are pushing for top seeded team in the Western Conference.  Alex Auld was in net for the Stars with young-gun Jon Quick between the pipes for the Kings.  The game was pretty good until the last 10 minutes when we found yet again the Stars were forced into overtime and then a shootout.  Unfortunately for us, the Stars shooters failed this game and Alex Auld didn’t pull out a big stop when it was needed and the Stars ended up losing to the Kings in a shootout.  that’s our 10th overtime and/or shootout loss this season; 10pts that we got for losing.  Saying that, if we’d won all those overtime or shootout games we would be 3pts ahead of the ladder in 1st place instead of our current 8th, so go figure.

FYI, the Kings are now 1st in the West, tied on points with the Sharks.  Ugh!

By the time the game ended we were all pretty tired from the drinks and pizza we’d eaten during the game, so headed off to bed.

Tomorrow: Tattoos!!!!

It’s day 40, which means we’re in the last week of our trip and on the downward slide to flying home (booooo).  Today I turn the ripe old age of 34. hahaha

The day started pretty sad, as we had to return our rental car to Enterprise.  The rental, a 2008 Ford Focus was a great little car and in the 10 days we rented it, we drove over 1500 miles.  that’s somewhere between 2000 and shitloads of KM’s for those in the metric part of the world.  The focus here is different to that in Australia and is US built.  Unfortunately, while it shared the name, the car itself was nothing on the Australian/English/German counterpart.  It was doing some wiggy noise stuff by the time we returned it, so probably a good thing we did return it today.  Jen was great and drove with us to the airport and then gave us a ride back to the hotel again.

By the time we got back we decided to go down the road for lunch.  There was this little chinese takeout/restaurant type place down on Forest Lane that we decided to checkout, so walked down there.  I had the Garlic Chicken (can’t go wrong with that) and Wendy went with the General Tsao Chicken, which she’d read about.  Turns out, General Tsao isn’t all that nice, and my garlic chicken was overly salty.  The rice was kinda wiggy also, and we couldn’t help but wonder how much MSG was in it (it’s not banned here like back home).  Overall, it was tasty, but dodgy.. hence the name we gave it; Dodgy Wok.

After lunch we went nextdoor to pick up a Starbucks coffee and then walked back to the hotel again to hang out and wait for our friend Leni to arrive. We met Leni on the Stars Forum 4 years ago and she and Wendy are quite good friends. She was even there at Frisco the day that we met Mike Modano in March 2006! Since that time, she’s been collecting Mike Modano things for Wendy, such as posters, mini bobble heads and 503 memorabilia for when Mike broke the record for the most goals scored by an American born player. When Leni arrived, we got to see her newest pride and joy – a volvo convertible (very nice!) and the three of us went for coffee and a wonderful chat about hockey. That’s probably what we love most about Leni – she’s just so good to talk Stars hockey with!

All too soon, it was time to get back to the hotel and get ready for our evening out; a Dallas Stars watching party / birthday part at Val’s house.  The Stars were playing the San Jose Sharks, a team we love playing at the Shark Tank, so we knew it would be a great game. Which meant yet another sad goodbye, an all too common occurrence through our trip!

Jen had promised to “doll” Wendy up for the night, so she took off next door to get all dressed up and stuff while i got ready in our room.  Wendy eventually comes back wearing a jacket… apparently to hide whatever Jen had put her in.  Bit of a surprise ya see.  I was cool with that as it only made for more excitement and entertainment.  We all jumped in Jens Mustang and headed over there with a slight detour at Krogers (grocery store) to pick up some things and my cake, which they made me choose.  Isn’t that just nasty. hehehe

We had a pretty good turnout for the party; Wendy and myself, Jen, Rhonda, Jesse, Adam and Amber (was GREAT to see them), Clay and Harry, Val, Nathan and the kids, Julie and Jeff.  (did i miss anybody?)  We all had sausages and burgers for dinner and I washed them down with some Shiner Bock that Adam and Amber bought me (OMG that’s nice beer!).  Clay and Harry bought me a 6-pack of Shiner Bohemian, which is the the premium stout beer that Shiner make.. and OMG even nicer.  Anyway, back on track.

The game went pretty well but gave massive cause for concern when it went to overtime and then into the shootout.  For those in the know, Marty Turco, the Stars goaly has been pretty mediocre (see: crap) in the shootout this season, so the entire rooms energy levels deflated when the OT period ended.  Marty Turco just have known it was my birthday or something, because he was steller today, saving shot after shot.  Unfortunately, Nabby at the other end of the ice was just as good and after 3 shooters the game was yet to be won so more shooters were needed.  It became a battle of the goalies with shooter after shooter going up until eventually Matt Niskanen (Stars defenseman) finally got the goal that won the game for the Stars.  Not only did the Stars pick up the 2pts, but Marty was kick-ass in the shootout through 11 rounds!  Now that’s a birthday present i can handle!

As it was getting late we all had some cake before saying our goodbyes and departing back to the hotel where we collapsed and talked for a bit before finally heading to bed.

Great friends, great company, great hockey… it was a long, but absolutely fantastic day!

Our first stop today was Starbucks for a coffee; Triple Venti Non-Fat Latte for me and a Non-Fat Peppermint Mocha (no whip) for Wendy and a quick snack.  Starbucks isn’t our fave coffee over here, but I must admit, we have come over some “nice” Starbucks coffees on this trip.  After the coffee we cruised 2 blocks down to the local “Race Trac” gas station to pick up a T-Mobile recharge for our phone then made our way down the I-75 on our way to Fort Worth.  The reason? Adam.

Adam and I have known each other since 2006, not long after our last trip to Dallas.  He and his wife are Dallas Stars fans and over the last 3 years we’ve had some pretty detailed conversations about hockey and the Stars in particular.  There was no way we were going to come to Dallas this time and not meet up for a beer.

The drive to Fort Worth was pretty uneventful and only took about 40 minutes.  Fort Worth is a twin-city to Dallas and makes up the larger area known as the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.  We had directions to downtown Fort Worth thanks to Google Maps and found the Sundance Square parking building pretty easily.  Our destination for todays meeting was “The Flying Saucer” which is a pub known for it’s huge array of beers.  Actually, after seeing the beer menu, i guess a better name would be a beer restaurant as they had HUNDREDS of types of beers from around the world.

Adam was waiting for us when we arrived and after a shake of the hands and the regular type intro’s we settled down into the couches for what became a 5hr great chat!

About 10 weeks or so back Adam had picked up a Stars jersey we’d arranged for him and he’d gotten it signed for us, so he gave us the jersey today… we’re speechless.  Not just at the jersey, which was absolutely amazing, but that he went out of his way to go to the practices and get it signed for us.  We have no way to express our appreciation for what he did for us.  He then further shocked us, and almost bought Wendy to tears when he gave us a signed Brett Hull card from the ’91/’92 season.  While today was the day before my birthday, he also bought my birthday present with him… a signed Jere Lehtinen game used hockey stick.  I must admit, I was speechless for the 2nd time today (a record for me maybe?).  I’m blown away, even now all these hours later.  I just keep picking it up and wanting to play with it.  I know, i’m a kid, right?

So we then hit the menu.  They didn’t have any Shiner, so I opted for a Boddingtons English Pub Ale and Wendy, a Belgium fruit beer.  We also ordered lunch, Bratwurst with sour-kraut on a bun with warm potato salad.  The description might not sound that nice, but the beer and the meal was spectacular.  As a follow-up I opted for a Scottish beer; Belhaven i think it was called.  Not a bad beer at that.

We sat there talking for over 4 hours covering every topic from hockey, the Stars, politics, religion, hockey, the Stars and more hockey.  Seeing a trend there are ya?  Yep, hockey is king when we talk!  Adam also either knows or knows of Jen, Kelly etc and is coming to the party tomorrow night, which will be fantastic.

I want to thank Adam for allowing us to meet up with him today.  We had a truly fantastic time and wish we could stay longer to do it again.  Luckily, we get to meet both he and his wife tomorrow night, and can not wait!

We couldn’t come home the way our directions said as they had closed off the road, so we took a bit of a detour, which ended up actually being much shorter.  By chance we were parked at the lights that had a sign pointing to the I-30E, the road we drove from Dallas to Fort Worth on.  We didn’t really want to go back that way as traffic was going to be bad, but as we’d ended up talking until past 6pm, we figured fate was dealing us a lesson, so did a quick change and headed down the road onto the I-30 and back to Dallas.  The drive was a bit slower due to traffic but nothing really bad until we hit the I-75, which is always blocked up in the evenings.  Instead of going up the I-75 directly we stayed on the access road, and while it’s only a third of the speed of the freeway, we ended up getting to the hotel MUCH faster!

Jen came home a little after we got in and we decided to go to Maggiano’s Little Italy, a great italian restaurant.  I’d never had proper Italian before so was really keen to give it a go.  Maggiano’s is a great restaurant that back home would cost a LOT to eat there.  Over here though the prices are more than reasonable.  We all opted for cokes, stuffed mushrooms for an antree, a main each and then a desert platter.  The total prices was only $79!  I’m going to miss these well prices restaurants.  For mains, Jen and Wendy got a Chicken and Truffle dish and I got the Garlic Shrimp Linguine.  Totally delish!

After coming home from dinner we crashed Jen’s room and watched a little TV, drank some red wine and caught up on our internet stuff.

Tomorrow we have to take the car back to Enterprise and have a great watching party tomorrow night.  Another busy, but fantastic day!

Shaw’s is owned by Bob Shaw, and is actually the same caliber, if not better than the guys of Miami Ink. If you’re going to get a tattoo done, the best to get it done by is Bob. And since it comes recommended by our friend Clay, we took him at his word. Armed with the address, we headed out in search of the small tattoo studio. It wasn’t that far from our motel, or hard to find and even better was that it is only 3 or 4 blocks from our old favourite coffee shop – Dunn Bros Coffee. Shaw’s didn’t open until 12, and we were a little early so we took a detour to Dunn Bros first.

When we got inside and ordered our coffees, the guy behind the counter (the owner incidentally), recognised our accents weren’t from around here. We told him where we were from and that we came to that shop 3 and a half years ago the last time we were in Dallas – in fact we practically lived there for the free wi-fi as well as the amazing coffee. The guy remembered us. It was a little weird. Anyway we ordered our coffee and a weird shaped muffin each and then sat down to have our treats. Once we were finished, it was back to Shaw’s to get things organised.

If you weren’t aware, Sam already has 3 tattoos (one on each arm and one over his heart), and I have 1 (mine is over my heart too, same as Sam’s… literally), so we’re a little experienced at the whole tattoo thing. However. The last tattoo each of us got was 10 years ago. Still, it was fun walking back into a tattoo place and looking at the designs on the wall. No need for them today though, as Sam and I had thought long and hard, and came armed with a design already!

Josh, the guy that served us, told us that Bob wasn’t in yet – he didn’t get there until 5pm (we were already going out at 6pm so we had to make it another day to go back to get it done), but he was very helpful in getting our designs worked out. I already had mine on my computer (which stuffed up there in the tattoo parlor – very embarrassing). Josh printed it out and we worked out what should be changed or tweaked and what should remain the same. Sam was going to go with the same theme as mine, but completely different. After talking with Josh though, Sam decided to have a similar design to mine, but have the tribal ends a different design and pattern to what mine will look like.

The central portion of our tattoos? The Dallas Stars logo! The estimated cost of our tattoos will be around $600 in total, which really is a bargain compared to back home – our tatts would cost around $1000, we’re estimating. Plus, how can you not get a Dallas Stars tattoo in Dallas?? We arranged to get ours done on Friday at 3pm, but Bob called Sam later and said that he won’t be at work until 5pm and he’ll need more than 2 hours to get the work we want done, so we’re rebooked in for 5pm on Sunday night.

On our way back to the motel to do laundry, we stopped at Jack In The Box – the last fast food place we wanted to try – and got a sirloin burger each. Yum. And after Jen finished work, we all got ready to head out by 5pm to meet up with our friend, Miss Kelly. Kelly is just amazing and sweet and awesome, and also a huge Mike Modano fan, like me! Though she’s met him way more times than I have – kind of a perk of working at the Dallas Stars Stuff Store at Frisco a few years ago. As Kelly is a huge Twilight fan, and Jen’s just a sucker for spending time with us, the four of us went to Studio Movie & Grill, which is this movie theatre that’s like Gold Class at Birch Carroll & Coyle, but the chairs aren’t laz-e-boyz. We all got pizzas except for Kelly, who got cheese fries, and a drink called a “Hurricane Katrina” but I think that’s just what Kelly and Jen call them. I forget what the menu called them.

But the highlight of the food portion was when we ordered our drinks, we also got glasses of water as well, and when the waiter brought them out, Sam got his fine, and Jen got hers fine and then I don’t know what happened, but Kelly’s and mine were spilled… all over Jen’s side and my back. HOMG ICE COLD WATER! It was so embarrassing and hilarious and the poor waiter… it was his second night on the job and he was so embarrassed. Thank god it was only water though. But the hilarity ensued, when Jen and I went to the bathroom (they call them restrooms here) to use the air dryer to dry our jeans a little. Jen went first because she just had to put the side of her leg under it. Me… I had to stick my butt under the air dryer because it went all down my back and onto my chair and soaked into my jeans and underwear. OMG. Jen was just collapsing against the wall with gales of laughter and I was just laughing and choking out, “SHUT UP, IT’S NOT FUNNY!” but it totally was.

The manager gave us a complimentary appetizer, and apologised profusely to Jen and I in the hallway. We were like, “Don’t worry about it, it’s fine, it’s just water… really really cold water. It’s no problem.” Kelly said that he’d come over to “assess the damage” and talk to them and when he said that it was the waiter’s second night on the job, Kelly was like, “AWWW Don’t fire him! It was an accident!” So I hope he doesn’t lose his job over it.

Anyway thankfully everything was sorted by the time the movie started, and we all sat back to watch The Twilight Saga: New Moon. No spoilers for those who want to but haven’t seen it yet and haven’t read the books, but I will say this: It was closer to the book than I expected, and better than I was expecting as well! I didn’t mind it at all, actually. There. I said it.

After the movie though, we went back to Kelly’s to pick up Jen’s car and then we watched Glee on Jen’s tv before coming home to pass out. Tomorrow is a big day – we’re off to Fort Worth to hang out with Adam, and then having dinner with Jen’s family! FUN TIMES PEOPLE! We are in demand!

After Target we figured we’d get a bite to eat, so Jen directed us down to the North Park Mall, just a little south on the I-75.  North Park is a really big mall with a brilliant variety of stores, including it would seem, Build-A-Bear, one of the stores that Wendy and I wanted to find anyway.  A quick lunch first, then we headed down the mall to Build-A-Bear, so Wendy could select, build and buy her very own customised bear.  She chose this cute little brown bear and dressed it in a Dallas Stars outfit, including helmet, jersey, pants, boots and his very own hockey stick and puck!  The bears official name on it’s birth certificate is “Mikey Mo”, aptly named after Mike Modano.

We then went for a long walk around the mall, starting with the lower level before heading upstairs to do the top.  We had the funniest moment when a small boy who was running ahead of his mother tried to run between Wendy and Jen and completely clotheslined himself on the Build-A-Bear bag that Wendy was carrying!  It was absolutely brilliant and had us all thinking WTF while laughing!

Jen found the Michael Kors store and fell in love with a great bag she wants to buy herself eventually.  Pretty cute snakeskin bag.  After the Michael Kors experience we headed into Macy’s to see what they had… and guess what, they had Michael Kors, and a GREAT special, so Jen ended up getting jeans and a top for a fraction of the price she would normally pay.  Made her year i think!! She was sqee’ing all the way home, and then some!

Before we’d come over here I had promised Jen that I would cook for her.  Naturally, it became expected that i’d cook something authentically Australian.  Those who’ve been to Australia would know that there really is no such thing as “Authentic Australian” these days.  Well, maybe damper etc would be, but you know.. nothing really truly Aussie.  So, we figured we’d cook a classic Aussie type meal; Meat Pie, mashed potatoes and veges.  I’d never cooked meat pie before, so after finding a recipe Wendy and I drove down to the local supermarket, “Tom Thumb” to get the groceries we needed.

It turns out Pie is pretty easy to make… it’s just a case of cooking all the filling, adding it to the pastry and then cooking it.  Voila, pie = good   I was incredibly surprised at just how well it came out to be honest, so by 9pm I was serving up pie, spuds and veges for Wendy, Jen and myself, and made sure i kept enough veges aside for Rhonda, who we were expecting to come over a little later.  It turns out, Rhonda had a long night at work and forgot to charge her phones, so she never actually arrived.  No harm done, as the food did not go to waste.

The Stars played the Anaheim Ducks on the road tonight, so we had that playing live on the TV while we ate.  The Stars looked ok and took a great 3 goal lead with goals by Mike Modano and 2 by Brad Richards.  The Ducks pulled 1 back going into the 2nd intermission with the Stars taking a 3-1 lead going into the 3rd and final period.  The Ducks did not sit back however and came out much stronger, forcing the Stars to play a defensive game to stop the Duck onslaught.  Dan Sexton of the Ducks got his first NHL goal in the 3rd period and after the Ducks pulled their goalie in the final minute of the game, Dan Sexton struck again, tying the game 3-3 and forcing overtime.  It was at this time that we all looked at each other, looked at Turco in the net and thought “oh crap”.  It took just over 4 minutes but the Ducks, and Marty Turco did what we expected… scored.  Ducks win 4-3 in OT.  A let-down, but heck, dinner was hella great!

After the game we were all tired so headed back to our room for a relatively early night; just passed midnight.

We had originally planned to be on the road at 8am, and as Wendy was writing a note to Vicki Short to put with the thank you gifts we bought for her and the family she came home from work.  It worked out well as this way we got to thank her personally, and after talking, hugs and sad farewells, we finally got on the road at 9:30am for the lengthy 5-hour drive up to Dallas.  Wendy took the first shift, and took us through to just north of Waco, a about half the way home.  I took over from there and drove the remainder of the trip, which was uneventful for the most part other than the rain that plagued us for the last hour going into and through Dallas.

Finally arriving back at the hotel we unloaded all our bags and got ourselves settled in.  Jen had finished work for the day and came up and we ended up chatting for a bit before deciding on a plan; drive to Frisco and see if Rob was available, then head to the store to grab some groceries.  Unfortunately, Rob was in a meeting so we never got a chance to talk to him this time.  Not to worry, we’re there for an entire week, so anything is possible.

We then walked to the Stars Stuff Store.  AKA the Official Merchandise Store of the Dallas Stars Ice Hockey Club.  A mouthful eh?  This store is huge… the size of a large home, this single room has everything Dallas Stars, and is a sight that is beathtaking, mouthwatering and awe-inspiring all at the same times.  Authentic and replica jerseys, t-shirts, polo shirts, hoodies, track pants, pucks, sticks, skates, hockey gear, trinkets, toys… if you can think it, they mighth have it!  We spent a good 40 minutes just looking at all the amazing products available before finally dragging ourselves away.

Jen had messaged Kelly and Jesse to see what they were doing, but unfortunately Kelly was working late and Jesse had a game of “drop-in” hockey.  After a bit of back-and-forth banter between Wendy and Jesse he finally gave in and said he’d come over to Jen’s and hang with us.  Go Wendy!  So, our plans to visit the store went AWOL as we headed back to the hotel to catch up with Jessebean, as Wendy calls him.  You wouldn’t believe it… Jen, who lives in this area and drives it often… got lost!  So typical with us in the car, eh?

We finally got back and gave Jesse big hugs and had a chat and then after a bit of “what do you want” discussions, Jesse and Jen decided that we’d go to Uncle Julio’s, a mexican restaurant here in Dallas, for dinner.  Dinner itself was really nice.  Wendy went with the Chicken Fajitas while I opted for the “Juanita Platter”, which was a Taco, Enchiladas and something else (can’t remember).  After a good meal, loads of laughs and an hour or 2 later, Wendy and I paid the bill and we left, with a new plan; pick up Stellina (Jen’s dog) and then go see Rhonda at school where she works as a drama teacher.

The rain sure didn’t make the drive easy, but we quickly found the pet place and picked up the dog, a toy Schnauzer.  She’s a beautiful dog, with the most amazing personality.  Apparently she normally barks at everybody new she meets, but with Wendy and I she was quiet and came right up to us.  Pretty cool huh?  Anyway, we picked her up then headed down the 635 (big look freeway around Dallas) and then onto the I-30 over to the school where Rhonda works.  We met the kids and saw them doing the curtain call practice.

Did you know they even practice that?  I can’t say i’d even thought about it in the past to be honest, but it’s really pretty cool that they do.  We then got introduced as the friends from Australia and then the show was stolen by Stellina… who decided to relieve herself right there in the room.  Unfortunately, the floor was sloped, so everything started running!  While we’re literally cracking up laughing, Jen and Rhonda are busy getting it it cleaned up.  The funniest part of the entire thing was Jen’s face when she saw what was happening… absolutely brilliant!  A load of laughs later, we headed out for Rhondas house to pick up our boxes of goods we’d had mailed to her.

We handed out goodies to Jen (shot glasses for her collection), Rhonda (small books to appeal to her humour) and Jesse (a Moro chocolate bar and Canberra Raiders blanket to replace the Stars blanket he gave Wendy in 2006), and decided we’d all like some Braums Ice Cream… which apparently is “to die for”.  Turns out… oh hell yes, that it is!  I’m an ice cream elitist… sad to say, but it’s true.  Ice cream is my #1 weakness, just ask anybody who knows me.  This ice cream was truly amazing, rivaling anything else i can think of right now.  So we had that then went back to Rhondas place, said our good-nights then drove back to drop off the dog at the hotel.

One of the best things about Dallas, and the US in general is Walmart.  We’re talking about a huge store that sells groceries, pharmacy goods, clothes and other items.. think a huge supermarks and huge department store in one.  Best thing about Walmart is that its open 24hrs a day, and at almost midnight, there were a LOT of people out shopping.  Apparently it’s even busy at 4am.  Wiggy eh?  So anyway, we picked up groceries; high fibre cereal, low fat milk, earl grey tea, splenda, apples and bananas and also a few things from the pharmacy section; pain killers and sinus cold-and-flu tablets.  By chance i was looking at the DVD section and found “My Bloody Valentine 3D” which came with 4 sets of 3D glasses for only $20, so picked that up also.

That done, we loaded up the car with our new goods and drop back to the hotel to settle down watching “Hoarders”, “How i met your mother” and a bit of “Big bang theory”, me working on my laptop while Wendy snuggled on the couch with Jen and Jesse – a truly adorable site!  Gawd i wish i’d taken a photo of it!

Tonight we’re turning the alarms off.  We don’t have any major plans, so we’re hoping for a good night of good quality sleep.  After the last few nights, it shouldn’t be too hard.