Day 6: West Texas

This morning we left San Antonio after leaving our painted hand prints on the wall and made our way westward. An oil change was in order before getting too far so we took care of that first. Once we really got going we got to see how awesome the land is out there. The further west we went the more hills and valleys we took in. Words or pictures won't really do it justice. Also the speed limit out there is 80 so you make pretty good time.

We ate at a Sonic, which we have commercials for in Boston but no locations I know of. It was basically like Wendy's but they bring your food to your car. They aren't on roller skates in short shorts so it isn't that impressive. Storm clouds were lingering on the horizon. The empty landscape allows you to look out for miles and see entire storms in the distance. About 50 miles out of El Paso one cloud was so dark blue and gray that it looked like a giant jellyfish in the sky and the rain was its tentacles reaching down to the ground.

We were supposed to end up in Las Cruces but flash flood warnings and tired eyes landed us in a hotel in El Paso for the night.

Day 5 - San Antonio

First, here are the pictures from New Orleans and some other random ones we have taken so far: New Orleans and Misc. 

So for the first time since the trip began, we stayed in the same place for a full day. San Antonio is really beautiful and really HOT! We did the good San Antonio touristy things like the Riverwalk and the Alamo.  Tommy was also pretty sure that the Riverwalk was where Davey shot that bad guy in Cloak & Dagger.  Also, we walked all around the Alamo and didn't see the entrance to the basement anywhere. Then we drove all around old San Antonio and some of the houses are really pretty. We ate a a Texas icehouse, Willy's, which was pretty awesome. We also went to a pizza place called Grimaldi's.

Staying with family has been great, except that the dog seems to really hate Tommy for some reason. It's probably the beard. Now we are going to put our handprints on the wall to commemorate our stay. See the pictures of our trip here.

You'll hear from us again from New Mexico!

Day 4: LA to TX

We woke up and walked around the French Quarter in the bright sunlight. It's pretty different from its nighttime counterpart. Instead of neon lights and loud music there are open doors to art galleries and slightly quieter music. New Orleans is beautiful (or at least the small part we were in was). Outside this part of town there is still a lot of damage from Katrina and one who wasn't there during that time can only imagine how bad it must have been by the state of many of the buildings, many of which are still empty and boarded up. You can see the water mark on the sides of many places as well.

We took off from New Orleans and began the long drive to San Antonio. Alicia spotted the first armadillo of the trip. Unfortunately he was wearing a tire-stripe like the Repo Man's t shirt. Near Baton Rouge I heard the first really thick Louisiana accent on our trip.

Not much else to report since the day consisted mostly of driving. We saw tons of cows in Texas. We arrived safely at Alicia's uncle's in San Antonio and had a great dinner and a good night's sleep.



. . . And we saw a sign for "Beaver Nuggets."

Day 3 - GA to LA

First thing in the morning we went to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, which was right across the street from our hotel. I was a little skeptical of going to Atlanta because of the crime and some bad reviews online, but I was BLOWN AWAY! The Aquarium is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. You walk through this huge tunnel and there are whale sharks, manta rays, groupers, sand sharks, etc. just swimming over your head. Then you come into this viewing room with a plexi glass wall bigger than any movie screen with a view of the whole giant tank. It's unbelievable. The pictures don't do it justice, but you should look at them anyways (Atlanta Photos).  When we left the Aquarium, we walked through Centennial Park and had lunch, then we were on the road again!

The drive to New Orleans wasn't quite as long as the drive to Atlanta. It helped that we moved over a time zone so it was like we gained an hour. Also, we didn't want to stop in any rest areas in Mississippi because all of the signs advertised heavy security, which made us a little skeptical of stopping there.

We got to New Orleans around 8:00 and you can still see signs of Hurricane Katrina all over. We had to drive through a neighborhood of completely boarded up houses to get to the French Quarter. Our hotel, Hotel St. Marie, is this huge old timey place right off Bourbon Street. Every room has a balcony so we chose a room overlooking the courtyard which has a pretty nice pool and lots of tables and a nice garden. Then we ventured out to Bourbon Street. It was a Monday night but it was still packed with people. Every bar and adult entertainment location had people outside beckoning people in. We wandered for a bit and decided to eat at The Embers on the balcony overlooking Bourbon Street. We wanted to do something authentic to the area, so Tommy ate Alligator, which just tasted like turkey sausage, and I had a giant "Cajun Cooler". It is so crazy that Bourbon Street really is a nonstop party. We tried to go into a few voodoo themed places, but they were sort of disappointing, but we'll try again this morning.

Day 2 - VA to GA

Hey y'all! Today has been a pretty great day! We got a clean bill of health for the car in the morning and then had a delicious breakfast at the Silver Diner. Driving around Woodbridge, VA is really strange because they seem to literally have every chain of restaurant you could ever imagine. Before we left, Tommy and I decided that we would try not to eat at chains, if possible, unless it was something we had never tried before. Our very first night, however, we ended up at Fuddrucker's because Charlie had never been there, so it still counts. We left Woodbridge at about noon and drove pretty hard today to get to Atlanta (or the ATL, as the kids call it). All I can really say about the drive is that I-85 in Virginia is beautiful, the rest stops in North Carolina are like parks that are good for stretching the legs, there are Cracker Barrels EVERYWHERE, and JR Outlet looks like the greatest place in history. JR Outlet is a store that we saw at least 100 billboards for in a 5 mile radius advertising everything from cigarettes to porcelain dolls.

We finally arrived in Atlanta around 10:00 this evening and went right to the pool. I cannot properly describe how nice this pool was. All I can really say is that it was on the roof of our swanky hotel overlooking the city and it was a beautiful night outside. Tomorrow morning we are off to the Georgia Aquarium to see whale sharks! After that, we are heading to New Orleans.

I will be posting some pictures soon, probably tomorrow. Stay tuned!