880 Miles of Texas: The Real Journey Begins

I knew I was in for a long ride through Texas when I entered the state at mile marker 880 on I-10 West.  The drive on Monday from Hammond, Louisiana to San Antonio, Texas is the longest so far and probably the longest of the entire trip.  Louisiana is much wider than I considered and took me somewhere between three and four hours to drive across - it's a little blurry at this point.  I certainly got my fill of the bayou and probably drove past thousands of gators and other critters in the low country.  I think I must have driven over more miles of bridges in two days in Louisiana than my entire driving career prior.  It was an interesting drive and I appreciated all the bridges and waterways to mix up the view.

Welcome to Texas! (Very small on the right past
the big rigs...sigh at taking photos while driving)

When I got into Texas at mile marker 880 I realized what a much much much wider state Texas is!  The drive became more monotonous with long, flat straightaways.  Thankfully, there were no really long stretches without at least billboards or exits to glance at.  I enjoyed several interesting podcasts from "Stuff you Missed in History Class" and "Radio Lab" during my drives on Sunday and Monday.  Topics ranged from "guts" on issues related to digestion and potential personality affects of bacteria stored in our intestines (obviously Radio Lab) to the iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (Stuff you Missed in History Class).  In addition to podcasts, I also rocked out to anything from She & Him to Madonna to Garth Brooks and tried my best to enjoy some of the pop stations I found in Houston.  I may be too old for pop...

I arrived in San Antonio in time say hi to my college friend Erika's husband Daniel, meet their four-month old cutie Matthew Gilroy and go to one of Erika's favorite restaurants for delicious Tex-Mex - puffy chicken tacos with guacamole!  Including my stops for breakfast in Hammond, gas in Baton Rouge, lunch at Cracker Barrel in Lake Charles and gas west of Houston, I made the trip in nine hours!

The Big Easy

After four days in Birmingham, I left at 9 am Sunday morning for New Orleans, Louisiana.  I drove through Louisiana on a college trip from Alabama to Mexico, but had never been to New Orleans before.  On the 5+ hour drive, I crossed two new state lines - Mississippi and Louisiana.  I was able to keep my "welcome to" sign photography up, but I have to admit it is getting tricky.  As you can see, some of the photos are turning out better than others.

                    

                          Welcome to Louisiana!

Welcome to Mississippi!

I arrived in French Quarter at about 2:30 pm and spent a few hours checking out the scene.  I had some delicious beignets and chicory coffee at the famous Cafe' Du Monde on Decatur street.  It was a super hot afternoon, about 95 degrees fahrenheit, so I didn't last long walking around.  I spent a total of about two hours at the cafe', taking photos and popping in and out of fun art galleries and shops.  I am terribly addicted to buying souvenirs, but was amazingly able to restrain myself and drove away from the French Quarter with only the things I brought for my trip, photos on my camera and memories.  Yay for frugality and the lack of desire for cheesy memorabilia!

Sugary goodness in the form of beignets and
chicory coffee at Cafe' Du Monde.

With the statue of Old Hickory
(President Andrew Jackson)
at Jackson Square in the French Quarter.

When I was done baking in the hot sun of southern Louisiana in May, I headed north of Lake Pontchartrain to Hammond to visit my cousin Cindy and her family.  They fed me a delicious dinner of blackened fish, potatoes and asparagus.  Cindy's husband Sean owns a restaurant, so the food was amazing!  It was great to spend time with their boys Seth and Brody, and to meet their new addition - 9-month old Zeke.  I will miss seeing them on our annual family beach trip to Amelia Island in July, so it was great to catch up this week.  Zeke was too little to share with me too much about his life and Seth was pretty worn out from a day of baseball, but I learned a lot about Brody and what he has been up to in school and on his baseball team.  It was a short, but very nice visit and great second stop on my BIG TRIP!

With my second cousin Cindy and her youngest son Zeke.
The older boys were still asleep and Sean was busy preparing
for their Memorial Day craw fish boil, but they were in the picture in spirit.

The Journey Begins: Atlanta to Birmingham and Athens Alabama

Welcome to Alabama!

I don't start work at Grand Canyon National Park (stationed in Flagstaff, Arizona) until June 2, but I decided to get an early start to my cross-country drive this past Wednesday.  After getting my condo cleaner than it has been since starting my MBA and packing up the essentials for the summer, I headed out of Atlanta around 8:15 pm on May 23.  I can't count the number of times I have traveled I-20 West to Birmingham since moving to Atlanta eight years ago, so this part of the journey was easy to navigate.  At each state crossing I'm attempting to get a snapshot of the "welcome to" sign with my iPhone as I drive (very carefully of course).  The photo to the right was my first attempt.  You can just barely make out the word Alabama....

My first day in the yellowhammer state started rather early compared to my lounging days on Hilton Head Island last week.  My almost three-year-old godson John Bryan had been expecting my visit, so he was excited to wake me up at about 7:30 am.  He was very patient not waking me up at his usual wake-up time of about 5 am.  John Bryan to his mom Amanda that he did not wake me up because I was "really asleep."

Caroline Edin, Katie Grace and Julie, John Bryan,
Amanda and William Ward, and me, Aunt Bliz.

On Thursday, we took what John Bryan called a BIG TRIP to Athens, Alabama (about 1.5 hours north of Birmingham) to meet our college friend Julie and her little girls Katie Grace (2.5 years old) and Caroline Edin (born in January). John Bryan and Katie Grace had fun at Cracker Barrel and the duck pond park, while their little siblings, Baby Will and Caroline, cooed, played with their feet and took short naps. Amanda, Julie and I had a great time catching up and I enjoyed getting know all the little ones better.

Aunt Bliz, Mr. Beeson (great benefactor to
 Samford) and John Bryan in front of the
library on the quad at Samford.

Amanda, John Bryan, Baby Will and I had another great day on Friday.  It started with a walk around our alma mater Samford University with John Bryan's other godmother Aunt Katie.  The stairs around campus were a little tricky to navigate with Will's stroller, but Amanda and Katie managed very well.  Samford was extremely quiet as students are already home or off on adventures for the summer.  Despite the lack of activity, we had fun sharing memories and seeing how much has changed (and how much has stayed the same) in the eight years since we graduated.  It's hard to believe that I have lived in Atlanta twice as long as I lived in Birmingham - my twenties really flew by!

The rest of my time in Alabama was spent visiting with Amanda's family, which included taking John Bryan on a long, hot run Saturday morning run and eating delicious Chinese food for dinner.  It was a great visit and wonderful way to begin my summer adventure west!