Day 3: Houston, Texas

Ooo de lolly ooo de lolly, golly what a day.

Today was definitely my favorite day so far. We covered a lot of awesome places today, and I think I might have even gotten a little sun : )

We left closer to 10:30 this morning, and this time we actually brought all of our belongings with us. We drove probably for about an hour, and then stopped in Biloxi on the beach. It was really pretty out, and a decent temperature, though the water was pretty cold. I walked on the beach a little bit, snapped some pictures, and then we went to a souvenier shop. I got a keychain, and a stuffed animal dog that looks a whole lot like Shelby and has ears like her. That was a good find : ) We drove around the city a little bit to see the effects of Hurricane Katrina, and then made our way to New Orleans. We tried quite a few times to get my dad to say it right. We never succeeded. It kind of reminded me of the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where Ian's parents try to get the Greeks to pronounce bundt cake correctly.

New Orleans was AWESOME! We drove around for a little bit and finally parked on a random street and got out of the car. We walked around and it was so cool. The weather was PERFECT, about 70-75 degrees and sunny. There was lots of people, and a bunch of random street musicians, mostly jazz and a little bluegrass. There was also a guy who was one of those human statues. He was the best one I have ever seen. He was midway up a ladder that was just standing in the middle of the street, not propped against anything, balancing a board on his shoulder. I had no idea he was a real person at first! I am so mad because my camera decided to stop working at that point so I never got a good picture. It was so amazing. We stopped in a few shops, and I got another keychain (if you haven't figured out yet, I'm collecting keychains from the places we've been.) Saw some of the crazy sweet mardi gras masks and beads. We then walked down to Jackson Square.

Jackson Square was amazing. I really just liked the overall flavor of New Orleans. Jazz music, people, art, palm trees. It was similar to New York but at the same time just not the same. There was palm trees : ) No subway though. We also went to Cafe Du Monde and got beignet's and coffee. Magnificent! I can't imagine working there though. It's sort of like a pavilion, because it's outside but it has a roof. You seat yourself, but it was absolutely packed. There was a line all the way down the block. (My dad and I actually went up these stairs and looked at the Mississippi River while my mom stood in line.) But the way it works is you stand in line and wait for awhile until you see an open table, whether it's been cleared off or not, and go sit at it. Then someone comes and asks you what you want. You order and it's there. I have no idea how they keep track of what tables they have, how much it costs or anything. It's so chill and relaxed but chaotic at the same time. The beignet's were marvelous. After that, we walked down to Bourbon street and walked a couple blocks. We stopped in one of the shops and I bought a T-shirt. It's pretty sweet : ) Bourbon street wasn't really all that exciting. Guess you have to be there for Mardis Gras. We walked back to our car, got in, and figured our way out. We were in New Orleans for a little over three hours. It is definitely up there in my favorite cities. There's just no place quite like it. And I am now pretty happy that the Saints won : ) There's saints stuff EVERYWHERE! But their hometown seems pretty proud of em. Who Dat?

By this point, I think it was about 4:00 and we hadn't made it that far. We drove for quite some time, and then stopped for a bathroom, dinner at McDonalds, and WalMart for flip flops. We got back on the road and drove through the swampy mess of Louisiana. There was a bunch of rice fields which was kind of cool. Way better than Farmville, haha. The trip tic said to watch for Aligators. I didn't really want to see one up close, but I wouldn't have minded seeing one from the car, but we didn't. We crossed the Mississippi River. I told Olivia that I saw Jim and Huck floating down on a raft, naked. She said it would be a story to tell the grandkids. There was a beautiful sunset over the Lousiana horizon. We stopped for gas about 25 miles shy of the Texas border, and I drove. This was of course after my dad somehow managed to spray my mother with gasoline. She wasn't happy, and he was flabberghasted, swearing he didn't touch anything. I thought it was funny, except for the fact that our car then kinda smelled bad.

Anyways, I drove. We crossed the Texas border, and Texas has some pretty weird roads, I tell ya what. We must have been on a couple bridges or something, but the bridges don't have paint to mark the lanes they have like ridges sort of, and the lanes literally had two inches of shoulder before there was a cement barrier between our side of the road and the highway going the other direction. It was terrifying and the most claustrophobic I have ever felt driving. It was also kind of weird because the speed limit changed a lot, but whenever there was a sign that said 70 mph, there was a sign beneath it that said 65 mph Night Speed. I've never heard of a different night driving speed. There were also lots of refineries, which are really pretty at night. So here's where the story gets fun...

We were approaching Houston, and goodness sakes does the highway driving get dicey around here! We were on a four-lane highway that split off into 3 different highways, and the first time, it said that to be on the highway we wanted to stay in the middle lane. Well I did, and then at the last second discovered I had to be one farther right. I was able to make that one, but it happened again. Once again, we thought I was in the correct lane, but at the last second (this time too late of a second) we discovered we were in the wrong one. So I took the wrong highway, and got off at the next available exit, which pretty much put us in the heart of downtown Houston. We were trying to find some place to park to figure out where we were and how to get back. So I get in a left turn lane. There were two left turn lanes. So silly me, figured that since there were two left turn lanes and 4 lanes of traffic, that meant the one I was in was supposed to turn into the FALL lanes, as they described it in driver's ed (First Available Legal Lanes.) Well I turned into a FAIL lane (first available illegal lane) but neither I nor my family realized that we were going the wrong way down a one way until we saw a car coming at us. I then let out an expletive, though it was muffled because, really I hardly ever swear, especially not in front of my parents, but for heaven's sakes, I was in the downtown of a big city in a state that I had never been in going the wrong way down a one way. Holy (you fill in the blank.) I was able to stop literally like, 2 feet before the divide between the two sides started and floored it over to get so I was at least driving in the right direction. We found a parking lot. My dad offerred to switch. I took the offer pretty quickly. Afterall, my heart was racing like a percussionist's beat in a New Orlean's band (yeah that was cheesy, deal with it) and I had nearly shat my pants. My mom and I then whipped out our phones, figured out the address of where we were and where we wanted to go, and phone GPS'd our way to our hotel. It was no easy task, let me tell you. And my father does not have much patience for reading cell phone digital maps. We accidentally toured downtown Houston for quite awhile. At the time, it was kind of crazy, but afterwards was pretty funny. Seems to be a theme here...

Well now we're in the motel. We ate a little bit, and my parents have been sleeping for a couple hours now. I watched two episodes of King of the Hill. In Texas. How sweet can it get? Although I was pretty sad to find out today that Arlen, Texas, is not real. I was gonna go visit Hank and his buddies, and say "yup" with them next to the trash cans. Oh well. Guess I'll talk to Langston Hughes about when dreams die.

I tell you what, though, this motel is freaking hot! I swear it's like 95 degrees in here. Tonight is gonna be a shorts and sports bra sleeping night. Hope my dad doesn't mind.

Tomorrow, we're off for San Antonio. I'm pretty pumped cuz it sounds like there's some pretty sweet stuff out there, and the hotel my mom booked for us sounds pretty sweet. I FINALLY GET MY OWN ROOM, SNORING FREE!!! That and we're staying for TWO nights! Plus it only takes about 3 hours to get there. So short drive tomorrow, and no drive on Wednesday.

Well I'm out. Talk to you tomorrow from San Antonio : )

-Concensus: Biloxi is a pretty beach town. New Orleans surprised me and is one of my new favorite cities. And Texas has got some crazy roads.

-Movies Watched: didn't watch a thing today. There wasn't enough time between Mobile and Biloxi, or Biloxi and New Orleans, and there certainly was enough time between New Orleans and Houston, but I actually did some homework while I could still see, and when it got dark, I was driving. So. Movies tomorrow maybe : ) I did catch the end of Slumdog Millionaire today though. I want to watch the whole thing sometime.

-States covered: Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. That's 9. Holy cow. There will only be one more added to the list, and that's not for a few days now. Today, we went through Biloxi, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and now Houston. I don't think I forgot any...

The Ides of March were actually pretty sweet. Favorite day of the trip so far, despite almost being killed in downtown Houston. Darn FALL lanes...