Texas... yeah, the state really is that big.

After New Orleans we spent several days in Austin visiting Cathy, Marilyn and Travis. Unfortunately, we didn't do too many touristy things here, mostly just hung out with people and ate so much food. We did manage to drive through the city and see the Texas state capitol building before stopping off at Barton Springs.





There was a family there from Europe feeding pigeons... sort of disease-scary, but entertaining to watch from a distance.



We also had to be sure to get us some Texas BBQ. We went to what is apparently the best BBQ in Austin, and you know it's good because we had to drive like 45 min to even get to it. This is the pit where the meat was cooking, they let us back to take a picture.



And this was the sampler plate Andrew got, complete with ribs, brisket, turkey and sausage. And of course the sides of potato salad, cloeslaw, homemade pickles and bread.



We also went out to the hoppin bars on 6th street one night. The food was excellent, we found a bar with arcade games and skeeball, and the buiilding downtown that's shaped like an owl.



After that we made our way to Dallas to visit with Jesse and where we finally saw some cowboys.





And on Marilyn's suggestion, we had some bluebell ice cream, which we had to admit was absolutely delicious!

Louisiana and a delay...

Sorry for the delay in posts. This past weekend we were in Las Vegas but have been having car trouble, so we are still in Las Vegas... Nothing crazy, but the AC went out and we didn't want to drive through the desert without it, but it's turned into an electrical short and they haven't been able to fix it. In the meantime, I have pictures from the previous weekend in New Orleans! We spent the weekend just off of Bourbon Street in a French Quarter style inn, the Olivier House. First things first, we wandered Bourbon Street, where they close it off to cars and people wander freely with their drinks!



The next morning we got up early and went on a swamp tour and a city tour! We were promised alligators, and boy did they not disappoint! While probably not animal rights friendly, they enticed the alligators in with marshmallows.



And used hot dogs on sticks to get them to jump out of the water.





We saw probably a dozen alligators jump! We also went through a thicker part of the swamp and stopped by "The Wishing Tree", where someone on our tour boat proposed to his girlfriend!



The guide showed us houses on stilts to avoid flood waters (the river rose 22 feet during Katrina), house boats that have electricity but don't have to pay property taxes, and a drawbridge.







For lunch we had a great Cajun sampler with jambalaya, étouffée, red beans and rice, and we ordered gumbo, fried gator and fried pickles... way too much food!



After that we did a city tour through the French Quarter, the lower 9th ward (where Katrina hit), and an above ground graveyard. Many of the houses we passed were long and skinny, called shotgun houses. They are designed so that doors can be opened from the front to the back to allow airflow through the house. This one is a double shotgun, so it's two residences in one building.



We passed through the Musicians Village, which was a nonprofit in conjunction with habitat for humanity that created houses for musicians affected by Katrina. There were also a lot of empty plots where people's houses eventually collapsed, the government cleaned it up, but the owners still haven't returned to rebuild.





The above ground cemeteries were interesting, but a little creepy. The low water table line of New Orleans means that coffins often floated back up when the rivers flooded. The above ground tombs are used instead. A body is put in and then the tomb wouldn't be opened for at least a year and a day, the tomb in the heat would act like an oven and essentially cremate the body. The remains are pushed back and drop down into a hole with the other family remains and a new body can be put in. Strange to me, but better than coffins coming up out of the ground.





That night we went out to find dinner on a balcony, some Jazz and beignets from the famous Cafe du Monde!









A great weekend in New Orleans and we definitely want to go back!

Hopefully I'll get another post about our Texas trip up soon, and hopefully the car will be fixed soon!

Orlando and Harry Potter World!

Our last stop towards the south was Orlando Florida. Being the dorks that we are, we wanted to stop and see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The evening before we found the Disney Boardwalk for dinner and hanging out with Ade. There was a dueling piano bar, which was a lot of fun, but played a lot of older music.



The next day we got up early and fought against the tide of children and middle schoolers to go to Universal Islands of Adventure. Harry Potter World was awesome! There's a Hogsmeade! And a replica castle!





In the castle are all sorts of items from the movies and characters that speak to the lines of people waiting for rides. The screens they used to show the characters were pretty awesome and made them look just like people who were coming through curtains.







There were characters dressed up in costumes and a replica of the train.





We even got to sample butterbeer (liquid and frozen) at The Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head!



We also did rides all over the park, at Jurassic Park, the Marvel section had a Spiderman and Hulk ride, and a couple of water rides. All in all, it was a good adventure at Universal.



That night we happened to find a Jamaican restaurant for dinner with live music, so we ordered a sampler platter, some plantains, and enjoyed a relaxing evening.

Atlanta!

In Atlanta we stayed with our friend Fred, who also took a day off from work to hang out with us and play tourist. Our first stop was the Georgia Aquarium, which is pretty epic. There was a great shark and ray touch tank. I actually got Fred and Andrew to touch a ray too!



Japanese spider crabs, which are roughly the size of a car tire and albino alligators.





Beluga whales playing with ropes and bags and swimming right up to the glass, and an active octopus who walked across the tank right as we got there.





There was a tunnel as part of the penguin viewing that you could crawl through and see the penguins even closer by sticking your head up through cylinders of plexiglass.



More frog and jellyfish exhibits.







A dolphin show that wasn't educational like the one in Baltimore. This one was a musical, where the stargazer (or something like that) was fighting an evil sea monster and the dolphins were helping... Storyline may not have been award winning, but the acrobatics they had the dolphins do or did with the dolphins (surfing or balancing on them on one foot) was really impressive. Unfortunately no photos during the show.



And the grand finale is the whale shark tank, which also included large manta rays (one of which did backflips in front of us) and several species of large fish and sharks. You first go through a tube where all of the creatures in the tanks can swim over and past you before going to the floor to ceiling viewing wall that's probaby 60 feet wide and made out of 18 inch thick acrylic.







After that we went to The World of Coca-Cola! Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola and they have an interactive attraction right next to the aquarium that's part museum, part activities and all advertising. I'd actually recommend it for anyone interested in marketing.



This is "the vault" that holds the secret formula (doubt it, but it was right after a cool room with a 360 degree screen).



This screen followed the images of the 5 people in front and they had tasks to complete before we could get to the next room. These sensors recognized where they were and the actions they were trying to make.



There was also a ton of memorabilia throughout the whole thing including this device, which is how it was orginally served, some travel advertising for Andrew, and this vending machine which is from the Olympics in Japan.







They've been an official sponsor of the Olympics for many years and had a wall displaying several Olympic torches.



It ends with the tasting room, which has products from around the world. It was fun trying a pinapple-coconut fizzy drink from South America (I think) and a terrible one from Europe. Andrew even had me try something similar to the Pepsi Challenge, using regular Coke and Coke Zero. While it was difficult, I still knew which one was which. Nothing beats the genuine taste of Coca-Cola.