Day 4: New Orleans, LA to Victoria, TX

On the road again, I can't wait to be OFF the road again!!

Today, we drove from New Orleans, LA to Texas. We stopped for lunch at Steamboat Bill's. We wanted to get cajun crawfish before leaving Louisiana, sooo... cajun crawfish is what we got!
For all of you interested in knowing how to eat them, here's my mom demonstrating for the camera :)


Then we hit the road again and headed straight for the Texas border. Note the "Drive Friendly- The Texas Way," so far it does not hold true. Louisiana drivers drove the speed limit and were fairly laid back drivers, whereas, some Texas drivers speed right up behind you and practically push you off the road. Just don't get pulled over in Texas, they make everyone get out of the car and then they proceed to empty all of the car's contents onto the side of the road (which would be quite horrible considering the amount of stuff in the back of my car). One great aspect of driving through Houston at rush hour is the carpool lane (HOV lane). It's amazing, the roads are bumper to bumper and not moving too fast at all, but the HOV lane was wide open, so we flew by everyone!We'll be finishing the final leg of the trip tomorrow, so until then, hasta luego!

Day 3: New Orleans, LA

Welcome to N'Awlins!!

Today was spent as a tourist. We started the day off by trying on some masks on Bourbon St.
After walking the streets a bit and getting our bearings, or at least finding a couple of maps to help, we headed off to Mardi Gras World. This is where they create and put together all of the floats for Mardi Gras and other parades in New Orleans and throughout the world. We watched as artists sculpted, painted, and assembled all of the different floats for this coming year.Afterward, we took the streetcar (where we saw a couple with the best shoes ever!) on our way to the French Quarter.Within the French Quarter, we went to get coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde, mmm, very good, and also wandered around the French Market. We then took a guided tour of the city. It was great to be able to see more of the city than just the "tourist" side of town. Even with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina almost erased from the tourist part of town, the water lines and damage is quite apparent in other areas of New Orleans. One part of the tour was through one of New Orleans' 41 cemeteries. In New Orleans, people are buried above ground, due to the high water tables.
My mom and I then stopped off at Harrah's, a casino, to blow $4.98 (yes we left with 2 pennies, haha) and enjoyed a bit of A/C. Moral of the story here, you never win, but A/C is wonderful. From there we headed over to Lafeyette Square where live music was playing for "locals" night. We then wandered to Mulate's for dinner, mmm, they had really good cajun crab claws. After trying to go to the House of Blues--there were no shows that night, so we then wandered back down Bourbon St back to our hotel room, exhausted from a long day of being tourists.

Day 2: Iuka, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana

We stayed and talked more with Janie for the morning, then said goodbye to her (and Teddy) and started driving again after lunch.Noon to 8pm

Mississippi to

My mom and I made it into New Orleans tonight, drove a bit through the city, and found a hotel for the night. We're both really tired from driving all day and didn't go out into the city exploring yet. We're staying here for the next day and night, so there will be plenty of time to explore tomorrow. Any suggestions of must-do's in New Orleans??

Day 1: Jenison, Michigan to Iuka, Mississippi

9am to 9pm: On the road

Michigan to

to

to

to

to

My mom and I had originally planned to stop in Nashville, but decided to drive straight through to Iuka, since it was just a few more hours.

Hightlights:

• We saw (or had run in front of us) 11 deer, 3 wild turkeys, and 2 dogs cross the road. It made for an eventful time of carefully watching the road.
• We started listening to a book on tape called "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan, I'll write more once we've finished listening to it.
• Also realized that photos are extremely difficult to take while riding down the road

So why stop in Iuka, MS you ask??
Well one of my grandma's best friends, Janie, lives in Iuka. Since we were passing through the state we decided to stop in and catch up with her. It was so great to hear of all the stories she had about her and my grandma as they grew up in Detroit.

ME VOY!

With all of the details settled, including housing (YAY!!), the only thing left to do is get down to Brownsville, Texas. So the trip begins... join me (and my mom) the next few days as we drive from Michigan to Texas.

The plan is to take the next few days to drive. We'll be going from Michigan to Nashville, TN to Iuka, MS (to visit a friend there), to New Orleans, LA (spending a full day there), and then head into Texas, probably stopping in Houston before arriving in Brownsville.

It will be a LONG trip (driving straight through would take 31 hours), but I'm sure we will have much fun along the way!

IT'S OFFICIAL--I'M ON MY WAY TO TEXAS!!

I've gotten all thumbs up and I'm ready to go. And what better way to keep you all involved in my life than with a blog, so enjoy!

Who: Laura; aliases: Lolo, Dirk, Langley, Bobby
What: A blog about my summer internship and all of the adventures
Where: I'm going to Brownsville, Texas and will be working with the University of Texas School of Public Health Brownsville. I always wanted to go south, I just didn't think I'd go this far south!
When: Monday May 25, 2009 through Monday August 17, 2009
Why: My degree program requires an internship as a part of the graduation requirements and this will be an awesome opportunity
How: For this you will have to continue following my blog for the next few months