Road tripping to Houston: driving through the South

From North Carolina we drove through South Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia where we stayed with one of my friends and his wife for a night.  I met Patrick during my first year at Ole Miss--actually before school even started-- as we were both on the cross country team.  When I was preparing to transfer schools at the end of my sophomore year, I told Pat (and the rest of the team) that I would be at present at the wedding of whoever would get married first. Well, Pat was the first of my previous teammates to get married, and so back in January 2008 I flew back to Mississippi to see Pat and Emily get married.  Now they live in a super cute house in Atlanta.  I didn't take any pictures, and I'm super bummed about it.  I don't know when we'll see Patrick and Emily again.  Hopefully it won't be another 6.5 years though!

From Atlanta we drove to Mobile, Alabama, and from there we drove through Southern Mississppi to New Orleans.  After a night in NOLA, we finally made it to Texas.  Here's photo documentation of our journey for all to enjoy:

I took this at a random convenience store somewhere in South Carolina.  Wish I would have taken it with the DSLR.  I just love the contrast of colors and the cotton ball clouds.  Also, the sign displays one of our favorite things to do in life.

Great bbq in Mobile, Alabama, near the University of Southern Alabama. Don't be fooled, the main parking was in the back.  Clark should have applied to school there. That campus was absolutely beautiful. Clark got confused and thought we had driven onto Temple grounds.  The grounds were just that well manicured.

We were both very excited to indulge in some Southern bbq ribs.

  Before we left for New Orleans the next morning, we wandered around the small downtown area of Mobile for a bit.

Cathedral Plaza with an over-sized chess set.

Reading about the history, it makes sense that there's a huge Catholic influence along the gulf shores.  So we took the opportunity to check out the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.

Some sphinx statues in front of what we understood to be the Masonic Temple. We're still not sure if that's what it was, though.

 Crossing into Mississippi, my old stomping grounds! It felt great to return to this lovely state!

Instead of continuing on I-10, we took the scenic highway 90 that runs along the gulf coast of Mississippi.  Although I spent 2 years in Mississippi, I had never visited the Mississippi coast (one year we went to the Florida gulf coast for spring break rather than the Mississippi or Alabama coasts). I fell instantly in love.  Yellow sand, miles of beach, warm water, waterfront properties on stilts right across from the beaches.  Aside from the water being murky, I couldn't find much else to dislike about the area. Yep, I think I want to move to the Mississippi coast in the future. According to zillow, we could easily afford waterfront property there.

I couldn't leave without getting my feet wet.  Like I mentioned, the water was warm.  I so wish we had worn our bathing suits.  

We should have stayed overnight in Mississippi, but since I had already booked a hotel in New Orleans for the night we drove onward to Louisiana.  After checking into our hotel in New Orleans, we set out for the French Quarter.

St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square. Tons of palm readers lined up at tables in front of the cathedral.  

 

Bourbon Street. 

 

So I guess we didn't know exactly what to expect from wandering around the French Quarter.   We knew there would be a party atmosphere, but I guess we didn't expect to see so many people stumbling around completely plastered, and we definitely didn't expect to see so many unattractive strippers emerge from the darkness of the strip clubs to stand in the doorways and chat with the bouncers.  We also didn't expect to see so many homeless people almost get into fights with other homeless people.  It was strangely entertaining, and I guess I can say that because no one actually got hurt (that I know of).  I mean, one homeless guy inadequately spray painted bronze was trying to obtain tips posing as a living statue.  He was obviously inebriated because he couldn't stay still and kept changing positions even when no one tipped him, and all of a sudden another homeless guy's dog almost attacked him! I mean, the homeless guy with the dog was going to let the dog attack the living statue !  I think some tourists had to talk the attacking homeless man/dog duo down to keep peace in the streets.  It was just crazy.

We loved listening to all the musicians, both on the streets and in various venues.  There was a constant bombardment of music from nearly every direction.  This ensemble was pretty talented.

 Tons of people drinking on balconies.  Some even threw beer on passersby below, which was totally not cool.

The next day we took off for Houston!  We really enjoyed the drive out of New Orleans over miles of marsh.  So gorgeous. 

I just love road tripping with Clark.  He's the best company to have and we always find new things to talk and argue about.  I think we'll change up the route on the way back to Philly in a couple months, as I really want to show Clark Oxford, MS (where Ole Miss is located), Memphis, and we have a lot of people to visit in Nashville.  Luckily, we have plenty of time to plan.