The Latest on Our Travels in Florida

Oh man. It's been over a week since my last blog and I feel like we've traveled so much. Sorry to those who read this blog on a regular basis for making you wait so long for another update. I guess I didn't feel much up to writing this last week.

Where do I start? Oh yeah, it was Pensacola, Florida. That was the last place of the beginning of our adventure in Florida. Or should I say that's where the adventure started? Anyways, Pensacola was nice. It's a beach town and known as a "Spring Break" destination for those young college students. There wasn't a lot of spring breaking going on while we were there due to the lack of it being Spring Break, but it was still very nice. The weather was awesome. Alex and I got some sun on the beach. We didn't get in the water because the water looked very dirty and brown. The beach was a rather small beach, but at least it was free. In Pensacola we had a hard time finding a beach area that was open to the public. I guess it's just that popular.

I'm trying to remember if there was anything else memorable about the town....It seems like we were there so long ago. Oh, now I remember. It had a really old downtown area. I saw a sign that said it was Florida's oldest settlement, but I thought St. Augustine was the oldest settlement, and then I found out that there are many towns in Florida that claim to be the oldest settlement. So, who knows where the actual first settlement is, right?

We ate at a really popular pub in Pensacola that had over one million dollar bills pinned to the ceiling and walls. It was at McGuire's Irish Pub and Grill and the story behind all the dollar bills is, when the place first opened in the 1970's the owner pinned her first dollar tip to the wall as a good luck charm, and ever since then patrons of the bar have been pinning dollars all over the place. I guess that first dollar bill really did bring some good luck to the place.

Alex and I worked our way along the Gulf of Mexico and stopped in Panama City. Panama City claims to have the most beautiful beaches in the world. Seriously, they are not lying. The beaches in Panama City were phenomenal. I think they are even better than the beaches back in Cali.
The sand was as fine and white as sugar and the water was the most beautiful aquamarine blue. As Alex and I laid out in the gleaming sun, it felt like we were on our second honeymoon. The town itself was not that amazing, but the beaches were fantastic.

After spending some time along the Gulf, we made our way inland to Tallahassee; the capital of Florida. I wasn't too impressed. So far, we have been to five different state capitals and I still think California has the best one when it comes to the building and the city as a whole. Austin, Texas came in a close second, but Sacramento has outshone all the ones I've seen. Florida has an old capital building and a new one. The new one was built in the 1970s and just looks like another dull skyscraper. When they built the new one, the plan was to tear down the old one, but the city protested and the old capital builing was preserved to it's original 1902 appearance, including all the original furnishings. Honestly I was eager to get out of Tallahassee. The city just seemed "dead."

We left Tallahassee and moved on to Gainseville, home of the Gators. It was the first college town on this trip that did not impress me. I really wanted to like it, but I just didn't. It seemed very commercial and there wasn't much to do that interested me.

Alex and I did go on a beautiful hike right outside of Gainesville, which I enjoyed thoroughly. It was in a forest-like area, well, I guess it was a forest, but not like the forests in California. The trees were really skinny and there were a few swampy areas, as well. I didn't see any aligators, but I hopefully will soon. I did get a good picture of a Cardinal while we were hiking and I think Cardinals are the prettiest bird.

We finally made it to the Atlantic Ocean! If our van breaks down now, then at least we can say we made it all the way across the USA. Lately, we have been getting a lot of looks as we drive by in our van because it's rare to see such an old car driving around in these parts from California. I'm really proud that we made it this far. It feels like such a huge accomplishment. There were times I wasn't sure if we would make it, but Maander pulled through.

We went to a VW car show in Daytona Beach. It was a two day thing and there were lots of different VWs there. We didn't even know about the show, but a guy in Tallahassee saw us and came up to our van and told us about the car show. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to go, especially since we were so close. I think we were the only people who drove out all the way from Cali. In my opinion it was too over priced, but I had fun looking at all the different V-Dubs.

Alex and I are now in Orlando, Fl, and we are making our way down to the Keys of Florida. We plan on being in this State for a few weeks. The weather has been in the 70s and 80s. We have been getting a ton of sun.

Traveling has been great, but I really miss home. Lately, I have been thinking about all the stuff I want to do when I get back to Sacramento. I love seeing new places and this traveling lifestyle, but I love seeing familiar faces more. I miss my family, friends and city.

Mobile, Alabama? Yeah, I've been there.

Mobile, Alabama has been a little more exciting than I expected. Mobile is the one and only town we've seen in Alabama and it's been fun for the most part. It's a town right along the Gulf. We are trying to stay where the warm weather is and so far it's working:)

Last night we stayed at a Motel 6 because Alex and I were in need of a shower.  Motel 6 was one of the cheapest motels in town and it was only for one night. We didn't want to spend too much money and it looked decent from the outside. Key word is "outside."  Staying there was enough for me to say I will never stay at a Motel 6 again! I'm willing to pay the extra $20-30 for some place nicer. To sum up the experience, it felt like we were in the ghetto, even though we were in the middle of a very nice area. Our time at the motel consisted of a dirty room, bank robbers, multiple bullet-proof vested police, a warning to not come out our room, yelling and screaming in the middle of the night, loud white-trash neighbors at 6am until we checked out, and to top it off a non-smoking room that reeked of smoke. Yikes! Yeah, that's enough to keep me away from Motel 6. Hey, but the upside on all that is, I did get a shower. After the police situation I told Alex we should just leave, but the police reassured us that we would be okay, so we stayed to only endure more torture. Ugh.

When we left the motel this morning, Alex and I decided to go to a little coffee shop in Downtown Mobile. Upon arriving we had come just in time for a Historical Bike Tour that was just about to leave from that little coffee shop. What a cool "Happy accident," in Alex's words. Honestly, I really just wanted relax at the coffee shop after having such a horrible stay at the motel, but Alex really insisted on joining the bike group. I was glad I gave in because we got to see so many beautiful historical homes and buildings. If I had of pouted and made a stink about not joining the group then we probably wouldn't of had a chance to really explore and see the history of Mobile. So, yea for me not being a brat:)

There were about 50 bicyclers total, so it seemed a little hectic at times, but it was a really fun experience. We got to ride through Mobile's oldest suburb, "Ashland Place;" see their first highschool; visit one of the oldest buildings in the town, which is a Convent and just take in all the old homes and trees surrounding the area. It was Beautiful! Oh yeah, and supposedly we rode by Darwin's house, as well.

Mobile's first High School

A house in Mobile's First Suburb, dates back to 1907

Old Convent

Our next place of adventure is Pensacola, FL. I'm really enjoying all this beautiful weather. Highs are in the mid 70s!

Thoughts on New Orleans

I'm going to make this blog a short one, mainly because I feel like there is not much to say.

Alex and I went to N'Awelins, LA.  I really didn't warm up to it as much as a thought I would.  This is kind of morbid, but my favorite part of New Orleans was touring one of their cemeteries.  HaHa!  I normally don't enjoy going to cemeteries, but it was actually a really pretty cemetery.  Almost all the graves were fancy mausoleums.  Many of the mausoleums had beautiful stained glass art.  In New Orleans the dead have to buried above ground because of some law.  It actually serves a purpose though; the ground is very saturated and if the caskets are buried underground then, it is likely that they will float up to the surface, so I was told.  I don't know how likely that is because we saw some graves with standard tombstones, but the tombstones appeared as though they were actually sinking into the ground.  That's quite the opposite of floating.

I think I may have had a better time in New Orleans if Alex didn't become so paranoid about the amount of crime in the city.

When we first arrived to New Orleans we stopped at a really cute little coffee shop about a mile from the very touristy French Quarter.  The people in the area were very bohemian and earthy types.  On our way into the coffee shop we were even offered a little Mary Jane, but we declined.  The coffee shop was surrounded by beautiful old Victorian style homes and huge hundred year old trees.  The area reminded me a little of Midtown Sacramento, but just a little more congested.  So, as we were relaxing and sipping on our coffee, Alex decides to look up on his computer good and bad neighborhoods in New Orleans.  Well, that was not such a good idea, because basically he read that all neighborhoods are bad there.  So, from then on out Alex was concerned for our safety.  I'm not saying that being safe is a bad idea, but Alex was a little overly concerned.  For instance, after walking around the French Quarter, we were at Walmart in the parking lot chilling in the van and I needed to use the bathroom, and Alex asks if he should go with me. He has never asked to go with me to the bathroom, and then he says, "Well, You'll probably be okay." ?????  We weren't even in a bad area!  Also, when trying to find parking in the French Quarter he insisted only parking on a main street, even though there was open parking in other places.  Actually, maybe that was a good idea, because the French Quarter did look a little shady.

The French Quarter is the oldest part of New Orleans, and one of the only parts that wasn't devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  I think it would have a little more charm if the buildings were fixed up a little better and if the streets didn't smell so bad. It smelled like pee and B.O. in most of the areas. Right now New Orleans is getting ready for Mardi Gras, and we thought about staying until the weekend which is when the Marti Gras celebrating starts, but we just would have spent more money than we would have liked. The streets were already decorated, the restaurants and bars were playing music and handing out Mardi Gras beads, so it kind of already felt like we experienced what Mardi Gras is like there. I'm not disappointed that we didn't stay.

Here is a video of Alex enjoying a Beignet at Caffe Du Monde in New Orleans; the best place to get a Beignet.

We zipped through Mississippi and are now in Alabama. We have almost made it across the country! We are so close!

Cajun with a Touch of Southern Hospitality

Alex and I are in good ol' Louisiana! I've already experienced so many new foods for the first time; Alligator, beignets, King's cake, creolaise, boudin, and fried catfish! I'm a huge fan of food. I think I enjoy food more than most people do. When I take a bite of something I'm usually able to taste every spice and flavor and I try to enjoy it to it's full potential. All these new foods and flavors were excellent to say the least. The alligator was spiced to perfection, the beignet's had the perfect touch of sweetness, King's cake, well that was just "Bombtastic!" Creolaise was a spicy spin on Hollandaise; boudin, well it was too good to describe, imagine a ball of spicy cajun fried goodness and that basically sums it up. The fried catfish was pretty standard, but still good. Mmmmmm, I wish you could have enjoyed these foods with me:)

Enjoying a Beignet

You've probably heard of "Southern Hospitality," Well, Alex and I got to experience some of that first hand upon arriving in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On Sunday morning we went to a church and the service didn't start until 1130, but they had Sunday School classes at 1030. So, I decided we should go to one of the classes before the service. We went to their college group and met some awesome people. Baton Rouge is home to Louisiana State University, so to say the least, it's a college town. If you've been following my blog then you know that I have come to love college towns. What can I say, they really make you feel young, so you can't blame me, right? Anyways, one of the college professors was leading the College Group Sunday School class and I thought she did a great job with the Bible study. The group was very welcoming and one of the students invited us to lunch after church. His name is Tommy, he's in his last year at LSU and he really wanted us to experience Louisiana cooking at it's best! He is the one who introduced us to all those great foods I mentioned previously. He even invited us to stay the night at his home. Wow! I was impressed at his willingness to be so open to us when he had only known us for a few hours. The only time we have experienced that much love from a person we had just met was when we were in Huntington Beach, CA. From what I know of Tommy in the short time I got to know him is that he has a love for people in general and it is a sincere love. After he graduates he plans on going to 11 countries in 11 months so that he can share God's word and love with people who don't know Jesus. I think that is amazing and he is just the person to do it.

Clock Tower at LSU

LSU Mascot

On Sunday night we went to a church service at The Chapel on Campus that Tommy had invited us to. The place was filled with college students and the sermon was part one of two on How to be a Great Lover. The message was geared more towards young people who weren't married, but it was a good sermon; the thing I want to mention about the service is that one of the pastors had a young man come up on stage who had recently accepted the Lord into his life and I thought his testimony was great. He started off by saying that when he accepted Christ there wasn't anything crazy that went on, there were no "fireworks," it was just that he realized God's truth and the need for God to be in his life. He had a Christian friend that didn't give up on him and was actively showing him God's love. And that was it, so simple.
How many people do you come in contact with that are lost, broken, hurting, wandering, etc? Do you take the time to show them how much joy they could have with Jesus? Well, it really inspired me to more actively express Jesus' love to those I come in contact with. I was raised in a Christian home, but the day I really understood who Jesus was, is a day that I will never forget. My life without Jesus would be a life not worth living. Knowing Jesus is the kind of joy that is hard to explain, but once you experience it you know that Jesus is truth and there is nothing that can sway you otherwise.

So far, Louisiana has been beautiful! The capital building in Baton Rouge was gorgeous. Unfortunately, we got there right when it closed so, we didn't get to explore it much.

Old Baton Rouge Capital Building

Old Governor's Mansion

Current Capitol Building and the tallest in the US

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Alex and I were able to enjoy two more beautiful days in Austin and then the weather turned on us once again.....temperatures below freezing! During the beautiful days we enjoyed walking by the river and hiking through a wilderness park. While walking by the river I had a once in a lifetime experience of seeing a black swan. Actually, I don't really know how rare it is to come across a black swan, but it was a pretty exciting experience for me; and in the 25 years I've been alive, it was the first time I'd ever seen one. Who knows, it may have very well been the last, as well.

Austin has an awesome wilderness park right in town, which adds to the awesomeness of Austin in my book. The park has miles and miles of hiking trails. We went hiking through it and it was a pretty crazy hike. We had to cross through a river three times just to stay on the trail.....don't worry, we didn't get wet because the river was all dried up:) We probably would have gotten lost if it hadn't been for google maps on our cell phones. That's the great thing about technology these days:) As long as you have cell/internet reception, then it's hard to get lost. The hike was beautiful.

Rock climbers along the hike

Alex doing some rock climbing as well

Hiking

Another interesting thing we did in Austin was going to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. I've never been to such a unique and innovative theater. It's a combination of a higher-end restaurant and cinema rolled into one. The theater seats are pretty standard, you know, like what you would normally see at any modern theater and then there is a ledge/counter in front of you that acts like a table. There is just enough room between the counter and the next row of seats in front of you for the waiter to walk through to take your order. It's recommended to arrive at the theater at least 30 to 40 minutes before the movie starts so you can be seated and order your food before the beginning of the movie, which makes less interruption once the movie begins, but if you want to order something in the middle of the movie you can do so by writing it on a piece of paper and putting it in a slot attached to the counter and the waiter will come by and pick it up. The food we ordered was phenomenal and there was a very wide selection of beers, ciders and wines on the menu, as well. Seriously, someone needs to bring this idea to Sacramento! It definitely beats the over-priced popcorn, candy and soda that you would normally find at a theater. Oh yeah, and the movie we saw was "The King's Speech," which was excellent and that made our experience at the Drafthouse Cinema that much better.

Okay now onto the freezing temps.....After two glorious days it turned on us for the worse. Why does the weather always get so bad for us when we are in Austin? We were parked in a Walmart parking lot overnight and by the morning we were completely iced-in our van, meaning there was a layer of ice on our car. By mid-morning the ice moved into our van. The inside of the windows had a frosty layer of ice and other parts of the inside were frosted. Alex and I were able to stay warm as long as we stayed under our blankets, but we had to get up sometime and start the day, right? We did eventually get out of the van at around 11am, it was hard, but we did. The van had a terrible time starting due to the cold weather, but after awhile it pulled through and started.

We had one more night of freezing temps in the small town of Giddings, Tx, which was a stopping point from Austin to Houston. It was such a small town that the Walmart store hours closed at midnight. I usually don't have to go pee in the middle of the night, but the one time I had to and really couldn't hold it until morning was the night in Giddings. Oh man, I had to pee sooooooo bad and sorry if this is TMI, but this is one of those experiences I want to remember. I broke down and peed in a cup......There, I said it, and that's what I did. I seriously never thought I would do that, because I think that is so incredible disgusting. The worst part about peeing in the cup was that I filled it to the brim and spilled some of it. Ohhhhh soooooo grosssss! Maybe I should delete this story......I'm seriously cringing as I'm writing this. I never want to relive that situation. I guess the best way of preventing that is no drinking any liquids past 6pm and then using the bathroom at least two hours after my last drink.

On a lighter note. We made it to Houston today and it was cold, but it was bearable. I had the wonderful opportunity of eating a delicious Cuban Style chicken taco. It had the perfect combination of spicy, salty, sweet and sour. The flavors were unforgettable. The chicken was spiced to perfection and was accompanied by plantains, black beans and a touch of sour cream. I added cheese and guacamole, which made it even better!

We are staying with Alex's uncle for the next two days and then heading to Louisiana. I need to be in a warmer climate. I'm sick of all this cold weather. I guess that's expected when traveling the US in the winter, right?

San Antonio and back to Austin

Alex and I are back in Austin!!! What??? Yeah, it's true! We just couldn't get enough of it, so we decided to go back. One great afternoon was too much of a tease and since the weather has cleared up we came back to enjoy the rest of the cake:) We have only been here a few hours and I'm loving it! We went to the Capital and learned a ton of cool facts about the state of Texas. Did you know that the battle that won Texas their independence only lasted 18 minutes?? It was the battle at San Jacinto and it was a genius surprise attack. The Texan's snook up on the Mexican army while they were taking their daily siesta (naptime). During the siesta the Mexican's put all their weapons away and for some reason the Mexican President didn't have anyone guarding the camp during the naptime. They camped right by the water and the Texan's destroyed the bridge that would allow the Mexicans to bring in re-enforcement if they so chose. So, the Texan's basically surrounded and trapped in the Mexican army forcing them to surrender. The Mexican President disguised himself as a lowly soldier, fled the battle, and then camped out in a nearby forest. The next day, some Texan soldiers accidentally found the president hiding in the forest, but they didn't know it was the president until they brought him back to the camp where he was then identified by someone who knew who the president was. And that's the story. I thought it was pretty cool. Also, did you know that the Texas State Capital building is the only capital in the U.S that didn't cost any money for them to build? It was a gift from a company up north somewhere; I can't remember where it was or the name of the company. Texas gave the company land in return for their gift. The Texas state capital is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It's pink because the building was built using pink granite.

I should probably tell you a little about our time San Antonio, famous for the Alamo. Most people think the battle at the Alamo was the first battle of Texas trying to gain their independence, which is only half true. It was a battle of Texas trying to gain their Mexican Constitutional rights back and since the battle went so badly, the Texan's decided to then fight for total independence from Mexico. It sounded like a pretty brutal fight; 189 Texans against 4,000 Mexican troops. The battle surprisingly lasted 13 days. Every Texan was killed except for two slaves and 9 women and children. Pretty brutal.

People who fought and died at the Alamo

When we arrived in San Antonio it was crazy cold and that night it snowed. It rarely snows in San Antonio, so when it does, it's a pretty big deal. Before it snowed they had what is called "freezing drizzle." Underneath the 1/4 inch of snow the roads were completely frozen, which made driving almost impossible. The next morning all the freeways were closed until about 11am when the snow began to melt.  We were in a hotel, and had to check out by 11am. We didn't want to drive too much because the roads were still pretty dangerous, but we wanted to hangout somewhere warm until the roads became a little more safe. We decided to drive to a Starbucks about a mile from where we were at and we saw about 5 accidents during our drive. Cars were sliding all over the place. All I can say is, it wasn't the most comfortable drive when all you are worried about is someone either crashing into you or you crashing into someone else. I think it was probably the most stressful one mile drive I've ever been on. The second most stressful was the drive from San Gregorio to Pescadero, which if you haven't already read about it you can go back to the blog post about Half Moon Bay and watch a video about it.  We eventually made it to our destination safely, thank God.

Snow day!

San Antonio has a beautiful Riverwalk, which Alex and I enjoyed. It was really cold, but it was also very nice. It is lined with tons of fancy restaurants, shops and hotels. It's actually very romantic. We also visited the Japanese Tea Gardens, which I really enjoyed. They were doing a little renovations on some of the Japanese buildings, but the place was still very beautiful and charming.

San Antonio Riverwalk

Koi pond at the Japanese Tea Gardens

Japanese Tea Gardens

Japanese style building

On Sunday we stayed with some friends of mine who live in San Antonio, Jonah and Brandy Maddox. Jonah is in the Military and is currently going to school for Physical Therapy at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. They have the most awesome little boy! He is 3 years old and is super smart, funny, playful, polite and friendly. I think the reason their son is so awesome is because Jonah and Brandy are such amazing parents. Watching how they interact with their son was an enlightening experience. I know parenting isn't easy and it can be stressful at times, but the way they talked to their son, the way they played with him, the way they responded to him, and the way they disciplined him all seemed to be the right way to do things. I hope when Alex and I have kids we can be as awesome as they are!

San Antonio was a nice place to visit, but I think it seemed a little too crowded. I didn't warm up to it as much as I have to Austin, but it is still a very nice town.