9 To Go!

I love traveling.

I want to visit all 50 states, I'd like to see them all before I'm 30. However, since I'm knocking on that door and still have nine to go, that may be a bit unrealistic.

When my mom was in town, we decided to head to Louisiana in order to cross a state off my list. After entertaining varying ideas, we decided to head to New Orleans (where else would you visit in LA?). In looking up New Orleans, I saw that it appeared to be a quick jaunt over to Mississippi (specifically, where my grandpa was raised) and only a hop skip and a jump to Alabama.

My mom arrived on Thursday late afternoon, and Friday morning we were off and running (or rather driving). With my handy new toy (iPhone) and some directions we were heading to New Orleans. After hours of driving (it only takes 8 if you don't get lost or miss a direction or two), we arrived at our hotel. Deciding we would rather sleep and then get up early the next day, we hit the hay.

Saturday morning, we awoke and hit the road early. The plan was to drive to Picayune, Mississippi first and visit where my grandpa was born and raised. However, after missing another turn off, we kept going straight and headed toward a famous garden in Alabama with a pit stop at the Gulf along the way. Mid afternoon we headed toward Picayune (only about an hour drive from Alabama and 50 minutes from New Orleans). Even though much of what my grandpa remembers from his childhood is no longer in Picayune, it was neat to drive around and find the locations of places he used to play and visit.

That night we headed into New Orleans. What a neat city! The architecture is beautiful, the music is contagious (well, some of it), and the city was 'alive'. I couldn't believe how many boas, masks, beads, and other costume jewelry we saw in OCTOBER. Oh...and Bourbon street. Crazy. At one point, we were driving around and I got caught in a long line of traffic. Not fully realizing what was going on, I kept inching my way to the front. Upon reaching the front of the line, I realized, I was going to have to drive across Bourbon street, and a particularly busy portion of it! I felt mostly confident that I could get through, after all, I learned how to agressively drive in southern California, I just hoped it would not be at the cost of any body parts. However, a nice man decided to try and help the traffic stop so that I could cross.

Bourbon street...not my favorite.

Sunday morning, before leaving New Orleans, we wanted to experience Cafe De Monde (sp?) and the famous beignets (ben-yays). Unfortunately, the line for CDM was ridiculous, so having looked up additional places the night before, we headed to a local favorite, Morning Call. Although it was more difficult to find then the website foretold, it was a great experience one I am glad we partook in! Walking into the restaurant, it looked like an old dinner with the servers wearing matching attire. The coffee and beignets were wonderful...especially considering they bring you a powdered sugar shaker so you can powder your beignets to your liking.

Even the trip was short, it was a great time visiting with my mom, seeing new states, and experiencing some pieces of my families history. :)

Three more down, nine to go!

Believe it or not, it says welcome to Louisiana or something of the sort (this is an action shot) although it apparently looks like there would have been plenty of road to pull over...or maybe that was an on-ramp.

This was the first time my mom had been to the Gulf. It was a beautiful day outside! And NO humidity, which is a GREAT day in my book!

These were the beautiful gardens we stopped at. One of my favorite things about this place was the automated tour guide. You could call a number and they would give you more information than you could ever hope for about the gardens. I am a nerd and just love that kind of random information. For example, on the great lawn, they have over 4,000 flowers planted along the edge. Every season (4 times a year) they completely replace all 4,000 flowers with some sort of seasonal selection. Wow.

It was a beautiful day!

My mom is an avid photographer and she enjoyed taking pictures of all sorts of flora and fauna. Oh, and she's got a really great eye for finding a shot. Me, I'm more of a people picture person. Say that three times fast. :)

There was a sign as we entered picayune that said something funny and it related to Jesus. I wish I could remember what it said, and better yet, I wish I had gotten a picture. It cracked us up!

So my first experience with Waffle House was in Picayune, Mississippi. I suppose I will never forget it for multiple reasons. The cheesy eggs, the strawberry waffles, or maybe the people. It was a unique experience and I would be interested to know how much of it was because we were eating at a waffle house and how much of it was because we were in Picayune.

Does this place not scream cute and quaint?! It was wonderful! And oh yummm, the coffee and beignets were wonderful (did I mention I like powdered sugar?!).

So that's our little adventure that we took. Crazy quick, but so enjoyable. Here are the nine states that I have still to cross off the list. Some of them, I hope/plan to cross off soon, others are going to take some time. :)

Connecticut

Rhode Island

North Carolina

South Carolina

Georgia

Kentucky

Missouri

Hawaii

Alaska