New Orleans!

This morning, we were leaving Tally and it started POURING! :( We HAD to get to New Orleans on time so we packed up the car in a torrential downpour-- this was my "rain gear" b/c we had no umbrellas OR ponchos. (Just our luck, the second we were done packing up and in the car-- it stopped raining!)
We were SO excited to finally reach Alabama... It took SO long to get there.
Even longer to get to Mississippi and a bumper sticker was all there was to show we had crossed the state line-- no sign :(
We arrived in NewOrleans after a long and grueling 6.5 hr journey!! It was long and grueling b/c we decided to ride with no AC and the windows down...Needless to say, we arrived in NO looking rather sun burnt and windblown. (I will be very tan at the end of this trip!)

We are staying with FaithFetzer's cousins here-- they have lived here for so long and it's amazing to hear how Hurricane Katrina has affected EVERY single aspect of their lives... when driving through the town you can see houses that are still devastated by the hurricane and were never rebuilt or fixed. There are areas where trees were destroyed and nothing has grown back in their place. Houses and buildings have a "water line" which shows just how much water flooded the area. Even with FF's cousins' -- their jobs, house, and life have forever been affected by the natural disaster.

I LOVE the houses here in NO... they are so historical and antique. (not to mention cute and quaint..) This here is FF's cousins' house-- pretty awesome on the inside (and outside)...

I got back on a bike today for the first time since my accident 6 wks ago!!! It was pretty scary and I had to learn how to ride pretty much all over again. Towards the end of the ride, I was fairly comfortable with the situation... although, I still think I will be pretty bike-leary for the remainder of my life. (kinda like how I have never touched monkey bars or went bowling again!)


We went to Bourbon St. and partook in some Hand grenades. It was not quite like Mardi Gras when we went down to the French Quarter, more like any town's strip-a-bars... Except, people are a little on the scary side in the French Quarter, pretty much a scary red-light district~~When we got out of our car, I commented: "Ya know, when everyone is telling me to have a safe trip- they must be referring to right now and all the scariness that is going on". Still, I had a hand grenade, which was nice.



Tomorrow is Austin, I'm excited about seeing my buddy Matt-- NOT excited about the LONG 8 hour drive in the HOT sun... egads.