The past two days. . . .

Gideon - we wish you a speedy recovery and glad that you are ok.

New Orleans. Everyone should go once and maybe again. We haven't posted about our days in New Orleans because we just don't know where to start. Much to our surprise, New Orleans is filled with substantial and important American history. We discovered this through a $17 Haunted History tour we took last night. It was as much New Orleans history as it was about the famous apparitions that haunt the French Quarter. If anyone has some time in New Orleans, we suggest you take this tour in the beginning of your trip. Our guide Middian was very knowledgeable and pointed out some great places to see but it was too late in our trip to visit them.

Here are some other highlights of New Orleans in list form:

1. Kara's brother Jason and girlfriend, Lisa were also randomly visiting New Orleans the same time we were and were able to show us the sights and sounds of the city. It was fun hanging out and we made them feel old. Yeah, they're old but they hung in with us until the wee hours. We were impressed.

2. We made it to the famous Pat O'Brien's for hurricanes. They were $10 up front and if you physically got up and returned the glass to the bar, you received $3 back. I didn't think it was that good but Lindsay and Kara liked it. We all did compare to the likes of UVA's famous jungle juice consisting of the cheapest vodka you can find and store brand kool-aid mix.

3. We also had drinks called Hand Grenades. I was personally accosted by a life size hand grenade last night who requested my phone number. I didn't want to give it to him, but he was a life size hand grenade. . . . . (no, I didn't give him my number. I just ordered the drinks and then ran down Bourbon Street.)




4. We ended up staying at a hotel where an entire El Salvadorian soccer team was also staying.

5. We quickly reached the letter Z in the Kara sneezing alphabet game. However, we might have lost a few letters on Bourbon Street. We're not sure.

6. Our first night there eventually led us to a bar with a band and dancing. So much dancing. The band played great covers, with the help of Kara and Lindsay's requesting, and we became the Virginia group with occasional shout-outs from the singer. The singer loved them so much he came down and danced with us for a while. I even got to sing in the mic.

7. Lindsay rode a mechanical bull. That's all I need to say about that.

8. I got us lost on the way home going the wrong way down Bourbon Street. Luckily, we ran into a nice man that said "Girls, you walk this way and you will run into nice police officers that will tell you where to go. If you go that way, you will run into guys saying 'Yo baby, how you doin'". Kara does a great impression.

9. There are more test tubes in New Orleans than probably any major hospital. However, the uses of the test tubes may vary.

10. Conti at the Queen and Crescent Hotel - It was a meager offering for our hungry and thirsty selves. There wasn't much food left when we made it. Also, there was a noticeable absence of applications and employees despite one man's repeated attempts to get hired by the hotel three times. No, we are not employees and told you this eleventy times. And we want our juice back. One time he left our breakfast room and walked in through another door and proceeded to ask again about the applications. Same room, same people, no applications. We wondered how someone like him could possibly be without employment.



Our trip to Austin:

1. We passed a town call "Grosse Tete". How would you like to live there?

2. Everything in Texas . . . .

. . . . has the word "cowboy" in it. Examples, Cowboy Honda, Cowboy Restaurant, Cowboy Harley Davidson College (not sure if it's accredited or not).

. . . . is massive. Cars, highways, tumbleweed and apparently cows. (Thanks for the advice, Brav. Luckily, Lindsay has extensive experience with cows. Not sure why since she is a vegetarian. Second thought, maybe that is why).

. . . . is surrounded by big hair. The following picture is an attempt by Kara to achieve big Texas hair. Texas is too hot for her to use a hair dryer so we call this technique "hotel room air conditioner". Kara does want you to know that she used this technique only because there was no hotel room hair dryer. I don't believe her and neither should you.