More Pictures

Here are the final pictures from the road trip.
We are very glad to be home and I'm enjoying being back at work but I'm a little sad its over.
This will be my final post since I don't really think I'm the blogging type.

Tomb of the Unknowns


Arlington



Nurse Memorial in Arlington (she's watching over the section where nurses are buried)




The female version of the space toilet. No Thank you, that doesn't look fun.



Tourists!






Marine Corp Memorial







Washington Monument at night. my best attempt at a night picture.

DC and home

My apologies for not posting for several days. We got home late last night. The three days before that we were in DC which meant that I was exhausted from being a tourist for hours on end and didn't feel like re-living it on this blog.
Anyway, we started out by going to Arlington cemetery. That was of course depressing and I teared up several times. We watched the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknowns. It is guarded 24/7 by soldiers. They change duty every hour. About 15 minutes before the hour people start to gather around to watch and its supposed to be silent out of respect. The best part was that the soldier actually stopped marching twice… once to yell at a girl to get back behind the bar and again to tell a group of teenagers that their silence was requested. It as all very impressive. The only part that sucked was that Arlington house, the home of Robert E. Lee was empty of all the contents in order for restoration. So there wasn’t much to see there. When we got into DC we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It’s the one with all the dinosaurs and animals (stuffed of course.) My favorite part was the collection of gems. I saw the hope diamond which was of course quite exciting. It was overall just a very cool museum. We were both quite disappointed that the museum of American History is closed until mid 2008 for renovations. So from the museum of natural History we went to the national archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. We then headed to our hotel and relaxed after walking all day. On DC day 2 we started out at the Lincoln Memorial, then headed to the Vietnam memorial, WWII memorial and Washington Monument. The Lincoln memorial is very impressive. Its just huge and then standing in front of it and looking at the Washington Monument is pretty breathtaking. Vietnam memorial made me cry. Probably because I got some picture of names for my dad, but also because its surreal to look at all those names and think of the humans that died in one war. Things didn’t get any more uplifting because then we went to the Holocaust Museum. That was quite the downer as well. From there we visited the Air and Space Museum. We didn’t’ spend a whole lot of time there; we mostly went because they were housing parts of the American History Museum. Among other things, we saw Abe’s top hat, Dorothy’s slippers, Kermit the Frog, and Carey Bradshaw’s computer from Sex and the City. After resting at the hotel for a bit we walked over to the white house and got the required picture of us in front of it. That brings us to DC day 3. the first thing we did was visit the International Spy Museum which is pretty much my favorite part of DC. I'm fairly paranoid now about how many spies are out there. DC supposedly has more spies than any other US city.... I'm guessing Bothell doesn't have many but I'll be watching. Now every time we go somewhere I ask Geoff to pick out which people are spies. He's getting a little sick of the game; i don't think he's as paranoid as I am.
After the spy museum we went across the street to visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. By this point we were getting pretty sick of museums and we kinda drug ourselves through. Geoff in particular was less than thrilled about looking at art, but my favorite part were the portraits from the last 30 years or so. There was some awesome photography in particular.
After those two museums we had lunch and took a nap to prepare for our "monuments by moonlight" trolley tour. It left from Union Station so we headed there early to wonder through the shops and get a snack. The tour ended up being a lot of fun. It was really cool to see the monuments all lit up in the dark. We saw a lot of the town and got off at the FDR memorial, the Lincoln Memorial (from there visited the Vietnam memorial again and the Korean war memorial) and the Marine Corp Memorial.
So now we are home and it feels damn good. We had an amazing time but it was so nice to sleep in my own bed with my fat cat curled up next to me. She was fat before but she really plumped up while we were gone. I told Geoff several times that when I leave town she gets fatter (depression of course) and he didn't believe me. Then after we had been home for about an hour he looked at her and said "my god, she's got a neck roll, she did get fatter!" I tried playing with her tonight to burn some calories but she doesn't move very fast; I've taken to calling her Tubby or Tub Tub. Anyway, today has been an endless cycle of laundry and tomorrow its back to work. Then I work the next 6/7 days, all 12 hour shifts. That should get me back into the swing of things!
P.S. Blogspot isn't letting me upload more pictures right now, so i'll post more later. Here's the Lincoln Memorial at night and the Vietnam Memorial during the day.

Backtrack pictures

I forgot to post some pictures from Savannah, Charleston, and Myrtle Beach.


Our Knight at Medieval Times



He loves that I keep posting pictures like this.



Myrtle Beach: from our hotel balcony in daylight




At night





At night during a lightning flash

North Carolina and Virginia

From Myrtle Beach we drove to Fort Bragg, NC to visit my cousin Amber and her husband John (and their dogs.) It was a quick stop but it was good to see them. We took them out to Joe's Crab Shack and had buckets of crab and beer. You can't really go wrong with that.
We got up early the next morning and drove to the Virginia coast. We visited Virginia Beach which was totally shut down for the winter. We headed out pretty quickly and visited Cape Henry which is where the English settlers first landed when coming to America. They put a cross there then traveled up the James river and settled in Jamestown (the first permanent English settlement in America.) We also went up to the top of the lighthouse there which was built in 1791 and was the first federally authorized lighthouse.
From there we went into Newport News to spend the night. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that was a little weird. At first it seemed perfectly normal (if not a little modern) but then in the morning the lady brought us breakfast and said "sorry, I've started a workout regime that i don't want to interrupt" and then left. Usually people that own bed and breakfasts like to talk to you and at least see where you're from. So we ate breakfast and left so as not to disturb her workout anymore.
We had big plans today to visit Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown but we were quickly informed that Williamsburg takes 3-4 days and that we couldn't do both in one day. So we did williamsburg in one day. We definitely didn't see it all but i was okay with that. Geoff said he could have done another day. We spent 9:30-5:00 there and were exhausted by the time we left. It was definitely very cool. We highly recommend going. They do "interpretations" everywhere with the people that work there and are dressed as colonial people. We went into the courthouse where they did several mock trials (misdemeanors) that were actual trials from the 1700s. Geoff got to be a judge for that (there were always at least 4) which was pretty much the highlight of the day. My favorite parts were the apothecary, the mental hospital, and the jail. I also didn't know that there are several private homes in colonial williamsburg where people live. The average length of stay is about one year and its mostly the workers.
Anyway, now we are in Fredericksburg, VA which is just an overnight stop before heading to DC tomorrow.


Achilles and Tia



Geoff the Judge




The Governor's Palace



Geoff on the pot in Jail



An Enema pump and a syringe :) That's my kind of museum.

On the Coast

We are currently sitting on our balcony in Myrtle Beach, app. 100 feet from the ocean, watching a lightning storm. It is incredibly awesome. I wish I could get pictures of it.
We just got into Myrtle Beach this afternoon. Tonight we had dinner at Medieval Times which was also really cool. It was also hilarious. There was one couple there who was on their honeymoon and they were dressed in period outfits and kept saying "huzzah!" You eat the entire meal with your hands which Geoff loved. You also sit in colored sections and cheer for that particular colored knight to win the tournament. Ours was the red knight and he didn't do so hot. My favorite part was the horses. Hey, if you can't have cats, you may as well have horses. The horses are incredibly well trained and they take little breaks for the horses to show off their foot work skills.
After dinner we went for a short walk on the beach in the moonlight. It was awfully romantic until we noticed the lightning was coming our direction. since then we've just been watching it from our balcony.
Today we came from Charleston. I would love to come visit both Charleston and Savannah again since we had only about 24 hrs in each place. In Charleston Geoff golfed and I got a massage, a manicure and pedicure, and went shopping. Unfortunately, today it was a downpour and I got soaked shopping. It was also the worst (and most expensive) manicure I've ever had. She didn't even buff my nails or cut my cuticles. Ugh. I also don't have many pictures of Charleston since when I went to take pictures today it was so humid that it fogged up my camera lens. In Charleston we ate at a place called Jestine's Kitchen that had delicious southern food. I love fried green tomatoes and fried okra. I hope I can find somewhere at home to get them.
Savannah was also very cool. we stayed at a bed and breakfast there. the lady that greeted us went on about how her husband only wants one child because more than that only perpetuates the cycle of consumerism. I say, if that's your argument then you better just not reproduce at all. Anyway.... we did a trolley tour of Savannah and enjoyed the old homes and the squares. I saw the house where the "shooting" (can't call it a murder in Savannah) took place that was the basis for Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil. We also saw the square where Forrest Gump's bench scene takes place. Apparently they asked the producers for the bench and they wouldn't give it to them. Jerks.
We were going to do a ghost tour of Savannah but we watched Monday night football and Heroes instead. We're bad tourists like that.
We were in Columbia for a couple of days before that visiting geoff's sister Kim. Those were our days to relax and do laundry so we didn't do any tourist stuff.
Well, I will post pictures soon.

We found Starbucks here. It sucked.

Nashville and Chattanooga

Well lets see. From Memphis we headed to Nashville. There we saw the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was pretty cool but not particularly exciting. We also went on a tour of RCA studio B where a lot of artists in Nashville got started in the 50s and 60s. That night we went out on Broadway in Nashville. We would have wondered around a little more but Broadway was near our hotel and we were tired. I must say that I like the Honky Tonks where everyone goes for live music. Regardless, we were in bed by 11. We’re too old for two crazy nights in a row.
In the morning on our way out of Nashville we visited the Hermitage which was Andrew Jackson’s home. Apparently of all the homes of presidents 1-16, it is the most intact with 90% of the original furnishings, wallpaper, etc. We also learned that Andrew Jackson was over 6ft and only 140 lbs. That’s skinnier than Geoff.
On our way from Nashville to Chattanooga we visited the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg. So far that’s been our favorite tour. The tour guide was pretty much some 70 year old whiskey drinker who had a ton of stories about whiskey. We learned a lot about Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. First, its called Tennessee Whiskey rather than bourbon because it is filtered through charcoal. The charcoal is made at the distillery. Also, Jack Daniels is the only distillery that makes their own oak barrels and they only use the barrels once. Jack Daniels was only 5ft 2in. Why they include people’s measurements on tours is beyond me. The best part of the tour was when we all stood over a vat of 140 proof whiskey that was filtering through charcoal. The tour guide lifted the lid and fanned it while everyone put there noses down and inhaled the fumes. He did that several times and I swear you can get a buzz just by inhaling enough. It burns your eyes. Even though I don’t like to drink Jack Daniels, I like how it smells so I had a good time. From there we headed on to Chattanooga. We were rushing a bit because we had tickets to see Shooter Jennings. We thought we were rushing to begin with but to make things worse, we didn’t realize it changed to Eastern Time right before getting to Chattanooga. So we basically headed straight to the bar from the road. Shooter was a good show as always but I really like the guy that opened for him. His name is Chris Janson. I bought his cd that only has 4 tracks and I really like it but seeing him live was even better (usually is.) He’s just awesome on stage and his band was really good. He doesn’t even have a real webpage, but you can see him at www.myspace.com/chrisjanson. There wasn’t a tour guide for him but I’m thinking he’s about 5’10” and 115 pounds. Since we’re keeping track.
The next morning in Chattanooga we visited Lookout Mountain. The tourist attractions there were the Incline Railroad, Ruby Falls and Rock City. Incline Railroad is the steepest passenger train in the world that goes up the side of the mountain. At the top is a civil war battlefield and you can see 7 states. Ruby Falls is a cave that goes to a waterfall. And Rock City is kind of hard to describe but there is a trail (about ¾ mile) that goes through all these rock formations. Most of it is natural but of course they’ve added to it and made the trail, etc. There is a huge cliff that overlooks Chattanooga as well as a swing bridge and some funky rock formations.
Geoff and I really like Chattanooga; we would definitely go back. So. Tonight we are finally out of Tennessee. We got to Columbia, SC this afternoon and have just been hanging out with Kim. We went shopping, out to dinner and went to see Heartbreak Kid. It was wrong on multiple levels but of course funny nonetheless. We’ll just be hanging out and doing laundry here then heading to Savannah on Monday. I’m not sure when we’ll have internet access again but it will probably be a couple of days. Also, I don’t intend to proofread this.

JD


Ruby Falls


Rock City



Swing Bridge at Rock City

Incline Railway

Memphis Cont.

Well the last time I updated, we were hanging out waiting to go to Beale Street for the night. From there, Beale Street proceeded to kick our asses.
We took a shuttle from our hotel that dropped us of on Beale. From there we had dinner then hit the bars with the live music. We had a ton of fun.
We then took the shuttle back. And on that shuttle we started talking to a couple from Ireland. And we were discussing how much everyone in memphis was seemingly obsessed with Elvis. Then Geoff commented that Johnny Cash would kick Elvis's ass. Everyone at the front of the bus grew silent and whipped their heads around. The lady in front of us was from England and she started going off on Geoff about how Elvis is the KING and NO-ONE compares to Elvis. She went on and on and on. Then of course Geoff made a smart ass comment along the lines of "you're from england shouldn't you like the beatles?" She then proceeded to tell Geoff that he could "take your Paul McCartney and stick it up your ding dong." It was hilarious.
After that night we decided we better high tail it out of memphis.

Memphis

Geoff and I have been touring Memphis today. We started at Graceland which was pretty cool. Then we went to Sun Studios. Now Geoff's napping and I'm just hanging out before we head to Beale Street for the night. I decided that I also needed to include a picture of our sweet ride. Its the same car Geoff's grandma has... and although its not too stlyin' it makes for a comfortable road trip car.

The TV room

Pink Cadillac

The Jungle Room

The Living Room

Shack up Inn pictures.

Here are some more pictures from the Shack Up Inn. It poured the entire night but I guess nothing happens in Clarksdale on Mondays so we were okay to just stay in our shack and read and watch movies. The downpour also made for good light for pictues and I had fun taking pictures of all the old junk around the place. Also, our roof leaked in about 5 spots, but I decided it was just part of the charm. If it had leaked on our bed I may have felt differently.


Geoff channeling his inner elvis


The old Gin to the right

Cotton

Our sleeping quarters. Behind me is a kitchen area.

Rodeo and Shack up Inn

Yesterday we left New Orleans and headed to the Angola Prison Rodeo. It was awesome! The rodeo is mostly done by inmates. The only competition that isn't inmates is barrel racing. Geoff and I had no idea what a huge event this would be. For starters, Angola Prison is on 18,000 acres of working farm land. There were no cameras allowed inside the rodeo, but I got a picture of the farmland as we were leaving because we were impressed with how pretty it was.

So not only is there a rodeo but also tons of food and hobby crafts. The inmates make all sorts of stuff from leather goods (belts, purses, etc.) and wooden stuff (knick knacks and furniture.) to paintings and jewelry. The inmates get the money themselves. There were inmates everywhere selling their goods and working the booths. I'm assuming they were the well behaved, nonviolent ones. In part of the hobby craft area there was a big chain link fenced and the inmates were lined up on one side and they would barter with you for their goods. I'm assuming they were the well behaved violent ones :) Of course the not so well behaved ones weren't allowed out at all (like the guy who was jogging in the yard a ways away behind a barbed fence). There were also prison bands playing beforehand. The one we saw was a southern gospel band and I think Geoff and I were the only white ones there. We were also the only ones sitting still.

Anyway, at the actual rodeo i have never seen so many men throttled by bulls. They have regular bull riding, bronc riding and steer wrestling but they also have some unconventional competitions. For example, convict poker where 4 sit at a table and they let a bull loose and whoever is last sitting at the table wins. Also pinball where they all crouch in hula hoops around the arena and a bull is turned loose; last one still in his hula hoop wins. I also liked the one where one inmate rides bareback down the arena where a another guy is standing on a barrel. The second guy has to jump on the back of the horse and they have to run back to the start. Most of them fell off before then. The final competition was called Guts and Glory. That entails strapping a poker chip to a bull's nose and whoever gets it off first wins $500. In all we probably saw around 10 guys tossed by bulls. And the bulls get taunted so much by the clowns that they would actually do the thing where they back up, scrape the dirt, snort and then charge. Amazingly, only one guy left on a stretcher.

After the rodeo we drove to Jackson Mississippi. We just spent the night there and then headed to Clarksdale, Mississippi which is where we are now. We're staying at the Shack Up Inn which is awesome. Its an inn that has made rooms out of old sharecropper shacks. It also has running water, heat and AC. There are also rooms in the old gin but we're staying in the Fullilove Shack. I'll attach a bunch of photos of the place, its really cool. There's not a lot to do in Clarksdale, but we went to the Delta Blues Museum this afternoon. Clarksdale is the home of the Blues, so we are hoping to find a good dive bar tonight but the inn owner said that Monday nights are kinda slow.

We drove around Clarksdale which is different. I'll just come out and say its a dump. Everything is run down, there are no grocery stores and half the buildings are empty.

So today we're just relaxing and then tonight we'll see if we can find a bar and get some BBQ. Tomorrow we head to Memphis.

Blogspot is experiencing issues and won't let me upload more pictures, so I'll have to do that later. But at least you get to see the front of our shack!

New Orleans

Hey Everyone. Well geoff and I are in New Orleans. We got in late Thursday night and were pretty much just thrilled our bags made it. Friday we got up early and wandered around the French Quarter. We went to the French market which is apparently under construction because it was not very cool at all. We ate at the famous Café du Monde and had some chicory coffee and beignets. After wandering around a bit we visited St. Louis cathedral which was pretty cool. On either side of the cathedral are buildings that are a part of the Louisiana State Museum. The first one was more Louisiana history and the second one was the history of Carnival and Mardi Gras. The second one was pretty cool with costumes and masks, etc.

Last night we ate at the Bon Ton Café that had excellent Cajun food. We called it an early night since we had to get up early this morning.
This morning we met a bus outside our hotel at 7:30am. From there we visited two plantations about an hour away: Laura and Oak Alley. Those were both really cool to see. Laura is traditional Creole with bright colors. Oak Alley is more the style you see in Gone with the Wind and although it was beautiful, Geoff and I both preferred Laura. I’m particularly partial to Laura because there were cats and one of them let me nuzzle it. The tours were really interesting and we learned a ton of history. We also covered our bases and had Mint Juleps at the second plantation.

Laura: Cat

Laura: Main House

Laura: Slave Quarters

Oak Alley

After the plantation tours we switched buses and went on a swamp tour. That was a lot of fun except for the fact that when we got going into the bayou the tour guide told us the “rules.” The first rule was that if a snake fell in the boat, don’t try to touch it. The second rule was that if it fell on you, then you were responsible for getting it out of the boat. I pretty much had a panic attack every time we went under a tree. Thank god my mom wasn’t there and thank god we didn’t see any snakes. We did see alligators, turtles, and lots of birds. The tour guide grew up in the swamp and he had great stories.

Anyway, after that incredibly long day we are too tired to go out tonight. So we are being a major disappointment to everyone and we are NOT going out in New Orleans.
Seeing the devastation from the Hurricane has been pretty interesting; so has hearing the locals’ stories. Even though we’ve seen it and heard about it, it still seems surreal and I have a hard time grasping that it actually happened, and to what extent. A lot of the areas are still abandoned. We drove by entire apartment complexes that are ghost towns. Even Wal-Mart is still abandoned… and that takes some serious power.
Speaking of Wal-Mart, a woman we met on the swamp tour told us “I never live more than 2 exits away from a Wal-Mart” and she was shocked when I told her that Hamilton was fighting putting in a Wal-Mart. She was from Texas.
On a final note, I have been bitten by some Louisianan insect. It has left a quarter sized mark on my leg. Its red and hard and on top if it are about a dozen pinpoint bubbles and if I scrape them, they leak serum. But I rubbed it with Purell so it should be okay.

P.S. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.