Day Six: We are HERE!

We were definitely sluggish this morning, so I need some Starbucks in me ASAP. We decided to go to Starbucks and map out our plan of attack of the houses that I had a list of. We went to Starbucks and we couldn't believe how nice everyone is here! We were in the parking lot, which was quite busy, and people were waving us to cross the street and waving at us. So weird. In California, it's every man for themselves it feels like sometimes!

We went and drove around the area to see where we might want to live, because we know nothing about the area. We went an peeked at a few houses, and found a few we liked, so we decided to go to a rental agency and see if we could get the keys. If you want to rent a house here, and it's empty, they just give you the key! We just gave them our name and phone numbers and they gave us 8 different keys! Can you believe that? I went to give her my license to hold, and she said they didn't do that. So bizarre and trusting!

The houses here are quite deceitful! From the outside they look HUGE and beautiful, but the floor plans are retarded! They have a lot of weird open floor plans, that I can't figure out how to put my furniture. I refuse to buy new furniture for a house that is temporary! Annnnddd no backyard fences?? What's up with that? Sometimes I like to frolic in my underwear when the blinds are open, but no one can see me because I have a fence. That shit ain't happening here! None of the ones I like have fences. You can just see into your neighbors houses, if there are any behind you. Dust and I aren't very friendly neighbors, but it looks as though we'll have to be here! And how do you let your dogs outside without a fence? If we end up getting a house without a backyard fence and I ever look up and a neighbors dog is shitting on my lawn, I'm going to pick it up with a shovel and throw it back on their lawn!

See? We Californians like our privacy. I don't want to share a space with anyone! We did see some beautiful homes, that's the only kicker. No fence, but your house is on an acre and backs up to the woods? Yes, please! We have one area in mind that seems to be the nicest area to me, that we are going to scour tomorrow and look for a house. We have a few already in mind, but I don't want to jinx it. Just keep your fingers crossed because the area is BEAUTIFUL! We keep looking for neighborhoods that I feel safe running in, and this one I just love! I have been fortunate for the past 3 years to be able to run from my house to the beach and I want to be able to do that here as well!

Here are a few photos I took today! : )

This is what it looks like when you drive into the neighborhoods, so beautiful!

This is at the end of the neighborhood I love. The beach is so close by! 

Day Five - New Orleans - Cherry Point, North Carolina

I am sooooo happy to be blogging from a computer now since we are now at our hotel! Blogging from your phone is less than ideal, especially when I have diarrhea of the mouth, and just can't seem to stop talking/typing about everything!

That trip yesterday was quite a long one. We knew it was going to take a long time, and in hindsight, I wish I would have gotten up earlier and went around New Orleans earlier than I did. We decided to sleep in and get as much sleep as possible, or so we thought!

We got on the road at about 11:30, which wasn't bad, but we lost a hour when we finally crossed over into the east coast time zone.

We went through:
-The rest of Louisiana

Mississippi

Alabama

Georgia (There were ZERO lights anywhere!)

South Carolina

And into North Carolina!

I was a little bummed we planned it this way because it was so dark towards the end of our drive. I took a LOT of pictures with a real camera, that I'll add as well to my blog later. They are much better, but I wanted immediate satisfaction, so I used my iphone as well.

I was SO thankful I brought that random skull tank top with me to wear yesterday, because holy crap, it was SWELTERING in the south. It was so warm yesterday when we were driving I was so hot the whole way. I can't believe it's STILL humid there...in December??? Walking around NOLA was hot, but that was the only outfit I had that had a tank top, so I braved the tights and motorcycle boots!

The drive wasn't too bad. Our goal was to drive straight from NOLA into NC but the husband was worried that we would get about 4 hours away and be exhausted, so HE decided to book a hotel in NC for Weds night-Saturday morning and just wait until we got there in the wee hours of Wednesday morning and see how we go about getting a room that early in the morning...

We didn't see much in our drive. Mississippi/Alabama/Georgia/South Carolina all look the same to me, two lane freeways, excuse me HIGHWAYS, and trees on all sides. I kept point to water areas the whole way and saying to Dustin "There's gators there!" (I DON'T like alligators AT ALL!) and it became a joke the whole way. Just pointing at water and say "GATORS!" When we got into Georgia I told Dustin that I would start driving, and he could sleep so that he could drive later when I was tired. I took over and starting driving and he fell asleep right before Atlanta, and he picked the wrong time to fall asleep! Atlanta is confusing as all hell, their freeways have two names, what the hell is up with that? It would say something like "85EB/404E" I don't get that, in California you have ONE freeway with name, it's not the 101/405. We don't do that shit, it's too complicated. So people who are from Georgia can't talk about the California freeway systems!!

If we didn't have a GPS with us during this trip we would have been screwed. Although, I will say, I wish she was nicer. Our GPS is quite a bitch, "TURN AROUND, LEFT TURN!" she shouts at us all the time. Just once we want to hear her say, "Good job Elizabeth, that intersection was a hard one to navigate!" Luckily, I only got lost once when he was asleep and had to navigate Georgia alone. Georgia also has the most ridiculous speed limits. Thankfully, our GPS tells us what the speed limit is because the speed would go from 70 to 50 to 55 to 65 back up to 75, and they have cops everywhere. I saw at least 5 people get pulled over. That is SUCH bullshit, stupid speed traps!

I drove us from Georgia to South Carolina. Dustin told me before he fell asleep that he hoped we didn't end up being a scene from "Dumb & Dumber" when one of them falls asleep when the other is driving and they end up 500 miles in the wrong direction. I can't go the wrong way with a GPS! After we hit North Carolina, Dustin took over driving again. I think I only drove maybe 5 hours out of this whole trip! HA! He has to practice because when we come back I'm not driving a U-Haul! YEAH RIGHT!

When we crossed over into NC, I crawled into the back seat to sleep and I just couldn't. I envy those people sleeping on planes, in classrooms, anywhere that isn't a bed. I need to sleep IN a bed, on my stomach, with one arm propped up under the pillow and one leg out at an angle. Seriously. How do people sleep other places besides their bed.

We arrived in New Bern at 4:30am and went to the hotel we had booked for Wednesday night, we didn't have a hotel yet...And GUESS what, THEY DIDN'T HAVE A ROOM. Thanks Dustin for not letting me book in advance!!! Not only did they not have a room, neither did the other three hotels in the same parking lot. We had just driven at least 14 hours, it was nearly 5am at this point, and we had no where to sleep. I must have looked like I was going to cut the front desk clerk because she called around and found us somewhere to sleep that night. Bless her! So we went down the street, and threw ourselves into bed and had about 6 hours of sleep.

I am just glad that we made it here safely, there are SO many little white crosses on the roads out here, why don't these states invest in some street lights!?!? Now it's time to get used to this area and explore!

Day Four: Dallas - New Orleans (Part Two)

After witnessing an undercover sting, we were both feeling a little apprehensive about our decision to go to New Orleans. Luckily, we ventured off Bourbon Street and found a place offering ghost tours! Um, hell yeah I want a ghost tour!!! I am obsessed with ghosts and hauntings and spooky stories!

We were waiting outside of the shop for the tour guide to show up, and talked to these really nice homeless people. I know, we are weirdos, but they were playing music and they were so nice. When anyone would walk by with a musical instrument, they'd flag them down and they'd come over and play a song with them. It was definitely entertaining to watch them sing and talk amongst each other. One of them had a banjo with him, and I could tell it had a signature on it, I asked him who signed his banjo and he said the guy from RoboCop did. I thought that was hilarious, I wouldn't know who that guy was if he was standing in front of me.

We stood and watched them sing for a while, and one kid who they harassed until he came over with his guitar, played and he sang beautifully. He was singing a folk song, and folk music is probably my favorite, so it was great entertainment!

When our tour guide showed up, we were excited to get started! Our tour guide was a little guy from Biloxi, Mississippi, and his accent was so bad that we had to devote all of our attention to him just to follow his stories. Don't get me wrong, he was good, it was just hard for us to understand. Another couple on the tour was from Tennessee and they didn't seem to have a problem understanding him. Must have just been us Californians!

We saw SO many buildings and heard so many stories that it would take me forever to list them. But I did write notes on all the haunted locations we went to, so I'll screenshot it, and it will be on the bottom of this post so you can google them yourself and read about them if you're into that kind of thing too!

I'll briefly tell you about two of the locations we went to. We went last night, but I went back today for better pictures so it will be night and day pictures.

LaLaurie Mansion: You NEED to google this place. It's considered to be the most haunted house in all of New Orleans. It no longer is the same LaLaurie mansion since it burned down, but it's the same property. Actually, this is the house that Nicolas Cage owned and refused to sleep in...

The LaLauries were sick people. The husband was a doctor and there were rumors that they did experiments on slaves. For instance, our guide told us they broke all the bones in one slave and reset them at weird angles so that she crawled like a spider. (I'm definitely going to have nightmares for weeks picturing that.) Anyways, that's only a quarter of the stuff these sick bastards did. Now people say they can hear the slaves speaking a language from the "underworld." But google that mansion, it's creepy looking, and supposedly nothing but bad has ever come to anyone who has ever lived there. Look at Nic Cage, he's a hot mess!

Saint Louis Cathedral: On Good Friday a lonnggggg time ago someone started a fire in their home and ran to the cathedral to ring the bell as a warning. I guess on Good Friday they don't ring bells at churches, so everyone came out of their homes to see what was happening since the bells were ringing. The story is that some people hear the bell ringing on Good Friday and it's the ghost of the man that started the fire ringing it. The story was so-so, but that cathedral is gorgeous. Be sure to look at the pictures below, the back of the church is spooky with that statue lit up on the church!

We left earlier this morning and I was bummed that I didn't get to go into one cemetery. I love cemeteries, I could get a Starbucks and a good book and sit in one all day. I find them comforting and peaceful, I know, I am a weirdo. Anyways, there are several Saint Louis cemeteries, and when we were leaving the French Quarter, we saw one and I made Guido pull across 3 lanes of traffic to see it. It was definitely not in the nicest of areas, and seeing how we have all of our stuff in the jeep, he didn't want to leave our car on the street. (Yes, it was THAT sketchy!) So I told him to stay in the car, grabbed my camera and hopped out and ran across the street.

I know my mom and my family is probably shaking their heads right now, but there were plenty of tourists milling around as well so I wasn't scared. I am so glad that I went into that cemetery. This cemetery is just like one I've been to in Puerto Rico, they're all above ground because of the sea level, this was was very dilapidated, and I hate seeing the neat statues missing. I go to cemeteries enough to realize when a statue has been snatched for someone's garden, or who knows why people steal from a cemetery! I wish we had more time in NO, because I would have taken every cemetery tour possible, it was THAT neat! In the pictures below, the graves with the XXX on them are the voodoo graves. If you knock three times, write XXX on the grave, and then knock three times again, and leave a token, they will grant you a wish. So neat!!!

Enjoy the pictures!! I went a little picture crazy! Ohhhhh, the one house that I am standing in front of that's dark is Brad Pitt/Angelina's House.

Day Four: Dallas - New Orleans (Part One)

I am going to warn you, this will be a LONG post...It will have to be 2 parts because of all the crap that happened in New Orleans.

Yesterday we drove from Dallas to New Orleans and it was quite a little trip. Luckily, I think it was only 8 hours so it went by pretty fast, so I wasn't getting cabin fever being in the car like I am sure I'll have today!

We didn't see much on our drive. Louisiana is VERY southern, I don't think we did see a metropolitan city until we arrived in New Orleans. At one point when we were fairly close to NO, I pointed out to my husband all these trailers on this huge empty lot. I am mad now that I didn't stop and take a picture because it was unbelievable how many there were. There were at least 1,000 Fleetwood trailers, one after another, the same one over and over and they were used and parked so close together, and I couldn't figure out what the heck they were. I finally realized halfway through passing them that they were the FEMA trailers from Hurricane Katrina! There were SO many of them and they were tiny. I cannot believe people lived in these trailers. So I started googling the area we were in to confirm it, and we were right. It was basically a FEMA trailer boneyard. I also found a ton of articles from 2011 stating that even 5 years after Katrina, people were still living in them! I couldn't believe it! I also found that the government sold off some of the used trailers when people moved out of them, after seeing the condition they were in, I wouldn't have one of those trailers if they were given to me. I stayed in a trailer while camping for 4 days with 5 people, and it was hard to keep that thing clean, I can't imagine living in one for 5 years!!!!

We were eager to get to New Orleans because neither of us had ever been and I kept thinking it was going to be like Vegas since they don't have an open container law on the streets. To me, it was like the gas lamp of San Diego mixed with the homeless and street performers of Hollywood and the alcohol of Vegas. I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't anywhere close to anything I had in my mind. It was worse.

We arrived at about 5ish, and immediately we checked into our hotel, the Saint Marie, and got changed and left for Bourbon Street. Our hotel was about 1 block from BS, because I had read reviews that said that you don't want to actually stay on BS if you want to sleep! And I NEEDED sleep at this point in our trip. So we headed for BS to see what was going on, and I was shocked!!!! This was nothing like Vegas since it's so condensed, there was alcohol everywhere! I've never seen so much alcohol in my life, and they have tons of promoters trying to get everyone in their bars or more likely, their strip clubs. They have all these young girls standing out in the streets in their thongs and bras shouting at guys to come in. It was crazy for me to see, especially since I was with my husband, I didn't think they'd be yelling at him to come in, but they sure were! They were even talking shit on my body type to get him to come in, and see "real women." I didn't say anything, which is huge for me because I am a crazy loud mouth, but I just knew you don't mouth off to people down there. I just kept on walking...I can't help it I'm a petite person, but at least I don't have the clap! Crazy bitches!

We were getting a little hungry, so we went and got some beignets at Cafe Beignet. They were pretty good, for some reason I thought they would have a filling in them, but they didn't, they tasted like a funnel cake! Seriously, just like a funnel cake, and I love funnel cake!

We started just walking up and down Bourbon Street because there was so much to see. All the hotels, bars, clubs, strip joints, everything! We walked past some street performers that were neat and we stopped to watch these four teenaged kids tap dance. They were so young and Guido even mentioned that it was awfully late for them to be out on a Monday night, because I think they looked maybe 14/15? So, we are watching them tap dance and so were a few people because they were good! All the sudden, these five people grab these kids and throw them up against the wall. I saw this huge guy hold this poor kid down, and I started shouting for my husband because I thought they were getting robbed or something! I didn't know what was going on. Then these people started shouting "Undercover police!" and pulled their badges out of their shirts. We stood their shocked as they arrested these three kids (one took off running) and we were appalled. Don't get me wrong, if they were being investigated by undercover officers, I'm sure they did something wrong, it just really made me sad because they were so young. I'm sure they're out performing for money because they're families are poor. It just broke my heart to see their faces when they were getting arrested. It was like they just knew they'd were screwed.

When we saw those kids get arrested,, it really upset me. I felt horrible, but I was glad to stumble into a shop and find a ghost tour! I'll blog about that in the next post!

Enjoy the pictures! I don't know why when I blog on my phone I can't arrange the pictures in the order I want them too, so I apologize for that!

Day Three - Tucson-Dallas

Well, day three is officially over and wow. There isn't much in between Tucson and Dallas. Excuse me, there ain't shit in between Tucson and Dallas! I've only ever been to Dallas and I thought that's what the whole state of Texas is like, like mini metropolitan Dallas areas everywhere. I know the truth now! We stopped to eat at a Dairy Queen in Pecos, Texas (I think?) because I was going to die of starvation and there wasn't anything anywhere! Anyways we walked in and there was a group of high schools kids eating and they all had on tank tops and jeans tucked into their cowboy boots. Like they just got off a tractor! It was actually really cute because I love cowboy boots!

Guido and I got to talking about how so many people from Texas join the Marine Corps and what it must be like to get stationed at Camp Pendleton. If these kids come from such small towns like this, California must be a sensory overload. It's hard to imagine me growing up in a place like that, so I can't imagine them living in California with all the freaks at the beach and the nonstop go!

Anyways! We didn't do much on our drive, we saw a lot of cows and even a few horses, which I was so excited about! I did read the entire book Divergent. And if you're reading this blog and like Sci-Fi, stop what you're doing, and go read that book immediately. It was THAT good! I am soooo excited to read the second one!

We had so much fun with Sevi and David last night! They know us all too well and had Babes waiting for us. Babes is heaven on earth to me. Last time we went to Texas I ate Babes like I had never eaten before. I was grabbing food left and right (it's home style) and last night was no different!!! She even made sure I had some ham chicken!! HA! (If you've been to Babes, I call their smoked chicken, ham chicken, because it tastes like ham to me!)

I even got to give Sevi her Christmas gift! Megan's little boys got hers out and starting unwrapping it when I left or else if have a picture of hers, but I made us all the same blanket with our names on with the states we live in. Mine has California because 1. I like the way California looks and 2. I came up with these blankets months ago and North Carolina just didn't look right! Plus, we all met in California, it's a part of us! We all have anchor and heart tattoos so you'll see that we give each other heart and anchor gifts allllll the times somehow our gifts always are similar in their own unique way! I am so happy they liked their gifts because they are such good gift givers! They always get me stuff I love! I can't talk about what Sevi got us until Megan gets hers, but it's BEAUTIFUL!!! I know Megan will love it as much as I do!!!!

Anyways, we are so thankful to have friends open their doors to us and let us stay with them! I wanted to stay with Sevi longer, but I am glad that we will be back in a few short weeks and we are planning a night out when we come back to make up for some list time!

We got on the freeway to leave today, and Dustin decides to go to the gas monkey garage from the Discovery Channel. And since he's driven this whole time and I've been dictating his life like a communist, I figure I'd let him have 15 minutes to enjoy. The guys weren't in the shop yet, so the guy working told us to come back and they'd give us shirts, but we didn't want to wait any longer to hit the road again. He did let us walk in the shop and around and look at their cars they have. It was definitely different looking than what they show on the television show!

So, the pictures are of our drive, Sevis gift, Ramona's gift bag of deliciousness, and a few other random ones!

Day Two: Phoenix - Tucson

We were so excited to see our friend Ramona yesterday! I hadn't seen her since she moved earlier this year to Tucson. I met Ramona at work over a mutual hate of the same person, well, since this is a blog, lets be honest, mutual hate over the same people...

When she left, meetings and work functions just weren't the same! She made our monthly meetings fun, and it was never the same after she left and I know I wasn't the only that felt that way! She is truly one the most amazing individual that I've ever met, she's a great friend, and Dustin and I are so blessed to have her in our lives. I can't wait for her to come visit us in North Carolina so she can be our guest! Maybe I'll edit this post when we stop with a picture of the goodie bag she packed us when it's light out! Seriously, it's amazing! Annndddd she packed me Nutella, which I tried for the first time yesterday, amazing!

Sadly, I don't have any pictures from yesterday because Ramona is an amazing photographer, and she was kind enough to take professional pictures of us, again! For a third time! I can't wait to post them, we took them at this cute little rustic area of Tucson that was a score for her to find. It was all vintage shops, and rustic restorations which couldn't have been a better find for me and Guido! I also scored some killer Pyrex at a shop there, 4 different pieces for $22! Hollllaaaa! It's a set of mushroom print (perfect for my gnome kitchen) and the golden color as well. I'll take some pictures when we stop because its all wrapped up! We had a great day yesterday and were so sad to leave her!

Day One: SD - Phoenix

We are done with day one! We are glad that we picked a shorter trip to ease ourselves into this drive. We are lucky that one of our friends lives in Phoenix and we definitely wanted to see them on our way out east, so this was an exciting little trip for us!

This trip was easy for me since I drove so much to Yuma, Arizona all the time for work. It wasn't that exciting for the first few hours, because I knew what was coming! Once you past Yuma there isn't much until Phoenix, but I love the town she lives in! They have the cutest little downtown area in Gilbert, and I'm a little sad we didn't get to venture to the tattoo parlor in that downtown area...again! ;)

But we were excited to spend time with them and see their little boys! Dustin hasn't seen them for about a year! I'm lucky enough to see them at least once or twice a year since they were born! They are seriously the sweetest little boys ever! You ask for a hug and they'll hug you all day long! They love to cuddle! They're adorable!

Ohhhhhh! Almost forgot about my craft! We painted an old window with chalkboard paint, and we plan on taking pictures with every state sign we go through and add on the state name, and then once we find our new home in North Cackalacky, we are going to put it in the foyer!

So, I'm having to blog on my phone on the road! Enjoy my outfit of the day posts (I love winter clothes! So much cuter than summer clothes in my opinion!) as well as some pictures of us in Arizona, and the boys in their Christmas capes!