Day 169: Louisiana: Dead Centre

June 22, 2016

Today was my last day in New Orleans, and I once again went on another tour. This time, I went to the St Louis Cemetary.

Because of the high mortality rate, and the high water table, most historic existing cemeteries today are above ground in family vaults

This one in particular has family plots dating from the 1700s all the way to a couple of weeks ago, including Homer Plessy and apparently the Voodoo Priestess, Marie Laveau.

After the tour, I headed to the swamps and saw some gators! Unfortunately it was too hot for my GoPro to function, so I didn't get any video footage, but I got some good photos.

Tomorrow, Emma xx

Day 168: Louisiana: New Orleans

June 21, 2016

This city is incredible.

I started the day off with a free walking tour through the French District. The history is just so rich, and the people are some of the most colourful characters imaginable!

Even some of the off-hand stories about people who have lived here were more interesting than half the history I've ever learned.

For lunch, we went to a 5-star restaurant, usually serving meals for hundreds, with a $20 3 course lunch special and 25c cocktails. After $1 of them, Bourbon St seemed like a good idea! There was some incredible jazz and live music.

I ended the day with a ghost tour, including the infamous Delphine LaLaurie house of horror (if anyone has seen American Horror Stories - Coven you'll know this).

New Orleans is meant to be one of the most haunted cities in the world because of it's high mortality rates in history, and while I didn't see any spooks, I wouldn't stay in any of the hotels they talked about!!

Tomorrow, swamps xx

Day 167: Louisiana: Plantations

June 20, 2016

Today was a really interesting day. I visited some of the biggest plantations still standing today, where both riches and slavery were rampant.

The first plantation I went to was the Evergreen Plantation. You can't visit any plantations without a tour group, but that's probably a good thing, because I would have missed so much without the guide.

This is the only plantation which is still original and in tact, complete with slave quarters, and has been used for film shoots, most notably for me, from Django Unchained.

The second plantation I went to was Whitney which has more of a focus on the slavery side of things, with lots of memorials and stories posted around the original farm-land, and artifacts from closed down plantations in the area all brought together.

This is one case where tours are also good, because I was able to meet people and spend most of the day following them from location to locations. One group I made friends with were African Americans who lived quite close to here, and their insight into some of the topics was incredible to hear, and really insightful.

I ended the lay with a beer by the pool with some fellow Australiana, and also got to try Poboys (a shrimp sandwich) and Gumbo (a delicious soup-like dish) which were both just delicious.

Tomorrow, walking tours and jazz xx

Day 166: Texas: Rained Out

June 19, 2016

Last night there was a huge thunder storm which shook my whole van, and when I woke up, there was another big black cloud about to roll in.

I decided to use the day to do some planning for Louisiana where I am currently sitting.

The sun was out for part of the morning, so I was able to make the Bayou "burp". There is a small, somewhat hidden button can be used to aerate the river which was very entertaining.

Other than that, I just sat near Comicpalooza watching people dressed as batman and zombies, doing some research.

I ended my day sitting in a rocking chair on a porch overlooking a swamp which I have been told to keep away from because of the gators. Murica.

Tomorrow, old plantations xx

Day 165: Texas: Houston Space Centre

June 18, 2016

Today was awesome. I was such a big kid amongst the other kids, just so amazed by all of the space stuff.

I got a bit lost and ended up at a comic convention for about an hour, but Han Solo was my only hope and gave me directions to the visitor centre.

Right over the road from a fully functional NASA, the centre had all sorts of information and artefacts. I even got to touch a space rock and go on a tour of the Astronaut Training Facility.

They even had a robot who made frozen yoghurt. The future is now.

Tomorrow, possibly cancelled due to rain!

Day 164: Texas: Cowboys and Hipsters

June 18, 2016

Today was great. Austin is such an interesting, diverse city!!

I started the day off in the Soco area, but it was far to early for most of the shops, so I headed to the Nature and Science Centre. It was free and a good place to spend an hour or so.

It is right next to the Barton Springs, a pool which is part of the Colorado River, and I saw a real turtle swimming with us!

A video I took while swimming in the Barton Springs Pool in Austin, Texas, USA. I didn't know there were wild turtles!!

Once the self-proclaimed weirdos woke up, I headed back to Soco and went into a shop called "Uncommon Objects". I loved it there. It was like a museum where you can buy the displays! I liked the old pictures in particular.

I spent some more time in the area, just wandering around, eating from a few of the food trailers.

I ended the day learning to two-step at the honky tonk bar "Broken Spoke" which was just plain good fun.

I got asked to dance by a handful of different Texan gentlemen, including some real, honest cowboys. If any of them are reading this, thank you for such a great night!!

Tomorrow, infinity and beyond xx

Day 163: Texas: BBQ and Bats

June 16, 2016

Today I was in Austin. This city is beautiful, and fun, but just too hot!

I started off my lining up for Franklin BBQ. It was voted the best BBQ in America, and every day, people line up from 7am just to get some of their amazing ribs, brisket, pulled pork, sausage and turkey.

I didn't arrive until opening time at 11am, and unfortunately missed out on the turkey, but ended up with so much amazing, delicious meat and sides that no one could be disappointed! Totally worth the 3 hour wait!!

It's amazing that the line is that huge every day, Don't people here have jobs??

After Franklin BBQ, I headed to the Capitol building. I actually didn't realise Austin was the capital of Texas until now, and Senate was actually sitting, so I got to see half a dozen people making laws.

I had a bit of a wander around the downtown after that, which was pretty cool. Lots of really "hip" shops, including a Google Fibre storefront which was interesting.

I ended the day with a swim. The famous Barton Springs were closed for cleaning, but the 3 meter, crisp water was just what I needed after walking around the city all day.

At night, the bats come out at Congress Bridge. About a million bats, just after dark swarmed out into the night. It was a little bit too dark to get good photos though, unfortunately, but it was an incredible experience anyway.

Tomorrow, the "weird" Austin xx

Day 162: Texas: San Antonio

June 15, 2016

Today I finally made it to San Antonio.

The drive was a bit longer than I anticipated, as the speed limit is again 80mph (about 135km) and I am just not okay with that for long distances!

It was totally worth the drive though, because this town is just so vibrant and lovely! I started off with a trip to the Alamo, an old mission church built in the 1700s for the Spanish to convert the natives to Christianity, later turned into an army barracks, and the site of The Alamo, a battle which helped Texas declare its independence, and later join the USA.

It still feels like a church, even though it hasn't been an active mission for hundreds of years.

I then went for a walk along their famous river, to get out of the heat. They've done a really good job of building a whole downtown area around the winding river, and it was really beautiful, down below road level.

I found the nerdiest graffiti, and the tex-mex food is amazing, too.

Tomorrow, Austin xx

Day 161: Texas and New Mexico: History and Pre-History

June 14, 2016

Today I started off by going on the self-guided walk around El Paso it was too hot to do yesterday. The buildings were really nice, but I can't help but think that the town would be so much nicer with just a it more TLC.

Regardless, the tour ended at two museums, one of art and one of history, and they were both actually pretty great! I particularly liked the history museum as they showed a lot of modern history, about women's rights in the area, and the tension between the borders.

I also went and checked out some of the missions, where the spanish built churches to convert the natives, but most of them were closed for some reason, even though most are still active today!

I then headed towards San Antonio, my desired destination, but passed a sign for Carlsbad Caverns, and remembered in an instant that I had been told they were great, so quickly did a u-turn and went the 2 hours out of my way to the national park.

The caves were really pretty, with great lighting, but I wish I had gotten there earlier, as I could only go into one part as it was quite late. My favourite part was a rock shaped like godzilla that they really need to put a sign up for.

Tomorrow, San Antionio

Day 160: Texas: El Paso and Problems

June 13, 2016

Today was much better than last night ended up being.

Last night, I did some shopping and made a couple of quick calls while I had internet back at the car, and when I tried to turn it on, the car just did not. It took me nearly an hour to flag someone over to give me a jumpstart, as the windows were down, so I couldn't just leave. After that ordeal, I almost ran out of petrol because I cannot pre-pay at petrol pumps without a local post-code, and none of the shops were open! I managed to convince another person at the pumps to use her card, and I had to pay her in cash.

This all meant that I didn't get to El Paso until the afternoon today, and it was just too warm to do too much, and the museums won't be open until the morning.

I ended up checking out the downtown area, which had some incredible street art, and I could literally see Mexico from the road.

The culture in this city is awesome, so I'm going to stay another day and check out some of the things I wanted to do earlier.