May 9, 2010

We woke up at our campsite and went to the next parking lot over to play the full Ace Run course. There were a lot of people in the park but not many others playing disc golf.

After we finished Ace Run we continued on to the other 18-hole course in the park, Duzee. It was not quite as short and easy. This hole had a tree obstacle about ten feet ahead of the tee. I didn't get through it the way I wanted.

One of the trees along the way took Joanna's disc and held on to it until she climbed up to get it. There were only a few times that we had to search for discs though.

There were some nice areas at the tees to sit and watch people play.. if you're into that. The courses were good overall. The short one was fun because you had a chance at an ace on a lot of holes. Even though I didn't get any I came close and got a good number of birdies. The other was cool as well but the attempt at difficulty sometimes came off as annoying.

We got back on the road and headed west again, hitting 2000 miles in Western Louisiana on I-10.

This is where we were, on the way to Texas.

The drive to Texas didn't seem so long at all compared to a lot of the drives we've done so far. They have been comparatively short lately.

When we got into Houston, I went to the street my mom used to live on- it was Mother's Day, after all. It was a small street and I could see the Houston skyline down the road. I sent her some pictures since she hasn't seen it since she was 9.

We headed into downtown and had a great view of the skyline on the way in. It reminds me of driving into Dallas for some reason. It's been a while since I've done that though.

We walked around a few blocks and checked out some parks and scenery. This is the city hall building and I really like it and the park in front.

Like a lot of the cities we've been to, downtown was pretty empty so we had the place to ourselves to explore. There were a lot of parks in a small area and they were all pretty nice and had some good views.

Olive Gardens look the same in Texas. We went to use one of our gift cards to get portobella raviolis. They were delicious. It was nice to have hot food for dinner.

We checked some camp sites but, after coming up with nothing, ended up in another Wal*Mart Parking lot.

I gave in much faster to sleeping there this time for some reason. Probably because I didn't want to drive around for two hours looking for a camp.

Total distance: 281 miles. More than yesterday after all.

May 8, 2010

We woke up in the parking lot, slightly sore and went in to the Wal*Mart to buy some food items and use their restrooms. I cleaned the bugs off the windshield but these ones weren't going anywhere.

We headed back to New Orleans over the Lake Ponchartrain bridge. I’ve always wanted to go over it since I saw how it was built on a History Channel show. It’s 26 miles across the center of Lake Ponchartrain. Quite an engineering feat.

We went back into the city and got a good view of the skyline and bridge from the waterfront. There were a lot of people out walking around. They all still had beers and daiquiris in their hands though.

The aftermath of the previous night’s party was still evident, with bottles and beads hanging from the balconies on Bourbon Street.

Basically, in the daytime the architecture is coolest part of New Orleans. It’s different from anywhere else I’ve been. I really liked this building. Many of the streets looked similar but they were all really cool.

The Presbytere was a great central landmark of the city and the carriages in front just made it more suited for a photo.

I went to the Gumbo Pot for a cup of gumbo around lunch time. I had to try it while I was in Nawlins. It was good but I think I want something more spicy.

Cafe du Monde was recommended to me so I checked it out. There were plenty of people there that seemed to be enjoying it. The atmosphere was nice but it was extremely crowded. I guess I should expect that on a Saturday.

I got an order of beignets, which are little donut-type things, almost like pieces of funnel cake, with a LOT of powdered sugar on top. Delicious.

We got off the highway for a while and took River Road, a scenic drive along the Mississippi River. Ironically, we only saw the river once for a short time on this road. The rest of the time it was blocked by the high hills along the bank.

One thing that was really cool to see was a few plantation houses. This was Oak Valley Plantation and the entrance was amazing. The oak trees that line the walk are dated to be around one hundred years older than the house. Again, we didn't go in because it was pretty expensive but we got a look around the outside.

The rest of the road was nice. We passed a lot of farms and a massive oil refinery which supplies the pipeline that spans the US from north to south.

Our next stop was Baton Rouge, the state capital. We parked right in front of the the old state government building.

The building was awesome to see in person. We walked around for a while and realized there wasn't much to do there. We did go to a rooftop bar/restaurant to see the view. It was a nice place to sit but not great for photos. It would be great to hang out up there and have dinner and drinks though.

We kept heading west and it was really cool driving through the bayous and swamps. That's certainly a change from New Jersey.

We stopped in Lafayette for some disc golf at Ace Run, one of two courses in Acadiana Park.

The shots were mainly short, hence the name, but still a lot of fun. There were a lot of blind shots and curves and this one played right near a ravine that is probably where most people's shots end up since they put a ladder down to it next to the basket.

We played up to hole 13 and then decided to call it a day because of the dark but I was doing really well.

We lucked out because there was a campground in the same park as the course so we just went back to the camp and set up our tent. We went down the road to use internet and eat dinner and tried, unsuccessfully, to find a Wal*Mart for water.

We came back and I stayed up at the picnic table writing and entertaining myself on the computer as armadillos and camping neighbors freaked me out a little bit.

Total driving distance: 231 miles. Our shortest trip yet. It could be less tomorrow.

May 7, 2010

In case the photo last night didn’t show the camp site well, this is what it looked like. Just an open field. We were up pretty early and took the tent down to head back into Memphis.

I wanted some real food for breakfast so we asked around and someone suggested Miss Polly’s.

The food was really good. All I got was eggs and toast but it was what I wanted. Joanna’s omelet was awesome.

Beale Street is a different place in the daytime. It’s just like any other city, I suppose. No one dancing in the street but still plenty of bars and restaurants open. One thing I really liked was the Blue Walk of Fame on the sidewalk.

We walked around the city for a while. It was a nice day and it’s a cool town. We were going to stop at the Civil Rights Museum but it’s a bit pricy. It’s definitely a city I would come back to one day.

We headed back to the Mississippi to check that out in the sunlight. It’s huge and the current was moving along quickly. We walked across a bridge to Mud Island, which is in the middle of the river.

This is an aerial view of what the island is. There is a scale model of the Mississippi River that runs along the whole island. It shows all the twists, tributaries and elevation changes from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a pretty amazing thing.

From the big field in the middle of the island there is a great view of the skyline.

There are stairs that lead down into the river so I felt like I had to put my feet in. It was chilly but it felt nice and now I’ve stood in the Mississippi River.

We were told by security to not photograph the bridges because of homeland security, which is crap, so I took some pictures of the bridges. It’s great that to supposedly protect our freedom so much freedom is taken away.

We couldn’t spend a lot of time out there because we parked at a meter so we headed back over the bridge. I took a cool shot of the pyramid on the way. We got back to the car late but no ticket.

We got back on the road heading south, entering Mississippi. We had lunch on the way and started looking for disc golf courses in the area.

We found one called Chautauqua Park that ended up being really awesome. One of the holes was on an outcropping above a little ridge. One shot was a long shot with huge drop and a creek crossing.. I put my disc right under the basket on my drive though without even seeing it for a birdie.

The place was also full of quirky things like a rock garden and a serenity path. There were even tent sites right in the path of a few holes.

This was a great course and I wish it wasn’t so far away. I would love to play it again sometime.

We got back on the road and headed into Louisiana. We headed straight for New Orleans and made it there in a little over two hours.

Bourbon Street is exactly what you would expect: it’s loud, bright and full of people drinking. It’s pretty overwhelming to walk down the street and be bombarded by music from all directions, see beads flying over your head and people smoking and drinking in the street.

There were balconies filled with people all along the street throwing beads at people.

They didn’t require that you flash them but some people did anyway. Some people just enjoyed their drink while watching the show above.

After we walked the street for a while, we rejoined the rest of the world back on Canal Street. I wanted to go to a gumbo place but they had closed already. I settled for some hush puppies and a local golden ale. It was delicious.

We then began a long drive to a park on the other side of the lake which turned out to be closed and not accepting late arrivals for camping. We checked another place that was going to charge about as much as a hotel room. Finally, we settled on Wal*Mart’s parking lot.

It’s not ideal but it’s free. They encourage people to sleep there while on the road so I finally took them up on it.

Total driving distance: 503.2 miles.