The next three days, six, seven, and eight, of our journey took place in, around and between Norman and Dallas, Texas. Throughout these days I met most of Jim’s family. They are a huge, fun group of people! The first day we visited with Jim’s Grampy for a long time. He was absolutely adorable and very fun to be around. More to come of this post once I get some pictures edited!

We slept wonderfully after Day 5′s long trek at Jim’s relative’s house in Dallas, Texas. Their home was beautiful and proved to be very comfortable after the previous nights sleep in the car. We woke up and decided to spend the day exploring the city. Jim and I ended up in White Rock Lake Park. It’s a huge, huge park in a huge city and was beautiful! We set up a picnic under some shade and spent our afternoon making some (fried) banana pancakes and lounging on our blanket. We drove around the city some more and returned to back to Jim’s aunt’s house to have a nice dinner with her. After dinner we headed out and drove up to Jim’s other relative’s house in Norman, Oklahoma. The drive up to Norman was neat! Northern Texas is a pretty barren area, but beautiful! The sunset was very beautiful and looked like a scene from an African desert.

We spent day five driving, beach walking, visiting, and driving some more.

The coast on the border of Louisiana and Texas is scary. I couldn’t help but think of Wall-E as we drove around. From Lafayette we drove west to Lake Charles, LA and went south to the ocean from there. As we passed through these coastal towns there were factories in every direction we looked. We hung out on the beach a little while to stretch our legs. I love the beach! Southwest Louisiana is a beautiful, scenic place, but with so many oil refineries, incinerators and rigs out in the ocean, it’s not hard to miss the beauty.

After a few hours of driving we arrived in Beaumont, Texas where my Aunt and Uncle and cousins live. They made us a giant salad which was very delicious and we hung out for a little while. It was very nice to see them! Continuing on our way, we visited Jim’s Great Aunt in on the opposite side of Houston. It was a tricky drive to their house. No offense to anyone who lives in Texas, but driving around the cities is absolutely horrendous. Road work galore, tolls and a crazy amount of traffic made it one of our more hellish drives through the entire journey (in my opinion).

oh, technology. (:

The drive from Houston to Dallas was quite the journey. I got pulled over on Interstate 45N our way from Houston to Dallas. I didn’t get a ticket but the cop said I was going 68 in a 65. I couldn’t even believe that. I had my cruise control on! Bah. Boy do I hate driving in Texas. We arrived quite late a Jim’s aunt and uncle’s house (apologies!) and went right to bed.

Don’t get me wrong with this hate filled post. What an amazing adventure it is too see all these different landscapes of our country. I loved visiting family, driving and spending time with Jim.

Today is a productive day, so a few days of pictures and posts will be completed! I am all ready and packed for school besides a few minor things! I am so ready to go back! Summer since the road trip has been…different.

I just got 3 of the 4 holga rolls developed from the trip! Unfortunately, there was a bit of a light leak that destroyed some photos. Once I get to the computer lab at school I can use the negative scanner and start posting the surviving images!
It’s been in the 60s all day today, feels just like a fall day!  I can’t wait to spend my fall in Athens with some amazing friends!

Anyway, as for day 4… I was startled in the middle of the night by a huge barge going down the narrow part of the bayou we were staying on, that was a wake up call. Of course Jimmy didn’t flinch (;  I headed back to sleep for a few hours, and we lazed around the morning packing up and enjoying the beautiful morning weather. We drove down the road to see if we could get into the Chitamacha Tribe’s museum, but though it was well after opening time, no one was in.  Jim and I were both anxious to get to New Orleans so we hit the high way!

New Orleans

After driving through the city for some time (I guess you could say we were lost…) we found what we were looking for, the French Quarter! We walked around for a while, listened to some street music and saw the sights. It was HOT HOT HOT outside that day. In fact, it turned out that within our entire first week we did not see the temperature drop below 95.

We ate lunch among the idyllic and incredibly magnificent trees of the South and wrote our initials with some paint ball paint.

talking to family in Texas

Jim had visited New Orleans a few years back on a house building trip after Hurricane Katrina and wanted to return to the Ninth Ward to see what had come of the place. Apparently New Orleans is confusing, or maybe our map was wrong, but it seemed as though we couldn’t find our way around. After getting lost for another hour or so we found the area we were looking for. It was chilling to see the giant X’s on all of the building. There is still so much disrepair.

So, a funny story about this next photograph. Jim, being the keen photographer he is, saw a baby shoe laying on the ground in the middle of the deserted street. He decided to jump out of the car and lay on the ground to get a good picture of it (which turned out great, by the way). I heard a man yelling, “HEY are you alright?!” to Jim. The guy thought that Jim had been hit by the car (…he was laying right behind it). I saw Jim laugh and wave at the guy and I cracked up. I can’t imagine what people must think when they see us in all sorts of weird angles trying to get the perfect frame. I love it!

Overall, our trip to New Orleans was a blast. We got to see some amazing sites. Jim and I decided that New Orelans is a city we would have on our ‘places to live in the future’ list. Yeah, we have one of those. (:  We spent the evening checking up on emails and downloading photos in a nice little coffee shop.

people are nice in new orleans

That night, we stayed in a hotel parking lot in Lafayette, LA. The car proved to be quite comfortable! And free! More to come, promise.

our lovely meal on the houseboat!

could we get any luckier?

Mt. Nebo by sunset!

scary drive down.

Keep checking back for updates!

Farm stand…Bald Knob, Arkansas.

Mt. Nebo beauty.

more to come!

These were all taken on Day 1! 

I miss being out on the road.

Before the departure...

Duck, Duck, Goose?

Tourist trap near Mammoth Cave.

Dinner time! Land of the Lakes, TN.

These next photographs were taken in central Idaho, one of the most beautiful places on our trip.  Surprised? We were too.

I know I’m out of order with my states and days and such, but hey, I do what I want.