Pensacola

We made a bit of a false start leaving New Orleans as no-one was really watching the directions. We ended up driving through an area with quite a few flattened lots, which I guess are remnants from Katrina. A quick turnaround put us back on the I-10 and out onto the massive bridgeway across Lake Pontchatrain.

The miles rolled by quite quickly as we traced our way back to Mobile and then onward along toward Pensacola. All in it was a four state day - Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. We booked into the Days Inn on the edge of downtown Pensacola. It was getting on by the time we got sorted so we jumped back in the car in search of lunch. This we found in the form of nice sandwiches at Hub Stacey's. It was nice to find something not quite so large as we had been eating for lunch.

The temperature was, in a word, baking, as we drove along the scenic highway to Bay Bluffs Park where we had a walk along a wooden boardwalk. I really enjoyed being out amongst the trees listening to the cicada chirp and spying odd insects and spiders. Daz was cursing having left his macro lens back at the hotel. I switched to the 70-300 and managed a couple of okay shots.

Back at the hotel we hit the pool and lounged around for an hour or two as the sun went down. I read the paper while Gemma and Daz chatted to a worker cleaning the oil spill (more of which in a separate missive). The day ended with a trip to McDonalds and channel hopping on the hotel cable.

Onward to New Orleans

Still not having beaten the jet lag I woke up about 1 AM and then had a weird half sleep until the morning. So I got up firmly on the wrong side of the bed. Gemma had a little practice with the car with the idea of driving us to New Orleans but that was abandoned quite quickly when Andy got out of the car ashen faced.

We filled up with fuel before leaving Mobile which in itself was an exercise in confusion just trying to get the pump going. But we were soon pushing on down I-10 and into the rain. It only took us a couple of hours to get to New Orleans and we easily found the hotel that we pre-booked via the iPod before leaving. Gemma, Andy and Jo had spent some time the previous evening looking for suitable hotels and had settled on the idea of staying right in the French Quarter. The Hotel St. Pierre looked a good bet being one of the lower priced options and a couple of blocks from Bourbon Street. The listing also boasted limited free parking which seems to be as rare as rocking horse poo in the centre.

We arrived too early for check-in so dropped off the car and had a wander and a beer and some food. After we checked in Andy got in a huff about their room because the bed was small and the toilet attached to the wall badly. Instead of going and asking about it at reception he flew into what was by now becoming a characteristic rage and stormed off. To be honest if he had just calmly said he had a problem then I would have swapped our room with him - ours being a really nice king room.

My first impressions of New Orleans weren't amazing. To be fair that is first impressions, and I am more than willing to have my mind changed. Bourbon Street and the French Quarter look like the overpriced tourist trap that I normally try and stay as far away from as possible. This is something that was reinforced when, obviously looking like easy marks the hustlers homed in on us. Daz, sensibly or not, just refused to pay after getting hit up by some scam or other but Andy handed over 20 bucks.

The mood, which was already at some kind of record low, had soured even more so I decided to get away from it and headed back to the hotel out of the way. Daz and Jen came back to freshen up so I went back out with them. Trying to find the other three was a fairly difficult because of crappy phones and a certain level of confusion. We did eventually find them in a bar watching jazz somewhat the worse for wear. After a couple of beers we left to have a stroll down Bourbon street, Gemma, Jo and Andy heading back to bars on the edge of the French Quarter. Bourbon street is pretty awful at night, music blaring out of every bar and people hawking for strip shows at every turn.

When we got up in the morning I decided that I was going to do our own thing, wanting to get away from the stresses of the previous day. We went up to St. Louis cemetery number 1 as it was not too far from our hotel. This is a fairly small block filled with above-ground tombs in various states of repair. I especially found the tombs with small offerings interesting, things like small toys, strings of beads and make-up adorning some of them. Daz and Jen were already up there so we carried on with them, getting a street car over to the Garden District. This area is how I'd always pictured New Orleans, informed by descriptions of it in things like Ann Rice's books. Some of the houses in this area are simply stunning.

After a brief shopping stop on Magazine street for the girls and coffee for me we took a street car back into town. We left Daz and Jen on Canal street, had a pretty rubbish lunch in the food court of the mall by the aquarium and a stroll down to the French Market. I can't imagine why anyone would want a dried alligator head but there were plenty for sale.

Back at the hotel we availed ourselves of the pool before lazily readying ourselves to go out for the evening. We'd ummed and ahhhhed about where to go for dinner that evening but settled on the Gumbo Shop on St. Peters street. We got a lovely seat in the patio area and both my crawfish étouffée and Gemma's jambalaya were good. Gemma found hers a bit spicy so picked out most of the meat and shrimp leaving me to demolish the rice.

We were in a a pirate bar(!?) later when Jo and Andy caught up with us and the four of us grabbed a beer and took a leisurely stroll down Bourbon street and back to the hotel.

Mobile

With the aim of getting the maximum time possible in New Orleans we decided to break the journey in Mobile. We quickly realised when we got there that there wasn't much chance of doing anything significant as most places were closed following the 4th July celebrations. We had a chat to the very nice ladies at Fort Conde, essentially a tourist information and small museum. They were fairly down on our chances of doing much interesting but did point us at a few things.

We went for lunch at a place Jo's guidebook described as doing killer sandwiches. They weren't kidding, certainly in my case. All feeling somewhat lethargic we booked into and travelled to a Comfort Inn a short way up the highway. We all agreed to have a chilled day and try and recover some of our energy, which is what we did. The others went in the pool - during which time it tipped it down. I just hung out watching daft stuff on BET and then films. If I thought the ad breaks were annoying in films on British TV...

Montgomery

Jet lag beat me, seeing me have a restless night culminating in me being wide awake at four a.m. I think most of the others had a pretty similar experience. I sent some e-mails and planned the route to Montgomery on the motel wifi. It really is pretty cool being able to travel with such a little device and do this kind of stuff. It's something that I've had a vision of in my head whilst on our longer travels in the past, but which has really come of age now.

I had another bit of a roam around in the sunshine while the others ate breakfast at the ihop. Unfortunately the tourist information in Morrow was closed, not unsurprisingly really, it being Sunday. I had hoped to fill the glovebox with maps and things.

We set off toward Montgomery, pretty much immediately missing our turn off because Gemma and Andy were dicking around with the stereo settings. We didn't go too far out of the way though, and needed to stop to put air in one of the tires though. Buying water and getting change for the air, Daz got asked whether he was Australian!

I sat daydreaming out of the window and watching the trees go by as we cruised down the interstate. I saw quite a few birds of prey, I'm wondering whether they were eagles based on their very large wingspans.

Arriving in Montgomery we stopped briefly at a Best Buy store to buy mobile phones. $20 each with $30 of calling credit wasn't bad. I had a bit of a job getting the thing setup with google voice as the mobile site doesn't allow the setup of new numbers. I wrangled with it for a while and eventually managed to get everything sorted.

It being the 4th July we had pre-booked our hotel before leaving the UK. A Hampton Inn right in the centre of town. It was very nice and Gemma and I struck lucky with our room which was massive. They say, "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun", so that is what we did. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and Montgomery seemed deserted as we walked round, the locals obviously sensible enough to stay in air conditioned comfort. Lunch was another belly stretching affair, chopped pork sandwiches all round and pitchers of ale at Dreamland BBQ. Insanely tasty barbecue sauce.

The Capitol building was a pretty impressive thing. Lots of statuary relating to the confederate side of the American civil war. We had a slow amble round the grounds before the baking heat worked up a thirst in us. Fortunately the Montgomery Brewing Company was a few blocks away and happy to provide a few pints of ale to slake it. Or for those that chose soft drinks endless refills until they had to ask for a pause before they swelled up.

As we left the town was getting busy with people arriving for the Biscuit's baseball game as well as the concert and fireworks for the 4th of July celebrations. Daz and I took a wander through the massing people whilst the others freshened up back at the hotel. The band had started on-stage by the time we got back down to the riverfront.

There was a lot of renditions of the national anthem mixed amongst the party tunes, with the whole crowd rising hand on heart. I was struck by just how earnest the people here are. And whether I agree with it or not, they certainly truly believe that they are the land of the free and the home of the brave. It would be easy to dismiss it and take the piss but I'm not going to because the people we spoke to seem very warm and genuine.

I guess the only downside of the party in the park was the selection of beer being limited to American lagers like Miller and Budweiser and the price of them, but that was more than offset by the atmosphere. The fireworks were cool, but I didn't manage to get any good photos unfortunately. The finale was especially impressive.

The truck/Morrow

We had pre-booked and pre-paid for the largest car we could book with Virgin Holiday's. We all knew that we were going to struggle with luggage space, which is why I'd taken the smallest bag possible. Everyone else had a somewhat larger case though. To that end the guy at the desk tried to sell us an upgrade to a larger vehicle than the minivan we had booked. Thinking of the cost they decided not to upgrade (I was looking after the bags at this point, not being a driver). When we got down to the garage though we realised what a struggle the luggage was going to be in the minivan class. I reckon with a seat dropped and maybe camera/ day bags on laps we could have just about managed. Andy rather lost it and flew into a bit of a strop of the "I told you so variety".

I told Gemma to run back and stick the upgrade on our card just to get us into a larger vehicle. One of the hire place employees came over and spoke to them about upgrading. Gemma asked about cost and was told that there would be no charge, we were doing him a favour as he wanted to keep the minivans back. Bonus - it pays to talk to the guys in the parking garage obviously.

So we ended up with a huge truck, a Suburban. It's got more than enough room for all the luggage in the back, and, I think room for 8 people. It really is super-huge. We all piled in and with Andy muttering, "On the right", to himself we set off.

Finding the general location of the Red Roof Inn on Morrow was fairly easy. Finding the entrance road not so. We ended up doing quite a bit of driving backwards and forwards because the directions I'd written out were rendered a bit useless because of roadworks and quite small signage pointing out the access road. The frustrating thing being that we kept driving past the big sign for the Red Roof. When I say big, I probably mean massive! We got there in the end though, checked in and had showers.

Jo was trying to have a sleep so the rest of us had a bit of a poke around. The motel is in a typical American off the highway sort of place, so not too conducive to walking, so we didn't make it too far.

Jo surfaced so we went for some food at the Cracker Barrel just up the road. I think the others were quite impressed by there first experience of American service, and also the gut-busting portions of food that we had. On top of the multiple aircraft feedings it was a bit of a struggle. Still I managed to polish off a plate of chicken in gravy and rice, and drank about a gallon of iced tea.

After over 24 hours awake and wobbling slightly from all the food and, in my case, the weird rocking dizziness left over from being on the plane, we all headed to our respective rooms.

On our way

I had to set an early out of office on my e-mail at work to let me wind down the number of jobs I had to do. Gradually I cleared the decks though and the end of Friday eventually appeared and let me get off home. Jen and Daz picked us up and we set off for Bury to spend the night with Jen's parents.

After a very nice picky tea, Jen's dad twisted myself and Daz's arms and took us out for a couple of pints at a microbrewery in the locality. If I'm honest it wasn't much of an arm twist that convinced us, although, also being honest we probably shouldn't have been drinking ale as it played havoc with both our guts the next morning.

An early start was made even earlier by a text message from Andy waking us up. I am still pondering how to repay him for that one. I am sure I will think of something. Jen's dad took us to the airport where we had a reasonably uneventful check-in and boarding, other than me being selected for a body scan going through security and then a pat down at boarding. That isn't overly uncommon though, I think I just have a suspicious looking face or something.

I normally find plane journeys uncomfortable, dull and boring. Delta 065 being no exception. The lack of seat back entertainment systems didn't help, although having the ipod touch was a boon. Jo didn't feel too good throughout the flight, which was unfortunate. The guy next to me was fairly comical and kept nodding off and doing that head-fall-forward, head-snap-back thing.

On arrival at Atlanta things took a turn for the confusing. The information given out on the plane, via the in-flight magazine and video was that despite having filled in an online ESTA form the green waiver form would still be required. Signs at the airport seemed to confirm this but neither the plane or the airport had forms available. After baggage claim we had to re-check our baggage and go through the whole security theatre of taking our shoes off, random body scanning - which I avoided, and luggage X-ray. Then had to take a train to another baggage claim area for more waiting about staring at a carousel. I am still utterly confused as to what purpose that whole thing served.

Upcoming US trip

Gem and I are getting our boots on again, just on a mini-trip this time. We're off to the South of the USA for a friends wedding, taking in a bit of a road trip beforehand. This time we're travelling with another two couples, which is really a new one for us. I'm looking forward to it, though with a little bit of trepidation. When we've spent time travelling with others it's often-times been quite difficult for me. I tend to be the 'right, let's just do it' type, rather than the canvassing everyone's opinion type. There have been times previously that I've been in groups that have spent 45 minutes trying to decide whether to go into a coffee shop or not. However, the people we are going with are good friends, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

So very roughly the plan is to fly into Atlanta, head to New Orleans and then from there up across the top of Florida and to Charleston for the wedding.

North Yorkshire

For my recent birthday, Gemma hired a car with the idea of going somewhere, possibly Bletchley Park. In the end I decided not to go there, but rather have a drive up into North Yorkshire. We set off reasonably early in the morning after a head-shaving disaster was narrowly averted. Fairly quickly we were off the main roads and heading toward Whitby, through the stunning North York Moors National Park.

At Whitby we swung down the coast toward Robin Hood's Bay, a little gem of a village that winds down the cliff to the beach below. We had a very chilled day poking about on the beach looking in pools, looking for fossils by the cliff and then walking along the clifftop. When we drove into Whitby we were struck by the contrast and quite appalled at the number of people there. We only stayed long enough to get some cash out and then jumped in the car and drove to our ultimate destination, the Fox and Hounds at Ainthorpe. We'd booked a room there the night before, so rolled up late afternoon, checked in and enjoyed a pint.

After a bit of a rest in the room -chilling out at the seaside is an exhausting business, we went back down into the bar and settled in for the evening. And a nice evening it was. Well kept ales and a very lovely meal made me rather happy.

We'd worked out on the previous evening that Andy and Jo were only about 20 miles away so we set off on the Sunday morning to meet them. Unfortunately for their patience but fortunately for us we went the wrong way down the road. This led us on a very circuitous and winding route up and down hills and down tiny roads past tiny farms and villages. Eventually we managed to orient ourselves, with rather more luck than judgement and reached the place we were meeting them. We drove out to a couple of pubs, one of which we had lunch in, somehow managing to squeeze in amongst the Mother's Day diners.

So overall a very nice and chilled out weekend. Thank you Gemma.

Moved to Sheffield

We've gotten our boots on and moved to Sheffield. Gemma has started a course at Hallam university and I'm currently looking for work. Not as exciting as tromping about all over the place, but I'm still quite excited by the whole thing.

Terribly bad at updating blogs

OK, so I know I said I would try to keep updating this blog with any travel that we did including just round the region. So I failed.

The summer was almost uniformly awful weather-wise, which did hamper our movements slightly. The super quick summary is:

1. Jo & Andy's wedding. In Nottingham, very good, very messy.
2. Visited Wakefield & then my Mam in Great Lumley following the wedding.
3. Went to the Latitude and Eastern Haze festivals, both of which are practically on our doorstep.
4. Ended the summer with another wedding, of Darren (my cousin) and Penny.