Anala's Abstractions: Road Trip

My first road trip is completed! I had a fantastic time and it was nice having RSlo as my travel companion. After Nashville we drove to Memphis and stayed over night. I don't know that Memphis is going to be on my list of favorite cities but we did get to go to the Civil Rights Museum which was constructed next to the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King was assasinated. We spent about 2 hours in the museum reading about the history of civil rights in this country as well as the events surrounding Dr. King's death. We were also able to see the room that Dr. King during his trip in Memphis when he was assassinated. You can also walk across the street and see the room where it is believed that James Earl Ray sat when he shot MLK. It was all really powerful and a great way to spend an afternoon. In the evening we headed out to the Beale Street which is the Bourbon Street of Memphis. There are a lot of bars and restaurants and there is a lot of live music to see. We ended up heading to BB Kings jazz club and listening to music which was nice since it was inside and air conditioned. Memphis was blazing HOT. It was close to 100 degrees during the day and cooled down to maybe 80 degrees in the evening. We were melting but we had a great time.

We headed to New Orleans following Memphis and this was my most favorite place of the whole trip. It was also really hot there but that didn't stop us from going out and enjoying the food, culture, and music of New Orleans. From Bourbon Street, to Rebirth Brass Band, to jazz clubs we made the most of time in the Big Easy and lived it up! I kept saying that I would live in New Orleans and RSlo agreed with me so who knows maybe that will be the next place we move to!

Maple Leaf Bar where we saw the Rebirth Brass Band

On the trolley heading back from the bar

RSlo made a new friend with the conductor

We had fun in the stores looking for gifts for our family

So Handsome

The room where this was taken was where this was signed

My favorite place in New Orleans!

Beignets and Cafe Au Lait the perfect afternoon snack

behind us is the Mississippi River

Bourbon Street!

After we left New Orleans we had a long haul for the next two days in an attempt to get to Las Vegas. We left New Orleans at lunchtime and we got to Dallas where we stopped for dinner and then pushed on to Amarillo where we stopped for the night. We slept in the car in the parking lot of a Walmart (classy I know) but surprisingly it wasn't bad and actually comfortable. The next day we kept driving and stopped in Albuquerque for lunch and then in Flagstaff for dinner. We went out and enjoyed Flagstaff for the evening and it's a pretty cool town. It was the first Friday and the town had an outdoor movie going on and many of the downtown establishments had drinks and appetizers, it was fun to walk around and see. We spent another night in the car (we looked up hotels but it was too expensive), this time not so comfortable as the last and by then I was ready to get to Vegas where we had a hotel and I could shower and be comfortable. Vegas was not all that I expected it to be, and to be honest I wasn't impressed. I'm not a big drinker anyway so the allure of drinking until you puke was not enticing and I don't gamble so I wasn't doing that. We had a great dinner on the strip and walked around and then called it a night. I am glad that I was able to go and see but it left me feeling "eh". The next afternoon we had lunch in Vegas and that hauled the 7 hour trip back home. I was happy to finally be home and not living out of suitcase. We got home and celebrated the end of our trip with a movie night. We rented Invictus got snacks and drinks and enjoyed being back. It's been nice having time back with out work but it is slowly ending as we begin work again tomorrow and the craziness of prepping for students to return ensues. I also need to kick law school applications into high gear, which means finishing my personal statement and finalizing my list of schools. But for now I will lounge and be lazy and organize my pictures from the trip.