Got up only a little after the alarm today, although Steph had gotten up an hour before us boys to go running in the gym at the hotel in New Orleans. Got our stuff together and headed downstairs for the complimentary breakfast, then left. Yesterday, Steph had gotten it into her head to go on a plantation tour, but the nearest one was an hour out of town and Jimmy and I weren't feeling it, so we tried to work in a plantation tour today on our way out.
And boy were we in for a disappointment. "The Beauregard House" is exactly that: a house. It sits on a huge plot of grassy lawn with an obelisk to one side as a memorial to the Battle of New Orleans fought at the end of the War in 1812 (though the battle itself actually took place in 1815). There are a couple of cannons placed in their original positions along the American earthworks, but mostly it's just a big open field. The actual house itself sits near the back of the property; it's an old mansion that has been turned into the "Visitor Center" for the site of the Battle of New Orleans. It consisted of three rooms that took up the entire first floor with the following breakdown:
Room 1: Gift shop
Room 2: The Battle of New Orleans (writer's note: I believe the information and displays were actually provided by a local 8th grade middle school class)
Room 3: The Video and Picture Room where you can make your own hats and things and take pictures against a photo backdrop of the battlefield (writer's note: I believe the materials and designs were provided by a local 5th grade class).
Anywho, apparently the old Visitor's Center was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and was relocated into the house while a new one is being constructed.
That out of the way, we finally left for Atlanta!
Driving...and driving...and driving...and driving!
Seven hours of driving with a handful of stops here and there, including the Waffle House in Alabama. Food was awesome, actually! I can see why this is a chain out here...we need them out in California...show that uppity IHOP who's boss.... Here are some pictures of the food for you to judge yourself....
...
I've just been informed that we don't have ANY pictures of the food from the Waffle House! C'mon, you guys! How long have we been doing this? We've been on the road for eight days taking pictures of practically everything we've eaten and we drop the ball NOW?
Anywho, back on the road, more driving...Steph alternated between reading and sleeping...I read almost non-stop with only the occasional break to rest my eyes....
When we finally got to Atlanta (after missing the Mississippi, Alabama, and the George state lines after I've gotten pictures of all the others), we checked into another high-end hotel and met a friend of Jimmy's. He's a medical student out here just finishing his second year, and so are the half-dozen friends of his we also met. We all went to dinner at this local pizza joint called Mellow Mushroom, and I'll be honest it was a little awkward at first--Steph and I were tired, and we aren't the most sociable people (in our clique, we're the "mean" couple)--but once we all realized we were all medical students, we rapidly established a rapport and conversations flowed easily. Good food, good conversations, and an all around good time.
So, Steph and I have retired to the hotel while Jimmy has gone out drinking with his friends. We are incredibly tired and neither of us feels like drinking much, so it's lights out for us. I'll have Jimmy fill in what he remembers from his drinking escapades when he gets back later.
And on that note, Steph's and my portion of this journey has come to an end. Tomorrow we go with Jimmy to the World of Coca-Cola, and then to the airport to get back to Los Angeles, house-hunting, and our dog who we've left for the past eight days. We want to say thank you to all of you who read our posts, and thanks to Jimmy for letting us tag along. We had fun and it was a great trip.
In the final words of a long-time hit sci-fi TV series: see you...out there!
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