You have reached your DESTINation!

You can re-use that one...!

The last couple days were spent on the stunning white beaches on the Gulf coast. In preparation for the beach the jeep roof came down so that we blended in with the locals and looked Golden. The road also gave Jen the opportunity to increase her State sign percentage as we drove back through Alabama and into Florida for the first time.

(jen: think you will find that's the best one we've had yet)

And I managed to snap Florida just, but my skills were not up to scratch...... Jen is now 75% on State shoots and on the way home when we travel up the coast is may become 100% if we can catch the Georgia state sign again. So the journey was smooth and we cruised into Destin. However unfortunately one of us had began to look like a red lobster! We did arrive safely at 'the Ramada Limited' after initially stopping at the Ramad Plaza, which was a palace compared to the one we checked into. The man at the desk pretty much laughed in our faces.

In Destin we went for a swim, went out for theeee best dinner ever and played a round of mini golf. Longhorn Steakhouse is literally the dream. We had an appetizer, two salads and two mains, one which was a 12oz steak all for $30! Was awesome, we couldn't believe it. With very very full stomachs we hit up the mini golf, but the scores cannot be revealed as someone tore up the score card......... Guess who won!

We woke early the next morning with some very interesting visitors in the room. 

So we packed our bags (quickly), hit the road that morning and headed for Panama City. We were excited to arrive early so that we could get on with some activities. We went to the beach after checking into a motel, although the red lobster was instructed that he was only allowed out if he wore a t-shirt. Im not going to go in to detail about the scenery but here is a glimpse of the motel view and the beach.

So at the beach we decided to go parasailing. As we are both BADASS we choose to do the extreme parasail, which was 1500ft in the air and including not 1 but 3 dips into the sea. The captain on the boat was a funny guy, or perhaps a 'jerk,' depends who you ask. The dip is either lightly touching the sea or being plunged completely under. Although the boss requested that we would only be dipped in lightly each time, on the finally dip we were plunged. This resulted in a lot of giggling and cursing but I think we both enjoyed it, and the views up that high were truly something special.

We wanted to also go out on a dolphin tour but basically the women at the beach was being a 'total bitch' and trying to charge us too much, so we strolled back to the motel. On the way back we saw this sign which gave us a giggle. A lot of bars have signs saying  'no shirt, no shoes, no service.'

This one says 'no shoes, no shirt, no problem.'

That evening we went to Sharky's, which our student book recommended. I called ahead to get the perfect table - the honeymoon table. The call ahead must have worked, although Jen doesn't believe me that I phoned them. I also organised the sun set to be perfect that evening, so something must have been going right haha.

Here is fun photo of America's recent attempt at a shandy; a pint with a shot of pink lemonade on the side.

After dinner we moved to the tikki bar to watch the Karaoke. Jen dared me to sing, and said that she would only do it if I went first. I am awful at singing, and there was quite a crowd in the tiki bar (20-30 people). The standard was also above average so I didn't really want too. However I am not one to back down from a challenge so I went up sang a wee tune. This meant Jen was up next!!! Jen was incredible and had everyone cheering her on. Was lovely to hear her sing, and from then on that evening requests were asked of Jen to return to the stage. Possibly the funniest was when Jen went and sang a duet with a real southern man. His wife just about forced her and although Jen had never heard the song, she did a terrific job. We meant a lovely couple from Ohio called Tony and Karen, and spent the rest of the night drinking and sharing stories with them.

(Thats the red-neck couple in the background that man handled me on to the stage).

So now here we are safe and sound in Orlando! Although we have throughly enjoyed our road trip it is really nice to relax and stay in the same place for a little while!

Will be sure to updated you of any craaazzzzyyyy adventures we embark upon!

love you

xxxxx

p.s look at Cal's 'third degree burns' as he calls them. It makes me throw up a little in my mouth so please view with caution:

This one doesn't even really capture the texture...bleurgh

p.p.s check the wife beater burn line.

N'awlins...The Big Easy!

WHAT an eventful few days! You might have missed our posts but believe us, it's now us that will feel the repercussions of this because this will now be taking out a big chunk of our afternoon!

So where did we leave you, Alabama? On the road to New Orleans, fantastic drive. For any of you out there that do not know Mama Elliott that well, she is TERRIFIED of driving over big bridges. She has been known to navigate the entire family on a four hour detour on certain trips in the states (regardless that certain flights needed to be caught) in order to navigate AROUND large bridges. Well Mama you would have HATED this drive! Down South water and swampland is rapidly consuming vast areas of dry land. A helpful tour-guide explained this by detailing that some 200 thousand square miles of land have been consumed by swamp-land, a size the equivalent of the state of Delaware!


Here are some feats that Calum and I accomplished on the road:

 On the road we have come up with some games to entertain us! Spot the McDonald's has become very competitive and the celebrations both crazy and perhaps slightly vulgar. We have to be careful not to do them in public. We were playing spot the church, but we gave up on that game after Atlanta because there were churches EVERYWHERE! Instead of the mini car game or yellow car we have been playing 'Spot the Prius' in Grant's honour. There are not so many down south but my arms are blue from where Jen has hit me. Jen says it's because I suck but I reckon it's because I've not been hitting hard enough.

For all of you that thought perhaps we might not make it back from this trip still together...you were VERY nearly right the more South we got. Calum decided that seeing as we were in the South he should be acting like a 'Southern Gentleman'. This consisted of him telling me to 'shutup' at least once every five minutes. make all the big decision, attempting to touch my butt in public and punch me harder than necessary when playing prius. What. A. Douche. Thankfully now we are a little more East he has relaxed on this a little. Believe me, the South has changed that boy...the deep, deep South.

Passed through Mississippi en route. Calum took this picture and now maintains that he is a better photographer because his is better than mine. His ONE photo. Which I slowed down to about twenty miles an hour for. He says his 100% record is better than my 50%. Things are tense.

We didn't stop for anything in Mississippi so cruised on through to Louisiana:

I took that one, apparently it's not good enough because it's 'too far away'. I hate him. ANYWAY

Ok so we arrived in New Orleans, a lot less devastation than we thought after Katrina. A massive cleanup effort has obviously occurred over the past six years so only little examples of the occurrence such as some houses whose roofs have collapsed and have obviously just been written off and abandoned. We were both surprised about how Spanish-influenced New Orleans is! The houses are verrry European, colourful and fairly pretty overall. At first I thought it was a bit run-down but the more time you spend in New Orleans you begin to appreciate the antique-feel of it.

We decided to stay in St Peter's House in honour of my wee grampa. Was right in the French Quarter and turned out to be great find:

So the two things that spring to mind when New Orleans is mentioned:
- Food
- Music
We were fortunate enough to throughly sample both!!

Day One; We ventured through the French Quarter admiring the elegant and pretty buildings. We went to the second oldest building in New Orleans which was conveniently a bar! It was called the Absinth House and was on the famous Bourbon street which was already jumping mid day with busy bars, loud music and semi nude women. Following this we went down to Jackson Square and the mouth of the Mississippi River. We stopped at Cafe du Monde for freshly baked doughnut (beignets) and coffee while listening to a jazz band. The leading man kept getting the crowd clapping and shouting in a racist manner 'white people too.' Following this we back to the Hotel briefly before heading out for dinner and a Haunted Tour of the French Quarter.

Before the Tour began we both bought a pint as drinking on the streets is allowed. Jen asked for a dash of lemonade and received this;

A beer with a chunk of lemon!

The Haunted tour was very informative and gave us both a good feel for the city, but was not very scary and Matt the tour guide was a full on 'Artiste'. Jen Kept taking photo's of him to make him very uncomfortable;

and this guy!!!! Who was in all white, jesus sandalls and bum bag, Hilarious entertainment for Jen and I throughout the tour.

On the Tour we met a young English couple, who we hit Bourbon Street with after the tour. 

We had a few drinks and listened to some Jazz, however we learnt a lesson about the 'gateway to hell' as Matt the 'Artiste' described Bourbon Street. It wasn't that great! It was kinda of like a American Zante or Malaga......... However we did have a really great day and we both stumbled back to St Peter's Hotel.

Day 2: Waking with a fair headache we went out for Breakfast at a small cafe, and then drove out of town to visit the Laura Plantation. There were a few plantations surrounding New Orleans, but the Laura Plantation was still a working plantation (minus the slaves) and a Creole household. We had initially only chosen this particular plantation because of the name however it turned out to be the most culture-based plantation tour that still held its original slave-quarters.

THe house was absolutely beautiful and it turned out to be a really educational yet fun day. Look how old and lovely these oak trees are!

After the Laura Plantation we went to the Voodoo museum which was pretty special. We both made Voodoo wishes and learned a bit more about a religion that the Hollywood movie industry has DEFINITELY exaggerated!

On our final day in New Orleans we decided to go on a bus tour around the city. Initially we were pretty reluctant to do this, we just kind of felt like we HAD to. However the tour was absolutely brilliant! Our tour guide was funny and informative. We also saw huge sections of New Orleans that we would never have discovered on our own, such as the Garden District, the New Orleans Park and the old tram line along St Charles Street.

We made a little stop at the cemetery on this trip. New Orleans have a really strange way of dealing with their dead...! Due to the swampy nature of the land there, and how it used to constantly flood, the locals began burying their dead ABOVE ground (as if they didn't. they would see them again very soon with the water pushing the coffins up!).

I took a ridiculous amount of photos of the mansions on St Charles Street, here are a couple:

Crazy money! There are such extremes in New Orleans, some so SO rich and a lot so SO poor.

On our last night we went to Frenchman Street. The local's equivalent of the garish Bourbon street. We accidentally strolled into the gig of John Boute which was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. A sensational mixture of jazz and old African-American folk songs. Simply stunning!

Thats the wee man himself! It turned out to be a really special evening that we will both remember from the trip.

Ok up til this point we have semi-avoided food. Only because every single thing we ate was mentionable!!

Here is a brief (!) list of the New Orlean's local delicacies we sampled:

Seafood Gumbo:

Alligator Po'Boys:

Cajun Chicken, Jambalaya, Shrimp Creole and Red Beans and Rice:

I think that was all the local stuff!!

New Orleans was such a magical place and literally every street you turned you could write a whole blog about! So many interesting little nooks and crannies, and definitely some notable characters!

So hopefully we will one day have both a mansion in the Garden District and a and a town house in the French Quarter. Was sad to say good bye to the 'Big Easy' but hopefully we will return one day.

Peace out!

Calum and Jenni

On the road again...

Might we just started with an amusing little anecdote...

Currently we are situated at the delightful 'Comfort Inn' beside the I85 South, just a cheeky wee stopover on the way from Atlanta to New Orleans. There is conveniently a Waffle House right beside our motel.

We strolled in there this evening for dinner, happy, naive, even a little excited. We were greeted with more staff members than customers but that was ok! We sat down and chose some american classics from the laminated menu. A juke box stood in the corner; never did we think this would prove to be such a controversial endeavour.

Our initial choices went down swimmingly - Michael Buble, Alicia Keys and Outkast all had the waitresses bopping along. BUT THEN.... the opening chords of Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' begins. Immediately the atmosphere changed. Tension filled the air, the waitresses convene to discuss. Whispers of 'not allowed'...'quickly change it'....arise. Calum and I were highly confused. First of all, the waitresses were African Americans, so we figured it couldnt have been a race issue. One of the waitresses slots some quarters in and chooses some others songs.

ALAS

We had one cheeky little number left. Donna Summer's 'Hot Stuff' perhaps did not get the reaction we sought at that time.....WOOPS.

We came back to the motel and googled why this might be controversial. Perhaps something to do with us questioning the American's decision to go to war? Goodness knows, but it made for one waffle with huuuuuuge side of awkward. HA.

Ok so our Atlanta trip was truly action packed. Perhaps one of the most fun American-y things we have done this trip was to go to a Drive-In movie! Was so cool! Only scary part was Rachel neglecting to mention that we had to drive through the hood to get there... We saw a semi-average film but the experience made it GREAT and the snacks were fantastic!! A side of extra melted butter was offered with our popcorn, we respectfully declined.

Rachel pointed us in the direction of 'Thumbs up Diner' the next morning, which was such a wonderful place! It was a real American diner which was absolutely packed.

We got to try 'grits' for the first time. They were actually quite nice, kind of like a corn-based porridge? Calum liked them salty but I was judged as a 'Northerner' for liking them sweet...












We felt so touristy in this really comfortable, busy diner where everyone probably had their usuals. This sign didn't make us feel any more at ease!!

At least there was an exclamation mark after the 'Welcome'?

We then stopped by the birthplace/preaching place of Martin Luther King Junior. This was actually a great (and highly cultural) experience. The monuments and the information centre were extremely interesting and we both left having our thoughts fairly provoked.

After our culturally-aware morning we decide to continue our education experience with...

THE ZOO!!! YEEEEYYY!!

Calum and I have pretty high standards after Prague Zoo. We both enjoyed this zoological experience however obviously we had critiques which I will not bore you with here...

Animals included:

Giraffes
Orangoutangs
Elephants
Lions
Tigers
Bears (the order of that was genuinely not intended...)

The Gorillas were a MASSIVE feature of Atlanta Zoo because it is a pioneer of Gorilla reproduction and habitat. They had a really famous Gorilla there called 'Willie B' who was the first gorilla to have an outside enclosure. Fairly cool.

Was also a fairly educational experience as we didn't realise that Africa had a sponsor?

Chuckle chuckle...

We also went to a little Lizard show where Calum found his new nemesis...'Derick;. Derick was NOT a good audience member throughout this show. Constantly rustling, moving, commenting; total jerk. Granted he was about four but we HATED him.

I don't usually like to agree with stereotypes but sometimes Americans are just SO stupid. We genuinely heard this lady on the phone say 'Oh MY GAWWWSH you should see these....(pause while she reads sign)....Silverback Gorillas! They are too cute! They are like black, with this like silver back?'

The pandas were definitely our favourite thing about the zoo:

Was so nice that China loaned these Pandas to Atlanta. One could comment that these Pandas are better treated than the majority of Chinese citizens but being recently educated in being more Culturally Aware one never would....

Also found Penny and Polly's yankee cousins:

That night we went out for a lovely goodbye meal with Rachel and Jonah at a place called 'Six Feet Under' which is across from a graveyard! Oh the irony! We tried lots of Southern American treats like 'Hush Puppies' and 'Zucchini Fries' both extremely tasty and extremely deep fried.

So now we find ourselves on the road again! We have pitched roadside for the night just over half way along the road from Atlanta to New Orleans. I kind of messed up the 'Welcome to Alabama the Beautiful' sign again. Deepest apologies, Calum and I were rocking out to Back in Black.

North Carolina is definitely winning this competition hey!!!

Love you all!! Hope everyone is good!

Calum and Jenni xxxxxxxx