Hurlshort

Day 14 - I'm officially in love with Memphis. We took it easy in the morning, enjoying the cool air and the lack of an AC blasting in the RV. I played some Blackguards and yelled at the kids to go outside and play. After lunch we headed out to Graceland and caught a free shuttle to Sun Studios. I recently read a book about the history of Sun Studios, and was very excited to explore it. This place was packed inside. It's not a big studio, and apparently tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of Elvis's first record, so it was crazy. Logan was too young for the tour, so just me and my daughter ended up going through the whole thing. They made it up to us by not charging us for the tour, and they even gave my wife a free milkshake to keep her and Logan happy. It was amazing to stand in the recording room where Johnny Cash was discovered and even see a piano that Jerry Lee Lewis used to pound on. After that we walked down to the ballpark and enjoyed some food while watching the game. The park was really nice, definitely a top notch place. We enjoyed the game from a grassy knoll, it was perfect. The weather was great, their was a playground right next to us where the kids ran around for most of the game, and the fireworks at the end were amazing and up close. I'm pretty sure we were the only family with a Giants blanket at the game. I also wore my Giants hat.

Next year we will probably keep it a bit smaller, but my plan is to hit the East Coast in two years. I think I'll probably find a nice park in Pennsylvania and take trains to the big cities.

Day 13 - I went for one last jog on the levee this morning before packing up and rolling out of New Orleans. We spent most of the day driving through Mississippi. Thanks to the internet, we found a fantastic place to stop and eat lunch near Jackson. This place was off the beaten path a bit, but it was like stumbling onto a southern potluck, with a buffet filled with all sorts of dishes that you don't find easily in California. Our family stood out a bit, but were were not disappointed by the southern graciousness. After that we went across the street to a grocery store, and then headed the rest of the way to Memphis. My wife even drove a bit, letting me get a nap in. In Memphis, our park is right next to Graceland. We've got a playground behind us, and it's really a beautiful park. Honestly I'm greatly relieved to be in Tennessee, Louisiana was beautiful, but the humidity was starting to get to me. Tennessee is perfect weather right now, after dinner we spent awhile just watching the fireflies flit about.

I'm going to a Memphis Redbirds game to watch the fireworks, should be a blast.

I like the idea, and I love beer, but $300 is almost enough for a kegerator. I'm just not convinced breweries are going to buy into the whole bag idea, whereas most places sell pony kegs already.

Day 12 - I went for a run on the levee this morning and it was amazing when I got past the tree line and saw all the freighters and barges going up the river. It was a great run, and hopefully I'll wake up early enough for one more tomorrow morning. We jumped on the riverboat Natchez for a lunchtime cruise. The lunch wasn't that great, but the engine room was amazing and watching that big waterwheel churn to get us down the Mississippi was a sight to behold. I was pretty tired of the heat at this point, so we decided to walk down to the outlets nearby after out cruise. I got some new shoes and we were able to avoid the midday sun for a few hours. I had one last Jambalaya meal (The IPA was great), one last gelato, and we boarded our bus for home. Tomorrow we leave pretty early for Memphis, I've got a Howlin' Wolf CD prepped and ready to go for the ride.

My kids were freaking out a bit at all the wind and lightning we just had come through, but it passed quickly. We head inland to Memphis tomorrow, and I think it's pretty calm there.

I'm sure that type of health care might work well at the convent, but for the majority of the human race, sex and health go hand in hand. The healthcare industry is involved in our sex lives for a lot of reasons, and there is no reason that should change. It's how we keep child birth safe and prevent the spreading of STD's. Do you even know how birth control pills work? That's not something you should be buying off some street corner, you need a real doctor in charge of that type of hormonal chemistry. Also you seem to be arguing that companies shouldn't provide health insurance at all. That would be fantastic, I would love to have affordable health care available that wasn't tied to my job. Unfortunately that is not the world we live in. So if companies are going to be the ones providing the bulk of health care to people, I don't think they should have carte blanche on what my health care options are. I want trained medical professionals deciding what should be available to me, not some CEO.

GD when you lived in Florida what colour was your speedo that you use to wear to restaurants? I grew up in the "redneck" part of Florida (Everything north of West Palm Beach and south of Georgia excluding Tampa, Gainesville, & Tallahassee. We never wore speedos... there's no place to hide your guns or dip can! That means he wore cut off jeans.

Day 11 - We started our second day in NO by visiting the WWII museum. There was more testimonial and information than artifacts in this museum, but it was still worth seeing. Although I feel I missed out by not visiting the Civil War Museum across the way. Ah well, another trip hopefully. Logan did a little posing for propaganda posters: I have no idea what he is doing here, but these gliders were neat. A good ole' Mustang. After that we caught a streetcar back to the French Quarter, had a bit of Jambalaya, and headed back to the RV. Oh, I almost forgot, I had some crocodile sausage on a poboy. It was interesting, the kids surprisingly ate it up. I think they just liked the idea of eating something so fierce. Tomorrow we are riding on this big steam boat for a lunch cruise. I'm going to try and wake up early for a jog on the levee, I hope that works out.

But I mean think about the whole preface of this thread, folks. This guy, Oby, comes home from vacation, and immediately dives into bashing vacationers. It's downright depressing.

Oby is really a negative nelly.

So the Supreme Court just sided with Hobby Lobby on this contraceptive issue. Maybe I'm having trouble understanding the case fully, but it basically looks like a corporation is getting to choose what kind of health care options are available for their employees, and they are claiming it is 'religious freedom'. What about the personal freedom to not have a corporation tell me what my health care options are? I have no problem with Hobby Lobby having informational campaigns that discourage certain forms of contraception, but when they get to make the decision about what is available to female workers, I get pretty worried.

Considering one guy developed it, I thought it was a rather genius little tech demo game. But yeah, it's not a full scale strategy game or anything.

Day 10 - This morning I jumped up at 7 AM, put on my running shoes, stepped outside, and almost choked on the humidity. It was already hot and humid out. I ran for a bit and then headed back for a nice cool shower. We jumped on a shuttle bus to the French Quarter and went directly to Cafe Du Monde for beignets. I gave my daughter a choice of a carriage ride, a riverboat tour, or a doubledecker bus to give us our first views of the city, and she chose the horse and carriage ride. We had a great driver who showed us all of the French Quarter and gave us a lot of great ideas for where we wanted to visit. Honestly I wasn't super jazzed about visiting New Orleans, it was more for the wife, but pictures and movies really don't do it justice. The architecture and ambiance of all the storefronts and balconies is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I fell in love pretty easily and I'm already thinking about how I can bring my wife here for a romantic getaway someday soon. Here are a few pics I took: Corn on the rod iron This is just how all the streets look, it's amazing: We went into a voodoo store at one point, and Logan accidentally disturbed an altar. We put an offering up for him, so I hope he isn't cursed. Oh and here is Andrew Jackson! We ended up at an Emeril Lagasse restaurant for lunch called NOLA. I had the shrimp n' grits with a great Abita beer. It was very rich and enjoyable. Skylar enjoyed a great bisque, but my son preferred to snack on his cheez-its. We walked around quite a bit today and explored a lot of the streets of the French Quarter. Early on we walked a bit down Bourbon Street, but around noon we started skirting around it as it got a bit wilder. We started to bake around 3, and by the time our bus came to get us at 5:30 we were well exhausted. It was an amazing day of sightseeing. Tomorrow we are heading to the WWII and Civil War museums for the day, and then Wednesday I think we might get a swamp tour in.

Day 9 - We had a great day of driving. I was only a couple hours away from New Orleans, so we took the time to sight see with the RV. We first went to Avery Island, the only Tabasco bottling plant in the world. They grow peppers all over, but they ship all the pepper mulch into Avery Island and make the sauce in one spot. There were a lot of different flavors, including a pretty decent Ice Cream. WE were hungry at this point, so we drove into Lafayette and stopped at a place called Prejean's for lunch. This place had phenomenal gumbo. In fact I meant to take a picture, but I devoured it as soon as it was placed in front of me. The balls in the middle of the table are called Boudin, which seem to be pretty popular in Louisiana. I had some trouble understanding what it was, I think it is meat seasoned in a sausage casing and then fried with rice in a ball? I don't know, but it was delicious. After that we drove across miles of swampy rivers. You are basically on a bridge the whole time elevated above the water, it made for some great scenery. Still waiting on a gator sighting, I keep joking about finding one on a morning jog. We are staying a bit west of New Orleans, right on the Mississippi. We take a shuttle into town tomorrow.

This morning I poured orange juice into my cereal bowl.

In California, I had the advantage of a bunch of gas reward points, so even though gas was around $4.20 a gallon, I got it closer to $3.50. Arizona and New Mexico were about the same, around $3.75 a gallon in most places. In Texas I started to see a far amount of $3.45 a gallon, but there was a surprising amount of inflation depending on where I was. So far the cheapest I've seen is $3.39. Louisiana has been about $3.45 a gallon, but I'm still close to the Texas border. Every time I fill up it is between $80 to $100, so it adds up. I fill up every 250-300 miles.

Day 8 - We drove from San Antonio to a place just outside of Lafayette. It was a bit exhausting and I don't have any pictures for today. My Samsung Galaxy S3 was fantastic through Houston, saving me 30 minutes by taking some different roads of I-10. We grabbed groceries, cooked up some pasta, and now I'm going to bed. Pictures of the Tabasco Sauce factory will be on the way tomorrow.

Crazy, we are leaving San Antonio tomorrow and will stay in Rayne tomorrow. We are hitting the Tabasco sauce factory on Sunday.

Thanks for the heads up KP. That advice is literally a day late and a gallon short. Day 7 - Today we had a nice lazy morning relaxing in the RV, where I played a lot of Blackguards. Then we did some laundry, had lunch, and took a bus into the city for the afternoon. We walked around the mall a bit, but it is very much like every mall in America, and so we headed down to a steak restaurant. The place was called Saltgrass Steak House and it did not disappoint. At one point I did lecture our waiter about the differences between pale ales and IPA's, but I tipped him well so I don't feel bad. It was an expensive meal, but we've been pretty frugal until now, so I think it was deserved. After dinner we walked back to the bus stop, with a quick detour into The Westin for a bathroom break. Now I'm enjoying some ice creamand getting ready to play more Blackguard.

I have been playing Blackguard and loving it. I dont know how I missed this gem before. I fought one battle about 10 times before I finally mastered the challenge of saving the baroness.

Day 6 - Today was the first day I really felt like we were on vacation. We went out and explored San Antonio, and it was a great adventure. The day started with us trying to get to the Alamo. We took a break under a veranda for about 30 minutes while a passing storm dumped buckets of water, and then continued on. The heat was still in the 90's and the humidity was high, so it was always nice when we found a decent air conditioned building. Here are some pics of the Alamo: We also toured an impressive cathedral where the leaders of the Alamo are interred. After that we did a boat tour of the Riverwalk. It was very interesting, but it put us in the sun for awhile so we sought out some ice cream and a cool building after that. I decided to try and find a decent place for some local beers, but most of the Riverwalk was tourist trap stuff. There was one good location about a mile away called The Friendly Spot, so I convinced my wife that it would be a good place to check out. The walk was tough, and on the way there my son fell asleep, my daughter started to whine, and my wife started to look skeptical. We got to the place, and there was no air conditioning! It was actually a very neat outdoor bar and grill, and there was even a playground for the kids. This would have been ideal in better weather, but alas my whole family did not dig it. I won my wife over with a grapefruit beer. My daughter cheered up a bit with some iced tea and I got myself there beer of the day, a pale ale. But then Logan woke up, and he was not happy. I did a couple laps with him in the stroller while I drank my beer to keep him from total meltdown, and then I grabbed a last beer. We also ate a couple appetizers that were great, a IPA hummus dip and some mushroom tacos. Logan's fuse got shorter and shorter, so I finished up my local IPA and we hit the road. We stopped off at a used video game store to enjoy the AC, and suddenly Logan was happy again. So the two beers, coupled with the heat and not eating much, went straight to my head. I was close to buying an old SNES, but my wife convinced me otherwise. The kids got some hard to find Skylanders, and now my son wants to go home and play it. He doesn't get that we are 2,000 miles away. I happily stumbled my way back to the city center with my family, and we stopped off at a Guadalajara Grill for an enchilada and a margarita. I was feeling pretty good. We grabbed a bus home and were in bed shortly after. It was a great day.

I was surprised as well. We didn't bring passports on this trip, and I don't even have one for my youngest, so I'd be hard pressed to prove citizenship for my kids. But I assume they are just looking for things suspicious, we were travelling alone Interstate 10 and it really is a stone's throw away from the border for quite a few miles.

Hucksterism 101: The rubes don't pay to see worthless, un-notable items. I realized upon re-reading this it could be seen as me calling Hurl a rube, not really my intent. I think these roadside shows can be interesting if you know what you're getting into. But the ballyhoo is there, regardless. I'm happy to play the part of the rube for a buck most days. The cost was small enough to justify it, and it was a nice break from driving. Plus the kids loved it: Oh I forgot to mention we passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint. Thankfully the menacing dog was not interested in our cargo, and we passed through with just a quick question about our citizenship.