And I Thought Cabarete was Crazy!

We had a great visit with Ryan and Brandee, they treated us to some great meals (both homecooked and at an amazing restaurant in Miami)....and they even let me cook once.  Love their hospitality and spending time with this great couple....and the wonder dog Buster.

Finally...a pretty good photo of Herm

The night before we left

But Saturday morning it was time to roll.  Matt spent most of Friday getting us packed up....and we discovered that despite giving away nearly everything we own....we still have too much stuff!  Our Mariner was stuffed!

Right before we pulled out, Herm wouldn't face the camera 

Too Much Stuff!

Telling Ryan Good Bye

We spent Saturday night at Tallahassee, about a 7 hour drive and then Sunday we had arrived in New Orleans.  I've been to New Orleans several times before.....but I must have forgotten how crazy this town is!  I was always amazed at the crazy things I saw in the DR....well New Orleans takes the cake.  I tried to imagine what visitors from another country would think the US is like if this were their only stop?  

This guy reminded me of Linc from Mod Squad

Now obviously we didn't take pics of all the nut jobs we saw, but we did get a few.  Check out the guy with the afro.  How long it's been since you've seen one of those?

Now this guy, we saw several times on Bourbon street, quite the outfit.  Once when we walked buy him he smiled and Matt and told Matt he liked his shirt.  I thought the obvious response was "thanks, I like your bra", but Matt thought it best to just keep walking.

A guy and his goatt

Monday we signed up for a two hour walking tour of the French Quarter.  We debated over whether to take Herm or leave him at the hotel.  Matt actually thought we should take him as he'd spent way too much time in his crate lately.  So Herm was able to see New Orleans.  He was actually incredible on the tour and sat pretty nicely under our table when we had lunch.  He did make a lunge for the oyster po-boy the guy at the table next to us was eating....but to be honest I wanted it too!  Then Matt and I walked around for a couple more hours.  Big day!  And to think we were concerned about bring Herm to the French Quarter, when it seems to be perfectly acceptable to bring your goat.

But of course what New Orleans is really known for is great food and even better music.   We experienced plenty of both!  We had raw oysters, fried oysters, and stuffed oysters.  We had a muffletta, gumbo and pralines.  The only disappointment is we couldn't find room for some bread pudding!  And then the music.  Just about every bar had live music and no cover, starting in the afternoon.  And then along Royal Street were some incredible street performers.  What a cool town!  We took a short clip of one of our favorite bands we found on Bourbon Street.  

Now today we hit the road again.  We'll spend tonight near Houston and then we'll have about four more hours to drive on Wednesday to get to Pharr, TX, the boarder town where we'll cross the baorder on Thursday.  Matt and I need to re-read all the postings on what we need to make for a smooth crossing and I've started cramming on Spanish podcasts.  I haven't used my Spanish for a week now and know it will come in handy the two days we're on the road in Mexico.

And findly an apology.....we bought an Ipod Touch and plan to use it for most of our blog photos since it's so easy to carry around.  But after posting these photos, it's obvious we need to work a bit on figuring out how to use it.

Hasta Luego!