AUSTIN, TEXAS – There really are a lot of food trucks in Austin, and designer coffee, and yoga studios. And…wait for it…more bats!

At the Congress Ave. bridge, thousands of bats come out just at dusk, like in Carlsbad, fanning out over the river. Photo on the left is of people waiting for the "show".

The gray haze in the photo on the right is actually 100's of bats flying out from under the bridge!





Apparently there’s a great music scene, which we weren’t able to partake of, because you have to be over 21 to get into the venues. But more about that when we get to New Orleans.

No trip to Texas would be complete without tacky hat pictures, so here they are.

Here’s a small sampling of the contrasts that are so very Texas.






GALVESTON ISLAND, TX Our next stop was Galveston, Texas. We went to the off shore drilling museum where we learned that apparently oil is a renewable resource with little to no impact on wildlife or the environment. Boy, what a relief!

This is NOT the day we went to the beach....






JENNINGS, LOUISIANA:

So there’s nothing particularly interesting about Jennings, Louisiana…. except for this frog in the window of a restaurant we ate at. ….oh and the awesome Cajun food we had in said restaurant.









NOLA: After Jennings, we moved on to New Orleans, where we were able to enjoy a ton of music…in bars….with our kids, two of whom are still considered minors in the US of A. Why were we able to do this? Because in the State of Louisiana, children of ANY age, can be in a bar and drink alcohol IF they are with their parents! Since A & N were with the two people who pose as their parents, they were able to try local craft beers and awesome Bourbon; no questions asked. And the jazz was so cool too!!

While in NOLA we stayed on the hippie bus. We rented bikes from our quirky landlady and rode all over the city.

One day, we went to one of the 2 Katrina museums – only it was closed for the day :( We asked the gentleman next door for more information, and ended up spending the next hour with him. Why? Turns out he's chief David Montana of the Washitah tribe. He performs at Mardi Gras time and spends all year working on the costumes – doing the bead work and feathers for it as well as running programs to teach youth about this tradition. He did a couple of impromptu chants and songs for us at their centre. It was quite remarkable! For more info, here’s a link to a huffington post article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenny-klein/indian-red-new-orleans-ma_b_5002930.html


CHICAGO: To get back to Chicago, we once again took Amtrak – this time we had enough beds for everyone and the trip was uneventful. En route we got word that our tickets for a Second City show had been cancelled due to a fire at their offices :( So this past Saturday night, we went to the Chicago Dance festival instead.

We saw amazing performances by a wide array of companies, including three pairs of tappers (shown here) who did an ensemble performance of flamenco, Irish river dancing, and black American tap. We also saw a duet from the American Ballet Theatre as well as a fabulous ensemble from the Joffrey Ballet. And all of this was during pretty much non-stop rain at an outdoor venue ….with no raingear!


FLIGHT HOME: At the moment we are on our way home, seated near one of the loudest snorers on the planet….seriously, this guy needs surgery or something!
We look forward to hearing from all of you and seeing many of you in the near future.
XOXO,
RANAD