Austin and NOLA

As promised, I did my best to take a few pictures of our kick ass southern vacation. We had lots of fun (even without me drinking a sip of liquor!), and saw lots of things, but mainly, we ate A LOT! So hopefully you can get a taste of our adventure below...

First up, we got to zoom around the interstates of Texas in a BRAND NEW Fiat! I loved it, we named her FiFi.

While in Austin, we went to Barton Springs, a natural spring the size of at least 2 Olympic swimming pools! I know it looks cold out, but it was warm and humid. Although, the water was CHILLY, we got in (slowly!). This day was my favorite.

That is the face of a man who just ate some REALLY good BBQ. At Stiles Switch in Austin.

Where do you think the first place I wanted to go in New Orleans was? Cafe Du Monde of course! We went twice in total. The second time we took shelter there during a thunderstorm on our way to the Finals NCAA game, and there was a blackout! It probably lasted about 15 minutes, but it was eerie! (and kinda fun..)

This is what you look like when trying to consume mounds of powdered sugar..

How amazing does this look!? New Orleans is known for it's crawfish, and I have to say this meal was my favorite. We went to a little place called Somethin Else Cafe in the French Quarter. Highly recommended!

One day we went on a Plantation Tour to get a taste of the 'South' and visited two old sugar plantations, one known for its 300 year old oak trees lining the entry way for a 1/4 mile! It was so beautiful. They do weddings, can you imagine!

And of course, we went to the basketball games- the whole reason for the trip! It was fun watching Kentucky, Kansas, Ohio St. and Louisville duke it out for the title, but I do admit, it would have been nice to see Loyola Marymount or UCLA in there! (Don't you love how high up our seats are!?)

I have more pictures, but I would just recommend you go see these cities yourself! They are impressive. And I really don't think my pictures do Austin justice- I was so surprised by how beautiful the city is! And the Texas country side was breathtaking as well. New Orleans was definitely more of a 'swamp' if you will, but that's to be expected. I was surprised to find Austin to be more my kind of town, but if you're into partying it up, New Orleans is the place to be. The live music there was amazing, and my favorite parts were exploring the less touristy side of the area, checking out Frenchman Street and some areas of Marigny.

So here's to exploring new places! And to coming home, because there's nothing like that feeling of sleeping in your own bed again.