Austin - New Orleans - Pensacola - Orlando - Miami - Outer Banks
Austin, TX
I started out the cross country road trip to drive Gene back to Philly in Austin. Since I had the wedding to attend to, Gene and Sherri started out the drive in San Diego, and then I flew into Austin, TX and met them there.
We first met up with a friend of a friend who lives in Austin, Blaise. We hung out at his house and started the night out with him DJing.
Then we went out for a night on the town. We went to a place called the Chuggin Monkey, where there was a good live band playing. Since it was a Monday night, there wasn't too much going on around town, but we had a great time anyway!
New Orleans, LA
We got up the next day to continue our journey onto New Orleans, Louisiana, where we stayed with my friend that I had met during my short stint in Tennessee, Vicki. We went to her house and her mom made us a great dinner of jamabalaya. Then we all drove down to the French Quarter. It was a good place to see for sure, but definitely sketchy! We had a good night out, Sherri won $100 at Harrah's Casino!
Sherri, Gene and I in the French Quarter - Bourbon Street
Sherri and Vicki singing, "Bootylicious"
Pensacola, FL
We stopped in Pensacola for just a few hours between New Orleans and Orlando. Just swam around a little bit and Gene and I went for a run on the beach.
Orlando, FL
Gene's good friends, Chris and Matt live in Orlando, and so we decided to make a detour from Pensacola down to central Florida to visit them! We spent a night out bowling with Matt, Chris and his girlfriend, Erin.
Miami, FL
While we were in Orlando, Sherri and I could not help but think that since we had already made it so far down into Florida, we might as well make it to South Beach! So while Gene and Chris were golfing one day we took his car and drove down to Miami.
The weather was great as we drove down to Miami, but seriously the SECOND we parked and got out of the car, the beach was being evacuated because of a storm warning and it just started pouring. We wanted to cry, but instead went and got some serious food and drinks.
Then the weather magically cleared up and we were able to spend the remaining couple of hours on the beach! Miami was definitely worth the extra 8 hours of driving!
Outerbanks, NC
Our roadtrip ended in Outer Banks, NC. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of pictures from this time because our camera died and I didn't have the charger! We stayed in a three story beach house with Gene, Tara, his parents, grandparents, aunt, and cousins. It was one of the most amazing places I've ever been! I had no idea that the east coast could have such phenomenal beach living! We ate tons of shrimp, laid out at the beach, went jetskiing, played at the pool and just relaxed for three days. I definitely want to make another vacation out there sometime!
