ROAD TRIP PICS

Hi! As promised, here are some pics from my road trip from San Francisco to Miami.

LAS VEGAS

I loved Las Vegas, as surprising as that sounds. I thought it was a ridiculous city, but there were so many fun, extravagant and over the top things to see that it felt like Disneyland for adults. This pink gorilla suit is a perfect example of this. I think my favorite part of Vegas was all the themed hotels/casinos. If those weren't there, I wouldn't have felt the way that I do. As a former decorative painter, I was blown away by the level of faux painting that went into creating these places. Of course these are the pictures that I didn't take because I kept forgetting my camera. Thanks to Hannah, I at least have a picture of me with the pink gorilla man.

ROAD STOP I THINK IN ARIZONA

I LOVE THIS PAINTED SIGN IN TEXAS

New Orleans was most definitely my very favorite city on the trip. Oh my god! I haven't had such a visceral reaction to a place in a very long time. As we drove in, I just gasped at the architecture, narrow cobblestone roads, signs, smells...all of it. Of course the food was one of the best parts. One very memorable lunch was at a place called Bon Ton. We got there right when they opened. We were one of the first customers. Here is a pic of the interior of the restaurant.

And this is how full it got after about 15 minutes. Crazy. We had crab meat au gratin, crawfish jambalaya, crawfish etouffee followed by whiskey bread pudding. This bread pudding was insane. It was made with very densely compressed pieces of french bread drenched in a whiskey sauce. The whiskey was added after the sauce was cooked so it was straight uncooked alcohol. Sooooo goood!

MORE HAND-PAINTED FABULOUSNESS

I feel like this is the kind of thing you would only see in New Orleans.

Why is it that I'm so attracted to old abandoned buildings?

I love these old posts where horses would have been tied back in the day. It's too bad they don't still have the rings in the mouths where the reins would have attached.

While exploring the city, we came across a gallery specializing in all things animals. It was called Animal Art Antiques. Very self explanatory. In there, I saw two incredible 3-D models that had I had the money, would have bought in a second.

This particular cow model was made by a company called SOMSO. They are one of the leading companies in 3-D scientific models. SOMSO is located in Germany and there is a SOMSO Museum in Sonneberg. Sonneberg was never on my list of places to visit, but it certainly is now. Apparently they also have a toy museum and has long been a center for toy making. Who knew?

This beauty is made of paper mache!!! Paper mache, people! Incredible.

Okay. So normally I think these street performers are pretty silly, but I'm not going to lie. I couldn't possibly imagine holding this pose for more than 10 seconds.