Epic Road Trip Part 1

 

I moved to Arizona the last week of June.  I say moved, but I didn't really unpack.  In fact, I loaded my car with all my necessities and drove to Arizona only to move my necessities from my car to Ben's car.  A few months earlier Ben invited me to join him on a cross country road trip to Florida.  I'm not sure he knew what he was getting himself into when he invited me.  In fact I'm not sure he thought I would say Yes!  But I'm a road trip kind of a girl, so I early agreed to hit the road with him.  We had a whole week to cross the country before meeting up with his family for their family reunion in Florida, so we took our sweet time.  Part of the point of the trip for Ben was to stop at some of the key "Diner, Dives and Drive-Ins" spots.  My goal was to cross off states on my list of states I need to see, oh and to get as many National Park Stamps in my NP Passport of course!

We zipped through New Mexico and spent most of our time in Texas.  Texas was awesome.  I had been to Texas two times before and wasn't so impressed but this time I loved it.  Some of the major highlights:

• Spending two crazy nights with Valerie and Chris.  We sat up putting Lego's together, playing epic games of Island Style Sorry, and eating Val's delicious "decadence" dessert.  I'm more true to myself when I am with them.  Plus their kids are so much fun!
• Touring around Ben's old mission stomping grounds in Houston.  Some of the places he served in were a little bit iffy.  But it was fun to listen to stories and hear his connection to that place.
• Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory-  On my visits to Arizona Megan, Erik and Ben had introduced me to the best ice cream: Blue Bell.  So we of course had to go tour the factory and sample some flavors.  It was delicious!

We left the state of Texas and enter the land of the Bayou's.  My goal was to see and eat alligator.  To my dismay alligator was in short supply and when I tried to order it... they were out.  But I did get to see alligators on the swamp tour.  We spent the 4th of July in New Orleans.  Watching the fireworks over the Mississippi was awesome. I enjoyed New Orleans.  I think there are some amazing parts to it... and some dirty parts.  I saw enough of Bourbon Street to never desire to see it again (not that I ever did in the first place).  There is so much water down there it is unbelievable.

We finally ended our drive east in Chattanooga at Ben's grandparents house.  Ben's family was so welcoming and made me feel right at home.  We went to the Aquarium first thing on Saturday.  Which is so kind of them to do something they knew I would love.  That Aquarium is AMAZING!  I've been to many aquarium in my travels and I think that one sits in the top 5 (probably the top 3)!  Our time in Chattanooga ended with me being stung by a bee (and I didn't bring my epi-pen).  Luckily I didn't go in to anaphalaxis shock... But my hand was so swollen that all my knuckles disappeared.  I ended up on an antibiotic a few days later because the swelling wouldn't go down and my hand was hot to the touch and red!