More Day 2 from last vacation: Around Houston

San Jacinto Monument

James Coney Island, Pasadena. One of the many food places I miss in Houston and Texas.
Houston skyline

Ugly Reliant and my Beloved Astrodome. 

Historic Union Station, now attached to the new Astros stadium, downtown

Pause...Unpause

    I might be getting good at writing these "whoops, I'm back because I forgot about my blog" posts. I don't always mean to just up and stop writing, there's always a reason, even if it's not a good one or perhaps it is several. It's been over a year and I really don't remember why I stopped this time. It usually starts with missing a day due to circumstances beyond my control. Then a week goes by and when I log in, they want my password but I can't be bothered to look where I wrote it down. Then a few weeks go by and I become entrenched in the thought that "who cares really, nobody looks at my blog anyway". And that thought gets deeper and deeper.
   I admit, I dabbled with Tumblr. Seemed easy to post, but there eventually there were too many things I just didn't like about it. Doesn't work well with Twitter. Too much "fandom", not enough thoughtful history(though I found a few really interesting ones to follow, I didn't feel like I was adding much). Lots of followers seem to be porn blogs(?!?).
   I still add and add to Flickr. Not as much "new", more and more "go through old photos and do a better photoshop on them." I've tried taking Lego photos, but I am God-awful at that, and have no creativity whatsoever when it comes to building with Lego. Love the sets and the little figures, no imagination.
  But I still play World of Warcraft. A lot. And I read Twitter, though I don't post there much. I once read that "certain people" post about themselves too much and you should always be using Twitter to talk about others. Uhh, whatever. I'm no narcissist, I mean I'm like the total opposite in that I absolutely HATE myself, but I still like to talk about what things about myself *might* be interesting or weird, just in case there happens to be some other weirdo out there who is just as weird as I am. And occasionally I come across someone who seems to be a kindred spirit and I sort of stalk them because I am way too afraid to actually say "hey I like all those weird things too! Creepy huh?!?"

 So I will go back to posting photos here. I suppose I should go back and finish posting photos from our vacation last year. I'd love to do a 'current and up to date of what I'm doing and seeing blog', but that would mostly consist of me saying "woke up, got kiddo to school, played WoW, picked up kiddo, made dinner, watched tv, went to bed." Every. Damn. Day. No joke.
  I will post photos of things if I do happen to do something interesting. And I will link to Twitter. And I will post old photos. I *am* working on a 30-day project, so I might post those photos. And if you have ANY thoughts or requests or suggestions, please do tell in the comments or on Twitter. I might even post a poll(if I can figure out how) because I might go the old route of "subject of the day" thing (think 'Throwback Thursday', etc). Who knows?!!?

  Some questions...
   Do you want to know more about what cameras(really crappy ones) I have?
   Do you want to know where all I've been?
   Do you want to see really old scanned photos, historic places, or artistic stuff?
   Do you care if there is lots of stuff to read or --post only photos damn it, I ain't got time to read--!

Thanks for reading, everyone only wants to know they are noticed. If we aren't noticed, that's when we cease to exist.

Day 2: Galveston Island, Texas

There will be more day 2 coming, but we spent some quality time in Galveston and I want to post some of the better photos from there.

We watched sunrise on the beach and picked up a few shells along the way.

Drove by the new Pleasure Pier a few times.

We took the Bolivar Ferry back and forth, saw quite a few dolphins from the observation deck.

Stopped by the ruins of the supposed former home of pirate Jean Lafitte.

Bishops Palace, one of the many beautiful homes along the main road. Also one of the few survivors of the devastating 1900 hurricane that nearly leveled everything on the island.

Tune in tomorrow for more photos from Houston and surrounding area!

The First Day: Long and Winding Road

  The first day of the trip was an unspectacular journey from one place to another: South of Nashville, Tennessee to Galveston, Texas. And there were few stops in  between. 

   We left at 6:30am and arrived in Galveston around 7:30pm. The only stops were for gas and rest stops. We ate lunch at the Louisiana Welcome Center. The bridge in the photo above is the Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge. 

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Swamp Bridge, Atchafalaya Swamp, Louisiana

  We did stop at the Tiger Stop in Gross Tete where they have a live tiger in a cage(LSU Tigers, you know). But it was hot and the tiger wasn't easily visible. I felt sort of bad pulling in to see this, felt bad for the tiger laying there in the heat(though I suppose tigers are used to heat, aren't they?). 

   We cut south off of Interstate 10 to go through Baytown, across the Fred Hartman Bridge over the Houston Ship Channel as a quicker way to Galveston. 

  By the time we got our motel room and some dinner, it was dark-and they cut off the lights at the Pleasure Pier JUST as we pulled over and I got out with the tripod to get some shots! Disheartened, I took some really bad shots without the tripod of the ferris wheel, the only lights left on. 

   The first day was somewhat uneventful-but it was the only day that was. There are so many more photos to come!

Iconic Places, Iconic Faces

  Ok, ok, I couldn't wait to get to some of the places we visited by going day by day. Day one will be posted tomorrow, but honestly, there wasn't much to see on day one and I was anxious to show you some of the best places we saw along the way. 

   This is a teaser, if you will, then. A short photo essay to show off some of the iconic places and things we saw on our trip to the west. There are many, many more, but I thought these few images summed it all up pretty well. More info about each of these places will be posted when I get to the day when we saw them.

The Art of the Welcome Sign

While traveling through other states, one of our traditions is to get a photo of the "Welcome to 'Our State'" signs. No, not like many tourists, where you stop the car and have all the family pose in front of the sign-we don't have time for that sort of thing! But I get the shots nonetheless. And I love seeing how different states choose to welcome visitors who have arrived from their neighboring state.

"Welcome to Alabama the Beautiful" and an addition mentioning the current governor; Interstate 65. Short but sweet with a  nice little slogan and an extra sign that might have to be changed every few years.
Many more after the break....

Back In More Ways Than One!

    Yes, I am back. With so much to post, so much to say. Back from an illness that had me doing zilch from about April Fool's to mid-May. And then dealing with all the end-of-school-ness for the kiddo(OMG end of 8th grade, I'm the mom of a high schooler now! *faints*). And then finally back from a mega-vacation. Probably the best one we have taken, well maybe the best one of my life so far.

     It was the Wild West Trip, The Trip That Wouldn't End, The Trip to See As Much As Possible! We visited 12 states(not including our home state) in 9 days-west of the Mississippi-and 4 of those days were in Texas! I am going to post photos and comments day by day, just as soon as I get a chance to really go through all 3000 photos that I took. I hope to get a new post up every few days so keep checking back!

  Basics of the trip:

1. Tennessee to Galveston, Texas via Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
2. Galveston to San Antonio, Texas via all over Houston where I grew up
3. San Antonio to Austin, Texas 
4. Austin to Pecos, Texas via Abilene and back roads
5. Pecos to Roswell, New Mexico via El Paso, Las Cruces, Alamagordo
6. Roswell to Cheyenne, Wyoming via Colorado
7. Cheyenne to Rapid City, South Dakota via Devils Tower, Mt Rushmore
8. Rapid City to St Joseph, Missouri via Iowa
9. St Joseph to Tennessee via Illinois, Kentucky

  So yes, many of my photos(again) are taken from the front seat of the rental car(such as the shot of the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Wyoming seen above). And somehow I have an extreme knack for getting shots of bushes and signs in so many of the photos I attempt! And every now and then I get something somewhat decent to show(even a blind squirrel finds a nut, blah blah blah).

  Prepare for photos from Galveston, San Jacinto Monument, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Manor, Eastland, Abiline, Midland, Pecos, Toyah, Las Cruces, White Sands, Alamogordo, Lincoln, Roswell, Denver, Cheyenne, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Sioux City, and much more from the road.

  Stay tuned!