Both Kathryn and I are in Orlando now. We arrived this past weekend after one hell of a cross country drive back.

We met up in Portland, Oregon, drove north of Seattle, flew to Orange County, and drove to the east coast. There's just too many things to talk about in one blog post, and we haven't gotten the disposable camera pictures developed yet (our elph broke), but, included are my camera phone pictures.

Click "continue reading" for the photo-journal of sorts ;)Oregon & Washington

Plane trip to Portland. Orlando->Houston->Portland with an absolutely horrid head cold.. I was so hopped up on meds that I forgot my winter coat and all but one long sleeve shirt. Of course, I was heading into a world of pain with all the snow the northwest saw. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of all that mayhem, as we were too busy trying to concentrate on the roads ;) I think there are some thanksgiving pictures Kathryn's parents took around though..

Nevada

Lake Mead in between Vegas and Hoover Dam. Both vegas and the dam are on the disposables, and not the camera phone.. But man, what a view. If you haven't already, hit up Hoover Dam next time your in vegas. It's really cool. Also, thanks go out to Elliot for meeting us for lunch!

Arizona

Ohhh... purple mountains.. I get it now. Amazing views through the desert. As the sun set, the mountains in the distance really did take on a purple color. The sky turns bright orange around it, and its just a great contrast. I know understand why the Phoenix Suns have purple and orange jerseys. Neat.

The Grand Canyon amazes me. This was the first time, at least in my adult life, that I have seen anything close to this. This is a picture from the south rim of the inner gorge. We found a best western just outside that has a six lane bowling alley inside of it, and highly recommend it ;)





These might be the best pictures my camera phone ever took ;)



Leaving the Canyon offers a chance for even more scenic views.


This is whats left of an approximately 150 foot wide meteor that created the following big ass hole.

This big ass hole is otherwise known as Meteor Crater, Az. :) I highly recommend stopping by if you ever get the chance. It's not terribly cheap for what it is ($15 maybe?), but it really is interesting. It's the best preserved crater on earth.

New Mexico


This reminds me of that mountain roller coaster at Disney World... ;)

Racing the Santa Fe Railroad

Another really neat sunset. If we could have gotten this picture without any traffic in it, it almost looks like some sort of local band CD cover, doesn't it? ;)

We're going sizzler. Though, the camera phone can't seem to handle the sizzle.

Road weary...


Both of these were taken an exit outside of Truth And Consequences, NM. It's a town named after the 50s T.V. show ;) We got a kick out of the friendly gas station. With a name like Truth and Consequences, I'd imagine not many people try to violate their request ;)

Texas

This is right before we got stopped by border patrol. "Are you guys U.S. Citizens?" "Si!"

These windmills were all over the place across from the oil drills. They're using environment safe(er) methods of producing energy to power the oil fields. Huh. Do as we say and not as we do, I guess.

River Walk in San Antonio. This is a picture of Rita's from the other side of the river. We ordered the texas sized margarita's there, but alas.. they were too big for little ol' us ;)

The Alamo. Remember it. It won't be hard, cause this is all that's left. Very cool to see, but I guess I thought there would be more to it. Pretty at night though.

River Walk during the day. Pretty darn cool. Lots of shops and night life all over the place.

Louisiana


Oil Refinery outside of New Orleans. They look gothic as heck at night.

New Orleans, in all its blurry splendor. We arrived around 10pm and found a room on Bourbon Street for $70.

190 proof grain in these badboys.



Fun little cafe somewhere along Royal

Mississippi

Move along, nothing to see here. I should have taken pictures at the Waffle House Kathryn forced me to eat at, but I was too busy clinching my stomach in pain..... ;)

Alabama

Somewhere near Mobile.

Florida

Beach bonfire out in Cocoa


3...2...1... LIFT OFF! Space Shuttle heads out to the IIS