New Orleans & on to Houston -- Apr. 26th

Woke up with a slight hangover, asked for for a late noon checkout, to which the front desk guy responded, "I can only give you til twelve." I said twelve was noon, he said "what?" I said never mind, that would work just fine. I barely made it out by twelve. I set out to go to another DDD place, called Parasol's. #1 it was on the list, and at least 3 locals recommended it as well. It was the crappiest little dive Irish pub I've ever seen, but the roast beef po boy was awesome. And the bloody Mary, aka hair of the dog, was fabulous as well. The bartender was sort of apathetic to me, though, although he had plenty of time to do shots with his friends at 1pm. He didn't provide very good service, and my boudin (boo-dan) balls, never came at all. He apologized and bought my bloody mary, so all was forgiven. I drove to a couple more cemeteries, and got in one or two this time, wlaked around city park and the sculpture garden, which was very extensive, and went to hang out by Lake Pontchartrain for awhile. Just as I got there, my mom called and my whole family was together because my niece had a dance recital, so I talked to everyone for a bit and decided to head around the lake to the north shore and check out a state park called Fontainebleau. I don't know if I could ever get used to all the French names down here, but I could probably live here. I had a great time, and would love to visit again at least. My GPS decided to crap out on me, it reset and acted as if it was right out of the box, asking me to set my preferences again, after about 4 steps, it would stop and reset, and do the same shit again! Luckily, I have an atlas and backup maps, but that would make the trip a whole lot different. I needed to stop for gas anyway, so I decided to turn it off and try again later, I knew I could get to the park at least. The gas station I ended up at, was the first time I was worried about the stuff in my car, even just for a minute. There were sketchy dudes all around me, but, nothing happened, and I started on my way. I tried the GPS again while on the road, and it was still doing the same thing, so I pulled into an America's Best Value motel and started my laptop. I got into their network , accessed the internet, hooked my GPS up and installed updates, and basically, rebooted the machine, and it worked! Thank goodness. I got to the park, paid the $1 entrance fee, and it was breathtaking! One side was a beach with a pier, and trees right on the coast with crazy sweet root systems in the sand, and it was nearly sundown, and the clouds were awesome, so I got some great shots there. And on the other side was a wooden boardwalk out over wetlands. Really the only good "swampy" area I'd seen up close since the Everglades. I couldn't stop taking pictures there. It was really great. After that, time to head on to Houston.
On the road, a few of the cities I passed through looked really cool, and when I crossed into Texas, I came upon a steep bridge, and when I got to the top I saw what looked like a whole city of lights in miniature. These continued for miles and miles. They look like the coal power plants back home, or the other large plants by the river. I can only guess these are oil refineries or something of the like. It was a good drive, probably my second longest stint after Des Moines to St. Louis. I had to stop for gas and grabbed some Whataburger for the first time ever. It was pretty tasty, a regular burger, but the bun was prolly what sets it apart, and the lettuce seemed really fresh. They were open inside 24 hours, and I felt like I was a burden on them, so I ate in my car. On to Houston. No more stops.
I got into Houston, and it was the first city that had the midwest vibe again since StL. Flat, straight interstates, and, I dunno, just got that vibe from the drive. Houston has the most impressive roadway system I have ever seen. Evidently, I-10 has just been redone, and it is impressive. Six lanes, with an extra two lane HOV/Toll lane, and then, when you exit the interstate, there is a 4 lane freeway right off the exits. There were like four tiers of bridges at the interchanges, and Houston is gigantic! Supposedly now the 3rd largest city in the U.S., I can't wait to start exploring. Angie waited up for me to get there, even though it was way past her normal bedtime. I arrived about 1 am, said hello and chatted with her for awhile, and she needed to go to bed. I'm not really that tired, so I'm catching up on the blogging. I'm going to sleep in tomorrow and do some research as to what to do here. I'll keep ya posted!