roadTRIPPIN

hey all you crazy katz n kittenz! Guess who's back on u.s. soil??? Yup, your fave peeps...US:) We are back and back in action...still having fun and taking it easy for now! So when we got back, we figured we couldn't stop yet, so we stayed in Los Angeles for about 2weeks then abducted Austin's momma and set out to see her peeps in Memphis, Tennessee....you have to say that with a Memphis twang! While we were there, the family graciously showed us around and we had our own personal tour guide, the best of the best...THANKS GREG!!! Per Greg's advice, we saw the best sites...Elvis' phat pad, some of the most fab Antebellum homes, and a tour de Greg himself through all of Memphis...not to mention the crazy eateries Greg turned us on to...Thank you mister maker of the Rendezvous and Payne's! (See more about good eats details on our food blog!)

So after all the running around in Memphis...Austin and I skirted to Natchez, Mississippi to check out more southern charm! We stayed in a quaint hotel...nothing fancy, but right in the heart of everything...we dined at Biscuits and Blues, you guessed it....yummy biscuits and lovely musak, they even had a FAB GUMBO!!! The next day we drove around checking out some of the beautiful homes in Natches.

Say hello to my booze buddies....hahah! Guess where our next stop was? NEW ORLEANS! I always have so much fun in the NO thanks to my lovely hosts!!! But, Austin had some unfinished biznasty with NOLA...he hadn't quite checked out all the eateries so we made sure to get some suggestions from Greg, and boy that man does not disappoint. Word to the wise, when in New Orleans, do not miss the opp to stop in: Mr. B's, Johnnie's PoBoys, Central Grocery, and Galatoire's.....YUM IN MA TUM! Needless to say, we were in good company with full bellies for our entire stay here...thanks Kim, Ivan, & Greg.

NEXT STOP...the booming Metrop-olop-olis of EUNICE, LOUISIANA!!! You know, Its really great seeing your hometown thru the eyes of someone else....it looks so different, and not that bad:) Yeah, I said it all you E-towners...not that bad:) We had a fab time with my fam. Catching up, relaxing, site seeing, EATING, eating and more EATING! Thanks momma! While we were in Louisiana, we(mom, dad, austin, me) toured the likes of St. Francisville, daring to spend the night at the Haunted Mansion...The Myrtles.....we drove around aimlessly in search of Shadows of the Teche, we attempted to show Austin a boucherie, saw the Evangeline tree, a swamp tour with Boudreaux....and just had a blast(note...we saw no ghosts).

Here's where the fun starts...we kidnapped my two nephews, ages 8 and 12, and took them on the road trip of their lives:) We took them to cool off at the Schlitterbahn waterpark; the mysterious underground caves in Carlsbad, New Mexico; and the incredible-non edible Grand Canyon!! We had so much fun! Then they came to Los Angeles where we continued the fun with Malibu beaches, Hollywood hotspots, and a little Universal Studios. We just had a blast!

And now what??? I have no idea....I'm just going day by day....but Austin is currently on a hike, that maniac set off the day after my nephews left for an "ultralight" backpacking extravaganza in the high country of Wyoming. He's with friends though, so don't worry, there are 3 of them for the bears to choose from:)

hahahah...cheers everyone! look at the pics(link to the side)!

bout to leave the land...

of oz! Hey guys! As many of you know...or may not know...we are leaving Australia...SOON...AS IN TODAY! And while many of you may be thrilled at the fact that we are coming HOME...we are mixed in our emotions:) But, just to make you guys wait a little longer...we are gonna have a snorkel of a good time at our fave dive spot, Alor, for a few days...or 12...before heading off for some R&R(cuz we need it)...then home:) SEE HOW WELL THAT WORKS OUT FOR ALL OF US...

just to recap...can you please never tell my mom that...

Austin makes me swim with Great Whites...he ties me up and throws me down walls to scale 150feet down...while he snaps pics at the bottom...HE makes me swim in freezing water without a wetsuit in pursuit of DRAGONS...Austin stuffs me into the smallest of places, just to see if I will fit. Please don't tell anyone that half the time I can't tell the difference between the water in the swimming pool and the water in the ocean...cuz they are just that clear...not to mention whether or not they'll be "freshies"(freshwater crocs) in them when in Australia.

Just a few images of fun to throw your way...but its almost over:( See you all soon and if you're lucky, we may just keep this whole blog thing up...but then again...maybe that means lucky for me...cuz that also means MORE TRAVELS!!!!!

hike-a-doodle dandi...

hey guys, just throwing up a post to keep you up to our whereabouts...soon the where will be back in the ole USA. We aren't really sure how to sort out our feelings about that, but, YES...we do miss all of you, but, NO...we aren't looking forward to jobs, traffic, and the rest of the real world:) haha...enough downers.

so, AP and I just took a lovely overnight hike that had us cocooned up in all of the warmest clothes we could find, double socks, scarfs, socks on our hands, sleep sak, sleeping bag, and not to mention the ultimate tool, the EMERGENCY BLANKET! If you guessed, it was cold:) hahah...the emergency blankets work like a charm though, so we were perfectly cozy! We took a little hike on one of Australia's many tracks and left the next day, sleeping near a beautiful lake, and just catching a few drops of rain on the way out. But, we treated ourselves to a nice self-contained cottage with a wood fire to reward our strength!! (side note: nothing compares to the monstrous 15mile hike-a-doodle this noodle popped out in one day...oh yeah!)

anywho...like champs, we will continue to reward ourselves by visiting a Cidery today and tasting up some scrumdiddly apples that turned to booze:) In the next coupla days, we'll be heading to Margaret River to sample some fab wines....if you don't know, Australia has some GREAT wines, check em out!!! Some faves: Turkey Flats, Cambels(yummy muscats), Kangarilla Road(try the primitivo...and I know I've seen the name around)...anywho, I'll keep this updated...don't you fret my pet:)

have a look...

AT THIS!  Leafy Sea Dragon in the South Australian Ocean!!Found in Wool Bay.Woweewow!  Austin actually found it first, then I jumped in the FREEZING water!  He took the pics too...he's quite the underwater pro these days!

road trippin...

in OZ!!  Hey guys!    

We had a GREAT drive down from Sydney to Melbourne!  It was so much fun!  We rented a car and took off behind the wheel for the first time in almost 11months!!!!  Lemme tell you, its super fun driving on the right side of the car...and SUPER SCARY for about ohhhh....several dayz!  Its really hard to adjust, but eventually, we did it!  Well that was after a bit of off-roading...and I don't mean for fun:)  

Anywhoziers...so yeah, we rented a fantastic Toyota Corolla Hatchback...oh yeah...the hatch is Back!!!  We drove from town to town, sleeping in quaint little hotel/motels...one of which Charles Darwin stayed!  We did some great hiking in the Blue Mountains(world heritage listed)...sampled lovely foods(I'm in LOVE with pies!!!)...saw tons of kangaroos right on the side of the road!!  and beautiful parrots...we sampled more delish food...went to the world's smallest rodeo(livestock contests, dog jumping, pimped out tractor racing...some with fire out the back, some bull riding, largest zucchini contests) THE WORKS! We even took an overnight hiking trip to our own private beach!  That was super fun...we even had a wombat chomping on grass right outside our tent!!!  It woke me up in the middle of the night...I thought it was Austin getting into the food rations...heeeheee!  You should have seen how gorgeous the beach was, and because you have to hike out...not a single soul was around...but no skinny dippin for us, the water was FREEZING!  haha!  Oh, and don't tell my mom that we almost lost the trail:)  

We had so much fun just hopping from small town to small town...all with funny names of course:) But all good things must come to an end...and by "good things", I just mean dropping off the conveniently tiny hatchback and exchanging it for a monster, 4wheel drive, manual shift, Champa Campa!!