On the Road

So, after being a shameless, useless bum all summer, last week I was suddenly called into action to fly to Houston and then drive back to Michigan with my friend and her dog and her cat and a car filled to the brim with belongings.  Since I don't exactly have a lot going on, I was more than happy to step in and help out. :)

Here's my trip breakdown, by state:

TEXAS:

Texas is very big.  The things in Texas are very big.  The highways, the restaurants, the trucks, the portions, the margaritas:

These margaritas are made with everclear.

You don't realize how intense that is until part way through the second one,

and then it's already too late!  The fabulously talented Katie took this picture, which I then appropriated :)

We did what you're supposed to do in Houston (according to the people that live there).  We ate and we shopped.  :)  Sunday night we went to dinner at the Houston Aquarium, where we ate many delicious things, including the mini shark attack:

I'm ashamed to admit I almost wasn't going to order this.

We can all agree that would have been a huge mistake.

So totally magical, and I can in fact verify that this is the mini version - another table ordered the regular version and it was about twice as big!

Ferris wheel outside the Aquarium

I enjoyed my first visit to the Lone Star state!  Monday morning we were on the road bright and early on our way to Michigan, a trip of which I have very few pictures because I was mostly behind the wheel and that's just not safe :)  Did you know that Texas highways have a different speed limit at night than they do during the day?  So weird.

LOUISIANA:

I liked Louisiana, much time was spent driving on a highway elevated from the water (but not so elevated I would call it a 'bridge').  

See what I mean about the elevated road?   I'm not sure why I like this so much

I'm pretty sure this state was the location of scary bridge #1 of 5 (I HATE bridges) and it's definitely where we crossed the Mississippi River for the first time.  I'm also convinced I really, really annoyed Jen as we approached Baton Rouge and I kept saying "Batohn Rouggggeee" as though I were French, but she handled it well (she also accommodated me by taking countless pictures of signs at my request - I love pictures of signs).  After several hours in Louisiana we headed north on US55 and eventually hit

MISSISSIPPI:

Which may be the most boring state to drive through.  The scenery never changes, it's just trees followed by more trees.  I like trees and everything, but some variety would be nice.  I was minimally excited to drive through Jackson, but that's just because I'm a True Blood fan :)  We finished our first day in

TENNESSEE:

I never realized before that Memphis is barely in Tennessee.  If we had not slept there I think we would have spent less than 45 minutes total in the state.  As it was we stayed at the Residence Inn downtown, which was very nice:

The view from our hotel room in Memphis

The cat was extremely vocal about being put in his carrier and unceremoniously hauled into the hotel and I spent a good portion of the night with a golden retriever laying next to me and/or on top of me, she was very sneaky and I was just too tired to do anything about it.  We didn't get too far from the hotel, but we did manage to see a few trolleys and some horse-drawn carriages.  The trip back to the highway was very pretty, along Riverside Drive.  Again, about 5 minutes after getting on the highway, we hit

ARKANSAS:

I'm not a fan.

MISSOURI:

Jen doesn't actually remember going through Missouri because she was sleeping the whole time.  At this point in the trip, there was really very little to distinguish it from every other part of the trip, but nothing stands out as being terrible :)  And we crossed the Mississippi River for the second time, on our way to

ILLINOIS:

Our time in southern Illinois can best be described by a stop at a gas station about halfway through the state.  It was a combined gas station, food mart, clothing store, video game room, restaurant situation.  As I walked in, a customer went up to the counter and asked if the fax he was waiting on had shown up yet.  I walked into the restroom behind a lady having a very loud cell phone conversation which did not let up the entire time she used the bathroom (I have a thing about that.  Phones should not be used in the bathroom.  Especially not a public bathroom.  It's gross.  I've always felt this way).  Already in the bathroom was a possibly younger girl (hard to tell what with the intense bleaching of her hair and the shocking amount of makeup she was wearing so I'm going off what she was wearing) using a hair straightener and constantly checking herself out in the mirror.  Based on the way she was preening I can only guess that her date was picking her up FROM the gas station.  It was a pretty great experience!

After a slight 26 mile detour when I failed to follow the GPS instructions because I had accidentally turned off the volume, we made it to US70 headed toward 

INDIANA:

Of course we hit Indianapolis right at rush hour, which was glorious (except not).  We did drive right by Lucas Oil Stadium, which was ENORMOUS.  Indy has changed since I was there 7 years ago in college for an accounting conference (yes, I am a huge nerd, thanks for asking).  Indiana was a pretty good drive, with the exception of a stretch on 69 right before we hit Michigan in which the highway was down to one lane and 45 mph for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON THAT I CAN TELL.  There was no equipment on the road, no work had been started that I could see, it was like Indiana just wanted to punish me for driving through it on my way to Michigan.  Not cool, Indiana.  Not cool.  But finally we hit

MICHIGAN:

We both perked right back up as soon as we hit the Michigan border, because the end was in sight!  By this point the dog was so upset about the unholy length of this car ride that she sat with her back to us and her face in the seat as her only means of expressing her displeasure.  The cat took it more calmly, only meowing every once in awhile to remind us he didn't love being in the car.

Eventually we made it back home, and today I am completely useless. :)