Spring Break Road Trip ~ Our Tour of the South

Saturday - March 10, 2012 

Destination: New Orleans, LA

We left Houston midday and arrived in New Orleans in the evening. Since this was probably our gazillionth time to hang out in the French Quarter of Nawlins, we already knew where we wanted to spend the evening. We had dinner near Bourbon St. then headed to Decatur St. to unwind with a couple of drinks at our favorite off-the-beaten-path Russian bar, Pravda, which means "Truth". Al had his usual glass of absinthe and I had red wine. I don't know how he drinks that stuff and enjoys it - it tastes like liquefied black licorice! We played a few rounds of Uno (yes, the card game you remember from childhood!) and then called it a night...

 



Sunday - March 11, 2012
Destination: Atlanta, GA

We left New Orleans and hit the road through the deep south which was an exciting adventure since neither of us had yet to visit Mississippi, Alabama, or Georgia. One of the easiest things to notice as you drive east out of Texas and through the south is the many Waffle Houses along the way. Texas does have Waffle Houses (there is one a few blocks from our town home in Houston), but they are not nearly as popular as they seem to be once you hit Louisiana.

We recently hung out with our cousins Maria & Joseph and watched a ridiculous Harold & Kumar movie featuring a Wafflebot, which is a waffle-making robot that follows you around and pops out waffles on command. Al remains convinced there is a real Wafflebot out there for purchase and his life won't be complete until he gets one someday, haha. So, naturally, we ate waffles a few times on this road trip... I reminded him that we do, in fact, own a waffle maker. Perhaps we'll just have to make do with it until we find him his own personal Wafflebot. 

Delicious fresh waffles! As Al says, you can't throw a rock without hitting a Waffle House when driving in the south.

I decided to *photo journal* our journey --- anyone who knows me knows that I am camera happy and take the chance to document damn near everything I consider to be interesting, no matter how mundane to others. Well, it should come as no surprise that I got this awesome idea while we were driving to pull over and take pictures at each state line sign! From New Orleans, we passed straight through Mississippi then shot up northeast through Alabama, then headed into Georgia where we stayed overnight in Atlanta. 

Since Al likes to drive, I got a chance to catch up on grading papers and leisure/academic reading (Enlightened Sexism by Susan Douglas - a book I'm definitely planning to assign at some point in my teaching career). The southern states we drove through are quite beautiful. We enjoyed all the greenery and especially the tall trees. Another thing we noticed as we worked our way through the south is that huge fireworks warehouses abound and at least 2 of them we saw boasted housing the "largest fireworks selection in the world." Hmmm, the world?! I don't know about that but I guess if they say so. Who's going to verify this anyway, right? Hehe.

Side Note: Thanks to priceline, we got some unbeatable low prices on nice hotels throughout our whole trip including an upscale La Quinta, a Holiday Inn, Hyatt, and Marriott all for only $40-$50/night (plus taxes)! If you don't already use priceline's "name your own price" for hotels, start doing so because it has never disappointed us. 

Monday & Tuesday - March 12 & 13, 2012

Destination: Charlotte, NC 

On the road again we go! This time we would hit our final destination, the place we would soon call home. We passed through South Carolina on our way up to North Carolina. Al was a real trooper for my *photo journalism* project because it was raining in South Carolina but we still stopped and walked a good distance from the Welcome Center to get our state line picture. We figured we could use the walking after all those hours sitting in the truck. It helped that we were equipped with umbrellas and windbreaker jackets. Sure, wifey might over pack. But the hell if I'm going to be unprepared for whatever comes our way, haha.

We got into town early so we decided to relax at the hotel for a while before exploring Charlotte. Since we're moving from one of the biggest U.S. cities and states, we were happy to find that Charlotte lived up to our expectations as a reasonably large city. Of course, it does not compare to Houston, but knowing that we'll be living 20 minutes north of a big city is comforting and we anticipate that it will make for a smoother transition. 

Whiskey Warehouse sounded like a neat place so we started our evening there for dinner and to experience some local southern flavor. Al had his first North Carolina BBQ ribs here. Though North Carolina BBQ is notably different from Texas BBQ in some ways, he said it was tasty and he ultimately gave it a Texan stamp of approval. For anyone who might not realize it, that's quite the approval rating since Al is definitely a BBQ snob, hehe.

We drove around downtown Charlotte to get a feel for the city. It is a clean, modern city that appears to be expanding. I was told Charlotte is growing and attracting many young working professionals, so maybe this is a part of its appeal for us too. The next day, we dove into the true purpose of this whole trip: HOUSE HUNTING!!!! It was nice to see familiar faces and spaces from when I had come to Davidson in November for my campus interview. After a thorough tour of the area and checking out about 6-8 houses, we weighed our options and made a decision. We chose to go with Davidson's land lease program for our first year so that we can get better acquainted with the Charlotte/Davidson region well before we decide to buy.

Here is our first house! It's got 2 stories, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a walk-out basement and a big, fenced-in backyard.

The windows upstairs are obscured by the tall trees and branches in this picture, but they are built with ledges from the inside to display house plants. There are ample windows throughout, enough space for a guest room, an office, and Al's man cave (aka the basement) where he can play his guitar as loud as he wants! He has big plans to make the basement into a music room/home gym/laundry area (and I've convinced him we should save a little corner for storage). We are ecstatic at the prospect of having our very own house. Our plan is to adopt a dog (tentatively to be named Tex -- in honor of Texas) once we settle in. 

After house hunting, we toured the campus and surrounding areas, including Main St. and Cornelius, NC. I spotted a few local coffee shops I'm sure will become my favorite off-campus work hangouts. Al observed that the squirrels around campus were small compared to the Texas-size squirrels we're used to. I guess everything really is bigger in Texas, haha! He also surveyed the area for potential employment opportunities and has been given some leads. He is doing more research as well; he plans to most likely return for further schooling in the fall.

Here are a couple of videos we made so you can get a full virtual tour. The first is an abbreviated campus tour and the surrounding area and the second one shows the 2 houses we whittled our decision down to as well as the neighborhood around Davidson College - interestingly enough, the 2 houses we debated between are located right across the street from one another!

 

We attended a welcome reception held just for us by my new department and colleagues, complete with fruit and veggie trays and refreshing mango iced tea. It was wonderful for me to see everyone again and for Al to meet my new colleagues for the first time. I chatted with a few students who were in attendance and one student sent a really sweet email after meeting me to the professor who organized the event (which she forwarded to me).  

Dear Dr. Turner,
It was an absolute pleasure to get to meet Dr. Martinez today- thank you so much for the invitation to do so! She seems like such a lovely person, and I know she is going to be such a wonderful addition to the area of Communication Studies within Davidson's faculty.
All of the Best, Emma

Now, we have one more item checked off our list of "things to do" before we head out of Texas for new opportunities --- Operation Find A New Home, check. We are excited for this next phase of our lives! Now it is time to spend as much quality time with friends and family as possible and enjoy everything in Texas we anticipate we'll miss once we're gone.   ; )    

These ain't no Texas-sized squirrels, that's for sure!

Chambers Hall, Davidson College

Texas hot sauce in NC?! Let Al be the judge of that, hehe.

Davidson Wildcats - The men's basketball team went on to play Louisville in the NCAA March Madness. Even though they lost, it was quite the accomplishment to even make it that far in the tournament! We took a break from driving to cheer on the Wildcats. We caught the game at a sports bar in Georgia.

Lake Norman (right before you exit for Davidson) - there are rental boats! Can't wait to take one out for a spin.  ; )

Concord Rd. & Main St. Our house is located on Concord Rd.

HA! These 2 ought to keep each other in business.

There are many beautiful churches throughout the area. We noticed lots of Baptist & Presbyterian churches.

These are actually office buildings converted from old housing from a long time back. The Education Department occupies one of these. I remember this from my interview and thinking this was such a cute use of the space - like a little academic cottage!

The Student Union

Davidson's track and field. We watched the women's lacrosse team play while we hung out at a table outside the Student Union - Wow, were they fast!