road trip summary

within 2782.2 miles [4477.5 km] between august 6 and august 16, 2008 we crossed 7 states [louisiana, mississippi, tennessee, north carolina, georgia, florida, alabama] and visited several places:


new orleans [la] - jackson [ms] - memphis [tn] - nashville [tn] - crossville [tn] - pigeon forge [tn] - smoky mountains [tn, nc] - cherokee [nc] - atlanta [ga] - savannah [ga] - lake city [fl] - homosassa springs [fl] - crystal river [fl] - tallahassee [fl] - alligator point [fl] - st. george island [fl] - port st. joe's [fl] - mexico beach [fl] - panama city beach [fl] - okaloosa island [fl] - dauphin island [al] - new orleans [la]


Größere Kartenansicht


besides line dancing, climbing on waterfalls, playing in olympic fountains, snorkelling in the wild, diving for keys and lingering along lonely beaches i got to see somewhat exotic animals:


owls, bats, manatees, black bears, hermit crabs, butterflies, wild pigs, baby clams [and a humming bird right after our returning].

we had fun!

2008/08/16 going home

on our way home we passed alabama, too. we decided to drive past mobile..

..to use our time left for a visit in dauphin island.
as the weather was not too good [in terms of sunshine and going swimming], there were not many people, and we almost had the beach for ourselves. after having seen the pictures, you know why this was one of the most impressing stops of our whole journey.

but although we enjoyed every single one of our stops, we were glad when we finally saw our home's skyline again.

2008/08/14-15 the sunshine state

we went further south, passing the border to florida.
after several hours touring across the rainy sunshine state, we decided to prolong our roadtrip and escape the bad weather by going further south along the mexican gulf. we firstly stopped in homosassa springs, the home of the manatees [also known as see cows].

we rent a boat and discovered the wildlife. besides watching to manatees we came across several fish and birds while diving and snorkelling in the cristall clear water. an unforgettable experience!
the next day we continued our coastal tour to go back north, along the beautiful coast to visit a whole lot of stunning beaches.

our first stop was at the alligator point, where we found a great collection of big sea shells.


with a truckload of 'sea jewelry' we drove on to st. george island's state park, which not only impressed us with its dunes and 'mountains',..


..but also with its waves in the green water.

mexico beach was our next stop.

the pictures speak for themselves..

well, we enjoyed the kitschy beach before we entered panama city, one of the most popular places for students to party during spring break.

the sea was ruff and that's why jumped into the water. was great fun and very exciting, until..

..my significant other lost our keys [both for the truck and the apartment] in the waves.
well, it costs over a hundred bucks to let jeff break into your car and install a new starter switch.

the sun had already set,
..when we continued our trip to find a room. as we were quite exhausted and we wanted to celebrate our six months anniversary, we got us a room at the four points [sheraton] in okaloosa island; with sea view, certainly.

we slept so well, having the sea and its sounds in the background the whole night.

2008/08/04 another stunning sunset

on our way home we passed by waveland, where i 'officially' fell in love with matt in february.

now & then

after dinner at a weird casino we once again chilled at the beach and goofed around.

'where's matt at?' pt. II

sandbar in the gulf

'run, matthew, run!'

once again, we were lucky enough to observe the sky burning during the sunset. enjoy:

life's good, life's goood..

wildlife vs. petting zoo

some interesting stuff you see when you travel the world. animals, for example.. i was not aware of the fact that wildlife in the new orleans area differs so much from the austrian:

i guess that's the equivalent to our 'blesshühner'

this guy was swimming in the mexican gulf.. the catfish looks scarier than it actually is

this feels like discovery channel live

lizards tend to change color [so are they chameleons?] and climb up and down the walls [geckos?].. what the..?!

and the parrots are living wildly, too.
they just hang out in areas where they are fed. can you imagine?!

on the other side, petting is a popular as it is at home.. here's some cuties:

"hi, i'm oreo and if i'm not being washed i prefer to chill in the living room."

"i'm frostie and i purr a lot.. until you better piss off!"

"i care for my kids as much as my family in austria does."

2008/7/13 back 'n forth, back 'n forth, back 'n..

what a wonderful day to go to the beach!
the road trip along the endless streets took a while..
..but we finally made it to biloxi. chillin' at the beach for like half an hour..
..when it started raining.
rushed back to the car, sun came back quickly. let's chill again.
did not take another hour before it started getting really [!!] dark for the second time.

*uh-oh* this could be bad..

apparently someone up there was just playing with us, because after we headed back to the truck, the clouds were gone, again. well, we still had enough time to relax, and that is what we did for the rest of the day.

girl, you're my angel, you're my dawlin'..