atlanta->orlando->houston

we did nothing in atlanta. well, mostly nothing. we did go to the laser light show at stone mountain (a cheesy pro-american affair with mostly country music and patriotic images galore). actually it was pretty fun. otherwise we ate at a few nice retaurants (mmm, collared greens!), watched the entire firefly series, slept late and generally hung out.

then we went to orlando and stayed a couple of nights with sarah's friends chween and nate. drove around disney, which frankly is one of the weirdest places i have ever been. the disney compound is just huge, we really only browsed downtown disney (shops), but then there is the massive number of (expensive) attractions also. the rest of orlando seems to be one large factory outlet strip mall! we also went out to daytona beach for the day which was really cool - beautiful clear warm water and white sand.

after leaving orlando we spent half a day at pensicola beach which was even nicer than daytona. also checked out the central tourist area of new orleans. the architecture is beautiful, the bars and clubs are among the most garish i have seen! a strange mix. apparently the fact that you can drink alcohol on the street is a big drawcard. we went through some suburban areas that still showed the affect of katrina, but the tourist area seemed pretty much fine.

we have since spent a couple of days in houston with some other of sarah's friends. mostly hanging out at their house in the suburbs. houston is not a big tourist city although its the 4th largest city in america, and probably the biggest by footprint as it is so sprawling. but we did have a quick nighttime tour of the relatively small downtown area. we also watched a colony of some 250,000 bats come out from under the bridge they live in. we played with 2.5 year olds, dogs, cats, turtles and pet rats!

next stop santa fe (after driving 800+ miles across texas!)...