Exitlude

Well, we are safely back in Albuquerque after 9 weeks on the road and 13,800 miles. It's definitely bittersweet to have the trip come to an end, but we're so thankful for the experiences we've had and the people we've met during our time on the road.

After New Orleans we headed west into Texas. After a quick night at a hotel in Houston, we made it into San Antonio the next afternoon. We got to stay with my good friends Brad and Holly there, and we enjoyed a great visit and amazing food! We also got to check out historic Castroville, the Alamo, and downtown San Antonio.5th

Next we visited Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas, our 15th and final National Park of the trip. After one last night camping under the stars in the southern New Mexico desert, we made it back to Albuquerque. What a trip! We hope our story has inspired you to go out and have an adventure of your own. To everyone we stayed with along the way--thank you!!! You all have made our trip so much more awesome.

Home again. You get a little nutty after 9 weeks on the road. Photo by Noah Childs.

                                                                                 

French House in Castroville, TX. Photo by Bowen Childs.

The Alamo. Photo by Andrew Seidlitz.

San Antonio Riverwalk. Photo by Andrew Seidlitz.

 Guadalupe Mountains. Photo by Andrew Seidlitz

 Guadalupe Mountains. Photo by Andrew Seidlitz.

Night sky over the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces, NM. Photo by Bowen Childs.

The Gulf Coast

Hello again fellow adventurers! 

After our amazing experiences in Key West, we made our way up the gulf coast to the Sarasota, Florida area. We had amazing hosts there who took us around the city for some great local food and to the MOTE aquarium. We also visited Siesta Key beach, which was voted #1 in America. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend much time there because of rainy weather.

From there we drove to the Biloxi, Mississippi area, which made for a long day, but my cousins Cheri and David were ready for us with a great fish fry. We also got to try shrimp & grits the next morning--a classic southern breakfast. 

That afternoon we made our way to New Orleans where we got to stay with Noah and Bowen's friend Mike. Mike took us for some great Po Boy sandwiches and then we went out to explore the French Quarter. We walked down Bourbon street a ways and eventually ended up in Jackson Square to visit Cafe Du Monde. The Beignets were definitely something to write home about. We also got some amazing gumbo at a French Quarter restaurant. We ate a ton there, and it was all fantastic.

The next morning we got to visit the World War II museum before leaving town. We definitely learned a lot and enjoyed talking with the veterans and workers there.

We're making our way across Texas and back to New Mexico now. We'll give you one final update when we're back.  

Siesta Key lifeguard station, Sarasota, FL. Photo by Noah Childs

Photo By Andrew Seidlitz

Sharkheads store, Biloxi, MS. Photo by Cheri Cone.

Great Jazz band playing on the street in New Orleans. Photo by Noah Childs.

French Quarter, New Orleans. Photo by Noah Childs.

French Quarter, New Orleans. Photo by Bowen Childs.

French Quarter, New Orleans. Photo by Bowen Childs.

French Quarter, New Orleans. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Downtown New Orleans. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Downtown New Orleans. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Jackson Square, New Orleans. Photo by Andrew Seidlitz.

Cafe Du Monde Beignets. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Snorkeling Adventure

The Florida Keys

This week we got to visit one of our favorite stops so far--Key West, Florida. We took the overseas highway 122 miles from the south coast of Florida into the islands. The keys are a lively place with shops, seafood restaurants, and fishermen all along the highway. 

On our way into town we stopped at a visitor center and got a reservation for a snorkeling excursion the next morning. That day we went to the beach and explored Duval street. We stayed for the sunset celebration in Mallory Square. It's an incredible experience where the people in Key West gather every single night to throw a party with music and street performers. We also got some amazing coconut pineapple drinks there. 

The next morning we returned for our snorkeling adventure. It was absolutely incredible. We took a catamaran about 45 minutes from the shore to the third largest barrier reef in the world. We saw amazing coral formations, brightly colored fish, a jellyfish, and a sea turtle. Noah was able to take the GoPro into the water with him so we got some great video! We'll post it shortly. 

When we got back to shore we had lunch at a local restaurant with the best cuban sandwiches we've ever had. After that it was time to leave the islands and we made our way back to the mainland. From there we're making our way up the gulf coast and we're staying with our awesome friends Bill and Darla!

Key West Beach. Photo by Noah Childs.

The guys with the nuts. Photo by Noah Childs.

A great fruit stand in south Florida where we got a fantastic mango. Photo by Noah Childs.

Key West Beach. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Key West. Photo by Andrew Seidlitz.

Key West Sunset. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Everglades

Way Down South

We have found the Atlantic Ocean! From the Appalachians we moved on to Myrtle Beach. Bethany and Ed were our awesome hosts. We ate some amazing home-cooked food, played mini-golf, and visited the famous beach and boardwalk. Myrtle Beach was definitely one of our favorite stops so far!

From there we ventured to Charleston, SC where we visited Fort Sumter. We continued down the coast to Savannah, Georgia, where we walked around the historic district and Chippewa Square, where Forest Gump was filmed. We spent the night at Jekyll Island State Park in Georgia.

The next day we drove to St. Augustine, Florida and visited Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest fort in the United States. St. Augustine is a very cool place to visit with a lot of interesting history!

We drove down the Florida Coast to Fort Lauderdale, where we took a boat tour on one of the city's famous canals. Today we explored the everglades. While the area is incredibly beautiful it was almost unbearable to visit this time of year due to the heat and bugs. We did get to visit the Everglades Alligator Farm where we took an awesome air boat tour--video coming shortly.

It's crazy to think this will be one of our last blog posts... We'll try to make the most of the 12 days we have left! We hope you all get a chance to do something awesome before the summer ends too!

Myrtle Beach, Photo by Bowen Childs

The view from the top of Fort Sumter in Charleston. Photo by Bowen Childs

A park near Titusville, FL. Photo by Bowen Childs

Savannah Historic District. Photo by Noah Childs

A great Cuban Restaurant we ate at in St. Augustine. Photo by Bowen Childs

Everglades Alligator Farm. Photo by Andrew Seidlitz

Ft. Lauderdale canal and homes. Photo by Bowen Childs

Everglades. Photo by Andrew Seidlitz

Everglades. Photo by Bowen Childs

Alligator Farm. Photo by Bowen Childs

Photo by Bowen Childs

It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is one of the largest bugs we've ever seen. It's about the size of your hand.         Photo by Andrew Seidlitz

From Stranded to New Wheels, D.C., and the Appalachians

Sorry blog viewers, it has again been a while since our last post. But we're back now! Hey! So we left off in Pennsylvania. There, things went from bad to worse. The good news is we had amazing family there who helped us through it all (Jay, Brenda, Janice and Josh, thanks for everything!).

Ace went into the body shop the day after we arrived in PA, and we were told they would be able to get a new seatbelt installed in a day or two, which would make him at least a little bit safer to drive. In the meantime our awesome hosts showed us around Amish farm country, the local farmers' market, and America's first pretzel bakery! Pennsylvania turned out to be a good place to be stuck! After no word from the body shop the next day, we decided to go to Hershey Park.

The 1-2 days quickly turned into 4 days, and at that point we were told that the seatbelt was a rare part and that the chances of actually finding one was almost zero. Our parents weren't too keen on the idea of us driving for another 3 weeks without a seatbelt, so we decided to move towards looking for a used car. We did some quick research and found a good deal on a Pontiac G6 in nearby Lancaster, PA the next day. We had to make the difficult decision to leave Ace in Pennsylvania, since to repair his seatbelt and airbag would've been both difficult and more expensive than the car is worth. We've had a lot of awesome memories in that car, and while we're happy and thankful for our new one, he really can't be replaced. Travel well, Ace.

We transferred all of our stuff to the new car and the next morning we were finally able to get back on the road to Washington, DC. We got to stay with another awesome family (thanks Chris, Becky, Emily, and Sarah!) and spent a couple days seeing the monuments and museums in our Nation's Capital.

From DC we traveled west into the Appalachian mountains to Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. After dealing with cities and crowds for so long it was great to be back in the mountains. We hiked to Humpback Rocks for some great views!

Ace right after the accident.  Photo by Andrew Seidlitz

 

Penny the Pontiac. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Outside Julius Sturgis Pretzel Factory. Photo by Josh Bullock.

Our Pretzels and our official Pretzel Twister Training Certification. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Photo by Andrew Seidlitz

National Art Gallery, Washington, DC. Photo by Bowen Childs.

USDA Headquarters, Washington DC. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Washington Monument. Photo by Bowen Childs

Jefferson Memorial. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Smithsonian Hirshorn Museum. Photo by Noah Childs.

Humpback Rocks, Appalachian Mountains, Virginia. Photo by Bowen Childs.

Humpback Rocks, Photo by Noah Childs.