Our first stop in Tennessee was Memphis. In the morning we went to the Civil Rights museum which was very moving as it’s built into the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. A short film was playing at the center that day and we unknowingly walked by the key speaker in the documentary, Rev. Billy Kyles who was giving an interview. Kyles, who was there the day MLK was shot was one of the few witnesses at the scene and in the film he describes the tenacity and leadership that Martin Luther King Jr. possessed. The documentary was moving as well and highlighted an improvisational speech that Luther gave the night before he was assassinated, the speech is known as the Mountaintop Speech. After leaving the museum I felt somewhat in a daze to really come to terms with how America once was and how far we still need to come as a society and as a country.

There isn’t much vegetarian fare in Memphis, in fact there really isn’t any…so we decided to go to BB Kings on Beale Street which was the only menu we could find that offered something we could eat. I ordered the collard greens not knowing that they come with pork in them, whoops! Afterwards we went to the Sun Records recording studio which recorded greats such as Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. It was incredible to me to be in the same studio where the founders of rock & roll recorded their unique sound. We also got to see the ribbon mic and guitars used by famous singer songwriters. The bottom of the studio has an old soda shop where they sell root-beer and milkshakes among other gift shop items. The studio is still open and at night serves as a full service recording studio.

After Memphis we headed up to Nashville also known as Music City to see sites such as the Grand Ole Opry, The Gibson Bluegrass Guitar Factory and Music Row.  We took a nice stroll along the campus trails at Vanderbilt University which houses old brick buildings. We grabbed lunch at Cafe Coco which had a great selection of vegetarian and vegan fare. I had a toasted croissant topped with a black bean burger, cheese, spinach and artichoke dip and onions, even though it sounds like a strange combination it happened to be absolutely delicious and just melted in my mouth. Jack had the tortellini in a cream blush sauce with some garlic bread which was also very tasty. Afterwards we took another walk heading towards some of the most oldest and famous buildings in the area such as the Elliston Place Soda Shop.

Both Memphis and Nashville had good, fun, and lazy vibes. Please see our full set here.

New Orleans is filled with a grandiose spirit, a mystical warm ambiance which seems to fill the streets. The architecture is wonderful and more than I had expected from the French Quarter. Flowers hung boldly from wrought iron balconies and above the narrow block style streets.

I was excited to go to New Orleans – for me the city has always held some undying mystique and culture. Of course, we did not account for the Giants / Saints game and the BBQ Festival which made getting a hotel room very difficult.

We spent the afternoon walking around the French Quarter on a chilly fall day taking a walking tour that is outlined in the Lonely Planet Guide. Even though it was only noon people were already walking around the city with their “hand grenades” and other various beverages of an alcoholic sort. Bourbon Street to me was kind of lame and is the French Quarter’s answer to making frat boys happy – a macabre red light district, if you will. The other streets which surround the area are filled with adorable homes, dimly lit bars, and boutique shops. I fell in love with some antique chandeliers and furniture… one day.

After our walking tour we took a seat on some steps to enjoy street entertainment which was absolutely hilarious. The gentleman walked down steps on their hands and even did flips over some audience members, all while having a good time and making jokes about the passerby’s.

We celebrated our one year anniversary in New Orleans and time has seemed to really fly by. We dined at an African restaurant and later found a cozy bar where we sipped on wine and whisky. Many weddings were going on that evening and they paraded around the streets with their respective wedding parties sipping champagne and following a small marching band. The evening was filled with great romanticism.

—-

Our cab driver that evening talked to us about Katrina and the aftermath. His family lived in St. Bernards Parish which was the hardest hit. All 500 square miles of the parish were submerged in water ranging from 4′ deep to 20′ deep. While some of the parish has been rebuilt most of the residents have re-located to areas which are at higher ground. It’s very disheartening to know how the United States Government ignored these people and their pets and are still working on finding a solution for the levys. The Army Corps of Engineers still hasn’t finished their levy rebuilding project and if hit by another strong storm surge the parish will be devastated, yet again. Please see the following websites to learn how you can help donate or volunteer to aid these residents and their pets:

The American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund

Animal Rescue New Orleans

Habitat For Humanity New Orleans

Brad Pitt’s Project to Rebuild Eco Friendly Homes in the Lower 9th Ward

Please view our entire NoLa collection here.

They (meaning the citizens of Texas) famously quote, “Everything is Bigger in Texas”, and that is true in many regards. From the excessively large white pick-up trucks, to the portions of food, and even the people themselves, everything is bigger in Texas.

Our first night in Texas we stayed in the Sonnora Caverns area as a half way point en route to San Antonio. The campground had lots of deer at dusk munching on the large variety of grasses. Along with one other camper we had the grounds to ourselves and ate leftover mexican food while reading our respective books. Myself, still diligently making my way through Michael Pollan’s, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Jack reading an Edward Abbey novel he picked up in Utah. The night was absolutely gorgeous. A pleasant change from the cool weather we had been experiencing in Colorado and New Mexico. The sunset created a silhouette of a single tree in front of our tent with blending hues of orange, yellow, red and purple.

San Antonio is quaint tourist town with a mixture of American/Mexican History and modern urban living. The Alamo offered a good amount of history and exhibits for free and is located in the heart of downtown. River Walk is a nice area of the city which offers shops and restaurants along a man-made river. Also, boat ride tours are available.

Jack and I were both very excited to get to Austin. It was on our list of “places we might want to move to”.  We wanted to find ourselves lazily walking down sixth street and absorbing all of the live music and maybe go for a stroll around downtown experiencing as much as we can.  We spent our first night dining at Veggie Heaven…for those of you who don’t know Veggie Heaven is also the name of one of the best vegetarian restaurants ever located in New Jersey, so of course we had to go and compare the two. The Austin Veggie Heaven had decent food but paled in comparison to the one in NJ! We took our lazy stroll down sixth street which on a week night was rather dull. The scene is devoted to rowdy college kids and we felt we really had no place there. There was an abundance of live music though which is always good.

Before leaving Austin we stopped and grabbed breakfast at a small cafe and had breakfast tacos which were amazing! Simply potato, cheese, and egg with spices filled the warm flour tortilla which was dipped in a small cup of salsa. Afterwards we went to the flagship Whole Foods which (unlike Whole Foods in NJ/NY) offered a ton of local organic products! Thankfully.

We camped at Brazos Bend State Park where we got to see a bunch of Alligators! One of them began to follow us with the most evil (or hungry) glare I’ve ever seen and we decided to go back to the camp where (once the sun went down) we got attacked by mosquitos and … raccoons. A raccoon came literally out of nowhere and tried to steal our bag of jasmine rice! Luckily Jack went after him and we salvaged our beloved rice, but not without a fight.

In Houston we stopped at the Space Center where we got to touch a moon rock, see models of the interior of space shuttles, and watch a movie on a five story screen. The space center is a pretty educational experience but its exhibits are geared more towards children, even so we still had fun.

Jack and I were both disappointed by Austin which is sad to say. The downtown area was small and didn’t offer much. Also, it didn’t help that in October the weather was 92 degrees and very humid. And the search continues for a place to call home…please view our full set of pictures here!

Our first stop in New Mexico was the hippie ski-resort, spiritual town of Taos which was recommended to us in Boulder. Jack read an article that the citizens of Taos often hear a humming noise and blame this on the governments disposal of nuclear waste within the region. I would like to think the town is an epicenter of energetic fields like the Native Americans believe. Regardless, we did not experience anything strange.

Taos boasts a small downtown area which is basically a narrow street with tight adobe style buildings sporting gifts, jewelry and clothing. One of the redeeming qualities of the town and a major tourist attraction is the thousand year old Taos Pueblo on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately for us the Pueblo was closed for the day so we went to the San Francisco de Asis Church also within the city limit. The church is one of the most photographed in America. Artists such as Ansel Adams and George O’Keefe have been heavily inspired by the churches’ architecture which dates back to the 1700’s. Another structure which is famous in Taos is the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge which stands at 650′ and crosses over – you guessed it – the Rio Grande river.

The next day we headed to Santa Fe where we browsed the outdoor art displays and had delicious huevos rancheros at the Burrito Co. Santa Fe is known to artists and history buffs for its unique community of electic artists and ancient buildings. It houses some ninety art galleries and has both Americas’ oldest house and oldest church, the San Miguel. The city is also home to the Loretto Chapel which was built in 1872 and houses a spiral staircase with no visible support and is now a museum.

Roswell has always intrigued me. I guess thats because I watched too many shows on the discovery channel growing up about UFO’s  which all seem to relate back to this humble town which is literally in the middle of nowhere. Roswell offers limited food and is now home to most chains (ie: Pizza Hut, KFC) so vegetarians be prepared. Other than the UFO museum the city doesn’t offer much except alien themed gift shops oh and of course the UFO themed McDonalds. The UFO museum itself houses artifacts relating to the famous Roswell Incident and teeters on the fence of outright blaming the government for a cover-up or blaming a government experiment for of all the hype. Either way the museum has a “hush hush” attitude about it and the mystery still remains. Roswell for those of you who don’t know also happens to be the dairy capital of New Mexico and the smell of waste lingers heavily in the air.

Our last stop in New Mexico was Carlsbad Caverns National Park where the most popular bat in the world, The Mexican Free-Tail resides. We got to see the bats in their migratory stage and for forty minutes witnessed hundreds of thousands of bats exciting out of the cave in a swirling motion to build up momentum before shooting for the skies in elaborate formations and going for their evening hunt. There were so many bats that evening that the next day when we tried to hike down into the cave the park rangers had closed it off because many of the bats were still within the entrance. Did you know that bats always leave caves and head to the left? I didn’t either! Because bats use supersonic waves and frequencies to communicate and navigate cameras, cell phones or any electric device is not to be used when they are exiting the cave.

The next day Jack went down into the cave while I stayed in the car and read a book. I might have gotten over a lot of fears on this trip, but dark scary enclosed places are certainly not one of them!

Full New Mexico Pictures here!

We were excited to get to Colorado for a few reasons… the main one being that the timeshare we were going to relax in for a few nights was located in Avon. We spent a few days lounging, drinking wine, reading, and watching the Golden Girls – which in my opinion is one of the best shows ever made. We headed into downtown Vail which is an upscale resort community (Harrison Ford has a house there) where we browsed the shops and strolled along the cobblestone streets. Hungry for a snack we decided to grab some baked brie and pints of Erdinger at one of the many German restaurants located in the town. The brie was outstanding! Perfectly crispy crust that came with fruit, freshly baked bread and linden-berry jam.

After our relaxing hiatus in Avon we decided to go to Denver where we found the city to be rather dirty and lacking in culture. The entire city of Denver had a really strange vibe to it which we didn’t really care for. The saving grace of Denver was the Tattered Cover Bookstore which offered three floors of comfy chairs and stacks upon stacks of books in sections ranging from politics to sustainability to best sellers.

Boulder was a cute and fun town despite the snow we encountered while we were there! Walking with our hands in our pockets and keeping our heads down from the wind we battled the first snow of the season. We stopped in Leaf (a vegetarian restaurant) located near the outdoor pedestrian mall for some soup and sandwiches. The cream of cauliflower soup was very tasty as well as my tempeh rueben.

Earlier in the day we drove up a steep and winding hill surrounded by thick tall grass to a mesa located shortly outside of downtown where the National Center for Atmospheric Research (or NCAR for short) resides. The grass was frozen into hundreds if not thousands of sandy colored icicles which looked odd but beautiful against the Adobe styled building. The building was created by famed architect I.M. Pei more famously known for his controversial glass pyramid addition to the Louvre.

At NCAR we learned about  global warming, creation of tornados, and the atmospheres effects on our entire planet. The center is also a functioning research center which is home to some of the most brilliant scientists of our day. Daily tours last about an hour and are free to the public.

Colorado is home to the snow topped Rocky Mountains and  the pristine Colorado River. We found Colorado to be an absolutely gorgeous state, with most cities being robust in hiking, vegetarian friendly, but a little on the chilly side. Because of the inclimate weather we encountered I did not get to take many pictures of Colorado
but you can view our set here.