Texas 2012

There is ALOT to see in Texas I may never see it all but I love going there I've made alot of great friends there over the years and always look forward to going. If you wanna see it they got it. Check out these old pics from Galveston in 2010.

 

Did I mention I like the beach? Oh yeah probably mentioned that

Well this time there were other places to head to. I had training courses I was teaching in Baytown, Huntsville, San Marcos, and Fort Worth. It pretty much started as soon as I got off the train from New Orleans.

I'm a big fan of skylines especially at night and Houston has a great one

The above video was actually taken in Fort Worth

Usually the biggest course we do in Texas is in San Marcos home to Texas State University. We usually stay at a travel lodge there and I like to at least stop by the Bikini's Restaurant at least once while we are there.

 

Shameless I know but oh well

While teaching the course in the bay area of San Marcos PD we decided to pose with a Humvee in there for fun.

 

Cruz looks all professional I'm about the mean mug myself I gotta get better at it though

After San Marcos Cruz needed to head down to Corpus Christi his daughter was having a baby and he was about to become a Grandfather So I hitched a ride since I was staying with his family anyway. Here are a few pics from the car in Corpus and the surrounding area.

  

Windmills as an alternate energy source

 

After Corpus we hit up a party in Orange Grove. It was alot of fun and Cruz's relatives are great people. I ate way too much but it was too good not to.

I had to take a pic of this next anomaly. A stair stepper with a beer holder. That's something there!

 

Instead of going back to Houston that night we stopped in Woodsboro and stayed with Cruz's grandmother she had a couple extra rooms. It was about the best sleep I remember having. I'd met her once before and it was great to see her again. Check out the view.

 

If I had that view from my front porch it'd be hard to get me away from the house alligators be damned. There's alot of great things in Texas and I'm sure I haven't even scraped the surface so you'll be seeing alot of Texas in this blog.

New Orleans 2012

 I'd always wanted to go to New Orleans but had never been. I travel back and forth to Texas alot to train police departments over there. I always do research on the internet to try and cut down on tr4avel costs to maximize profit. I found out I could take a train for Birmingham to Houston cheaper than I could fly. The best part is I'd get a one night layover in New Orleans so I jumped at the chance making to trips one in January and one in March.I plan on making this a normal part of my Texas trips.

 

About to get on the train in Birmingham. It was a 7 hour ride but it really wasn't that bad instead of sitting in the seats the hole time you can go sit in the lounge and talk with other passengers. There's even a bar and restaurant on board. Though the beer is expensive. Just find some people to talk to and make some new friends.

  Once I got to New Orleans it was night. I was told by Orbitz that the Hotel Lafayette was within walking distance but I was told by the passengers it wasn't a good idea to walk around at night in New Orleans if you didn't know where you were going that it's be best to take a cab. In all actuality the lounge car took a few bullets to the side as we were heading into New Orleans so I took their advice. This was the thursday before the Alabama-LSU national championship game(Roll Tide!) and when I got to the hotel they'd sold all the rooms yet I'd purchased a room. To make it up they upgraded me to a suite! That room was pretty awesome it looked like something out of the 1920's check out these few pics I took of it.

 

This room was legit! Was pretty noisy though on St. Charles but not too bad.

Herbsaints was right across the road so I got some good gumbo and the town drink which is a Sazarac.

Speaking of St Charles here is a vid I took from Herbsaints before heading back to the room

 

The next morning I decided to walk to the train station since I now knew the way but before that I thought I'd check out Lafayette Square.

 

Lafayette Square was a nice area with a good restaurant on the opposite side of the hotel that made a great omelet

Before I left this time I snapped a quick pic of the Superdome which is behind the train station

In March I made my way back to New Orleans on my way to Texas once again and decided to get out on the town a little more this time. You can pretty much get anywhere for 10 bucks.  The Hotel Lafayette was booked up this time so I stayed over at the Midtown Hotel on Tulane. I'd heard alot of bad things about it but I didn't see any of the things they were talking about. I was hoping for some crawfish but they were out of season. I took a cab to Cooter Brown's and still came out pretty good thanks to my new friends Rebecca Durham and Marek Birdline who helped me pick out something else on the menu.

  

A nice local brew called NOLA Blonde

This sandwich was the bomb! It's called a bayou philly. Onions, green peppers, cheese, shrimp, and alligator sausage. I can't wait to have one of these again when I go back.

 

 I got up the next morning and walked to this little mom and pop place there on the left behind those awnings. Toast, Sausage, eggs, potatoes, for less than 3 bucks. You can't beat that!

Then it was a cab ride back to the train. I took a few more pictures from the train as we were leaving the city and headed to Houston.

 

This will definitely not be my last trip to this great city

Pensacola 2010

In 2010 I had a chance to travel to Pensacola with a friend to the beach. I jumped at the chance to go, for one oddly enough living in Alabama my whole life I'd never been to Florida yet I'd been to California(odd huh?). I've always loved the beach and hope to live there some day. We actually stayed in Gulf Breeze right across the road from Pensacola Beach. The next time I go to that area I'll have to take some pictures of other things but this time my mind was pretty much focused on the beach.

It was a nice day not too crowded at all. There's actually a bar right on the beach called The Docks where you could sit on the back deck and drink Bushwhackers all day.

 

Right away I noticed the sand was alot whiter than the sand in San Francisco which was a more golden color

 

Just a few pics crossing over the bridge into Gulf Breeze. This is a fairly new bridge. On the other side you can still see the old bridge that was destroyed years ago by a hurricane. Today the locals still fish from it.

 

Great hot dog place here. The Food Network was here the day before we saw it we just happened up on this place by accident. Some girls invited us to an irish pub and we passed this place walking over there. One of the great things about this area is when you get there you can park your car because everything is within walking distance. That's a good thing when you party as much as we did down there and this place stays open late.

 

 This was actually in the parking lot of the hotel. Back then it was the Cabana Inn they've been bought out by Travel Lodge now but it's still a good place. You got Sandshakers right next door where the Bushwhacker was invented. I find in my travels every city has it's drink that you have to drink or you haven't been there. The Bushwhacker is a frozen drink in this area that you have to try. Everyone claims to make the best one but Sandshaker's  invented it. Across from the hotel you have the beach of course but you also have the boardwalk with dance clubs as well as other restaurants like Hooters,etc.

 

Had to get a few more pics of that beautiful ocean before I left. It's a great place to visit and I can't wait to go back.

Special thanks to Wayne Jones for letting me hitch a ride down there with him. He was going down there to visit his daughter who is a volleyball player for Pensacola State College