sisterhood of the travelling mazda

Yes, once again, a nice and cheesy title for the blog post!

Here we are in Austin, TX. I'm at a starbucks right now, free Wi-fi is a fabulous idea. We are having an awesome time! Honestly the views of the sky and land have been beautiful.

SO, if you have been keeping up with us at all, you would notice that we were originally planning on being in Dallas or Wichita, Kansas at this point in time. Yesterday morning at the Hostel in New Orleans we met this couple that said "If you go anywhere in Texas go to Austin!". Following their advice, we re-routed ourselves to Austin, and boy are we glad we did! It is a BEAUTIFUL city, chock-full of fun shops and places to eat. It is a very clean/safe city with a lot to do. I highly recommend it! Very artsy, liberal, and awesome.

Here are a few pictures of things Maria mentioned below, plus some other cool things:
((You can find these and more on my Facebook page))


Me, Maria, Aunt Tracy


Awesome sunset on the way to New Orleans



Maria in the very chill common area of the Hostel!



Ghastly orb!



What can I say? New Orleans is one hell of a party city!
(and the beignets/seafood are fantastic!)



mmmmm, alligator (try the fried gator tail sometime, it's delicious...and better than chicken)


Hope those pictures give you a little taste of the excitement we've been having!


Short Story Time!

hos⋅tel

1.	Also called youth hostel. an inexpensive, supervised lodging place for young people on bicycle trips, hikes, etc.

Courtesy of Dictionary.com

Sunday morning, the 17th of May. BZZZ 6:30 AM, mine and Maria's alarm goes off. Maria and I talk a little bit about the day ahead. She goes to shower, I roll over to nap until she is out. When Maria comes back I whisper "Maria, did you notice that there is a woman sleeping on that bottom bunk?" She says "AH! No!". . . this woman was way over 50 years old and had an oxygen tank/mask on. Maria goes out to finish getting ready, I was packing some things up in my bunk. The woman arises from her bed like frankenstein and SCREAMS "GOOOOODDDD MORNING!!!!!"....scares the bageezus out of me.... I say "uh, good, morning...?"
She shakes her head like a ferocious beast and yells out "HOW ARE YOUUU TODAY!?". I am not able to tell at this point whether or not she is just super friendly, mentally handicapped, still very hungover, or just suuuper sarcastic. Curious to find out which of these she is, I respond "I'm good, how are you?". Her response "TIRED BUT I'M UP NOW, NO USE IN GOING BACK TO SLEEP, I'M ALREADY UP, UP UP UP UP UP!!!!"
She then storms out to use the bathroom. Totally perplexed, I sat there, stunned. I could not move. WHO IS THIS LADY AND WHAT IS SHE DOING IN A HOSTEL???? When she comes back, she stands in the doorway, and glares and me and Maria. I was holding back laughter like the hoover dam holds back water. Maria, attempting to be polite, says "So where are you from?" This peculiar human being says "SOMEWHERE WHERE PEOPLE LIKE TO SLEEP!!" She then grabs her rolling suitcase, oxygen tank, and waddles out of the room. Did I mention she was still wearing her clothes from the night before? Because she was. . .
We talked to the manager at the hostel, he told us that she complained to him about us "being loud", complained about a whole bunch of other things wrong with the place, and requested a single room... the man told her that if she needs quiet sleep to stay in a private hotel room or her car, and kicked her out by 7:00 AM.

I have never met such a creature in my life... so I figured I would share my experiences with you because they were utterly absurd.

WELL, we are off to do and see some of those interesting shops/places in Austin! We will be mostly camping through the west so I do not know the next time I will have internet to post more! Hope all is well until then!

<3 Taylor (&Maria)