So Evan wimped out on finishing the blog (yes you did!) so I figured I’d just finish up our trip in one hearty blog post.

We arrived back in the US (or as we like to call it, “NoAm”) on January 17th and yes, if you were wondering, Evan WAS questioned by Homeland Security…welcome home! But soon enough we were out in the warm Ft. Lauderdale sun.  We had a really nice time being welcomed home by Matt and Megan (and their cat Tigre) and just kind of lounged around..happy to be able to do so after traveling so much. We walked on the beach and enjoyed our first beers stateside. How I missed you Blue Moon! Thanks to Matt and Megan for making us feel so welcome in our first days back in the US.

We left Ft. Lauderdale and flew to Evan’s dad’s in Houston. It was a bit colder in Texas than in Florida and we started getting our bodies used to being in chillier temps! It was really great to be with Evan’s dad and Guia for a few days and we really loved being part of a full house, with members of Guia’s family staying along with us. We were most impressed with all of the fabulous cooking going on! Filipino, Mexican, you name it.

We played some tennis, caught up on our TV and even got to meet up with Evan’s college friend Dave for a beer! In addition to all of the people time we had we also witnessed our “first birth.” Guia’s chihuahua Puka had six puppies when we were there!! She was a great mama and cleaned all of her pups up as they came out and it was really cool to see a whole little family come together.

Puka and her new puppies

Before we left we celebrated Guia’s birthday with some awesome Mexican food (ceviche, guacamole, grilled steak for Evan, tortillas, mmm…we were craving it!!) and we also watched Hope for Haiti. We are hoping to do something to also raise funds for this horrific tragedy when we get organized back at home.

We left on Sun January 24th and were super grateful to Evan’s dad for lending us a car for the long journey back. Thanks to everyone!!

We headed to Austin, Texas and I was really excited for a few reasons. I have never been to Austin and heard great things about the city, the people, etc. Also, we were on our way to meet Robbie Davis-Floyd for dinner.  Robbie Davis-Floyd is a very well known cultural anthropologist, specializing in the anthropology of reproduction. She has written and edited many books focused on midwifery care, birth models around the world and the medical system in the United States. She is also a renowned speaker and teacher and lives in Austin, Texas. If you’re interested in checking out her awesome work be sure to visit her website: www.davis-floyd.com

I contacted Robbie when we were still in South America to see if it would be possible to just meet with her and pick her brain when we were in Austin. I really didn’t expect a response because I know how busy she is with conferences and speaking engagements. I was pleasantly surprised when Robbie got back to me straight away, invited me and Evan to dinner and offered us a place to stay! We were excited to meet with Robbie both because she is such an important part of the birth community but also because I am in the very very early stages of researching possible masters and PhD programs in this area.

Meeting with Robbie was really wonderful. I was a little nervous at first but we eased into the conversation soon enough and found ourselves spending more than four and half hours with her! We had great conversation and Robbie gave me great advice about programs, pathways, etc. She also graciously presented me with two of her books signed with encouragement. What a great night! Thanks so much to Robbie for welcoming us in and being a mentor to me. I really look forward to visiting again next time we come to Austin!

We did not end up staying with Robbie however, which brings me to the third reason I was excited to get to Austin, and of course Evan as well. A good friend of ours, John Wilkes, lives and works in Austin and we got to stay with him for two nights. John and Evan went to Columbia together and were best friends throughout. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen John since the summer of 06 and was really pumped to spend some time with him.

Austin did not disappoint. It is a vibrant, friendly city filled with young people doing creative things…everything from green business models to cool coffee shops (like Jo’s on South Congress…they’re currant muffin is rockin).  At John’s we were not far from a lot of great little “strips” where Evan and I just strolled taking in everything from quirky clothing shops to famous cowboy boot sellers. John had to work during the day (doing financial managing for Bess Bistro, owned by Sandra Bullock) so Evan and I just explored the city..visiting the UT campus and reading about the historical buildings in the area. We also visited the flagship Whole Foods…man that place is HUGE.

At night John joined us and we had a great time catching up over great cocktails, sushi (yes!) and late night drive thru tacos.  It was awesome to see him and his city and I am definitely planning to go back for an Austin’s City Limits one of these years! We’ll see you in the city soon John!

Johnny Columbia taking us out on the town in Austin

After Austin we started the drive to New Orleans.  Along the road I kept pointing out all of the American and Texan flags along the highway…those Texans LOVE their flag..I bet most people in NJ don’t even know what the flag looks like! As we got into Louisiana we saw the landscape change and when we stopped at a truck stop outside Baton Rouge we were reminded of how we just hit the south. Between the toothless women behind the counter and the ACTUAL tigers in cages outside we were not sure of who we were more afraid of.

We made it into New Orleans in the evening and pulled up to another of Evan’s college friends, Ashvi. Ashvi and Evan studied abroad together in Spain and now she is in her second year of law school at Tulane in New Orleans. She lives in a really pretty house with two great roomies (and an adorable pug named Bella) in the Uptown section of the city, very close to both Tulane and Loyola.

As all of you know by now..Evan and I think of travel and food as synomous words, and New Orleans holds a special place in our heart. Since we only had a day in a half in the Big Easy we decided to just eat our way through. Luckily, Ashvi was along for the ride! As soon as we got in she offered to take us to ACME Oyster House, one of our favorite places ever and we were happy to take her up on the offer.

Along with her boyfriend Daniel and his friend Pat we piled in plates filled with raw and charbroiled oysters and cold Abita beer. What more do you want?? We were really excited to be in New Orleans at this time since they had just won the Playoffs and will be playing in the Superbowl this Sunday for the first time in their history. Put that with Mardi Gras being a week away (and the season already underway) and you have one fun city!

Ashvi was pretty busy with school so Evan and I took to the streets on Thursday. We drove down St. Charles Ave and took in all the beautiful old homes along the way, all decked out in their Saints and Mardi Gras regalia. We walked along Magazine St and saw all the signs for “Saints Cakes” a Superbowl spin on the traditional “Kings Cake” for Mardi Gras.

Who Dat Nation! GO SAINTS!

Also along Magazine St. we stopped into a fish market on Magazine Street called “Big Fisherman” and picked up 5lbs (yes, you heard right) of boiled crawfish for lunch. Now, just to be clear…this is 5lbs but it certainly isn’t 5lbs of food… crawfish are itty bitty and it takes a lot to get a good meal out of them. That said, 5lbs is still a LOT. Well we took on the challenge. Across the street from the market is a bar called “The Bulldog” where you can eat your crawfish at their outside tables if you buy a beer. We parked ourselves outside  and enjoyed a solid hour of cracking open and sucking on crawfish. Hog Heaven.

Done and Done, NOLA style

Thurs night we went to dinner (not like we needed it) with Ashvi and had some great Creole flavors at a local favorite called “Jaques-Imos”. However, my favorite part of the night is when the guy at the bar told me that I looked like “I could be the daughter of Mother Earth.” To some, that may be a dig at my non made up face and scruffy clothing but in my line of work, that is a compliment. So thanks! After dinner we went to a place called “Dos Jefes Uptown Cigar Bar”  and listened to some great New Orleans jazz. Another thanks to Ashvi, her roomates, Dan and Pat for a solid time in NOLA.

We hit the ground running on Friday morning and piled a few more goodies into the car before we left. We visited a great hole-in-the-wall bar and lunch spot called Domilise’s Po-Boy shop. Domilise’s has been around for a long time and is a favorite of the Manning brothers. Dot and her husband still run the place and make some mighty fine Po-Boys. They are no nonsense and they are awesome..I so wish we had enough time to sit and have a beer. This place evoked White House Subs in AC for me and brought me home. And the shrimp and oyster po-boy was to die for. Evan was jealous but satiated himself with a muffaletta from Central Grocery. These things are huge but it served him well throughout the long drive ahead.

Before we left we decided to take a drive down to the Lower Ninth Ward. Evan and I were in New Orleans not too long after Katrina hit the city but we didn’t have a car so we didn’t see anything past the French Quarter. This time we headed over the bridge. The Lower Ninth Ward is definitely still suffering as we drove past blocks and blocks of boarded up businesses and houses. We could not believe that it’s been nearly five years since disaster struck. That said, we also saw some houses being cleaned up and people moving back into neighborhoods. It breaks my heart to know that so many people have not yet returned home to the city they love so much. I really am pulling for the Saints to win this weekend and both Evan and I feel like honorary members of “Who Dat Nation.”

As we drove through the south I entered Mississippi and Alabama for the first time. Next time we do a trip I really want to stop along the way more but for my first time (Evan drove his sister cross country to move to New Mexico in the summer of 06) it was cool just to see the landscapes and road signs change as we entered each new state. It was along this route that we started to hear warning signs of really bad weather on the radio. Now, I don’t think many people get stuck in the South because of WINTER weather but you can bet that’s what happened to us.

We planned to drive for about 9 hrs and reach Atlanta, Georgia for the night and to wake up bright and early on Saturday and drive straight until we got to Gretchen and Dan in Virginia Beach. Well by the time we stopped off in Duluth, Georgia, right outside of Atlanta we were already experiencing freezing rain in the South and heard of bad weather in South and North Carolina. We checked into a Days Inn and hoped for better skies in the morning.

Unfortunately we did not make it out of Duluth on Saturday. Instead, we went to the Waffle House, my first ever and spent the day held up in the Days Inn before we took in an early meal at the Olive Garden. Now here’s my little “soap box” moment. It is really distressing to see how almost every town in America has turned into one big mini mall. I could not tell when we left one place and entered another because everything is chain, chain, chain. Everywhere you look are the same restaurants and stores and it’s really sad especially because these restaurants peddle hefty portions of unhealthy food for cheap prices. I really would like to see the local food movements move quicker across the nation….but I can’t complain about the coffee at Waffle House. It’s pretty good.

Although we were cranky (especially me) about missing a wknd night with our friends and being stuck in suburban Georgia, honestly it was good to have a break from the car. The next morning we left pretty early (after refilling our cups at Waffle House) and headed north to see the damage.

Evan did an awesome job as he navigated the roads from South to North Carolina and the roads were generally okay. That said, obviously these states are even worse than South Jersey when it comes to snow and many places were not plowed at all. Even so, we got to Gret and Dan’s at a decent time and were more than happy to see two heaping glasses of Malbec on the counter waiting for us.

Gretchen is an old friend of ours as we went to high school with her and I have known her since our days in the children’s choir! She and her awesome husband Dan (and their sweet English lab Duncan) are living in Virginia Beach as Dan is a crew coach at Old Dominion. Their townhouse is cozy but we hope they eventually join us back in the tri-state area.

We made some great meals with them and it was really an awesome surprise when, on Monday we ended up having an extra “weekend day” with them because of the snow. We had a killer breakfast equipped with mimosas in plastic cups at “Big Sam’s Inlet Cafe and Raw Bar” overlooking the water and saw the really pretty coastline of Virginia Beach. Another thanks go out to these two for feeding us so well (and providing copious amounts of wine). It was really cozy and we’re really looking forward to seeing you home in SJ!

We left Gret and Dan on Tues and headed for our last major stop in Burke, Virginia where Evan’s aunt and uncle live. We only get to see Kay and Jack once or twice a year so it was awesome to just hang out with them. We also got lucky again as Wednesday was a snow day for Kay and a snow day for their granddaughter Megan, Evan’s goddaughter. We got to spend all day Wednesday with Kay, Jack, Megan and her little brother Zachary.  So thankful to Auntie Kay and Uncle Jack for making our stay so cozy and feeding us so well! We are really looking forward to visiting with you in AC soon.

We were supposed to head into DC for Thursday night to see our fabulous friends Zach and Kate but we heard the weather reports and decided that we better not risk getting stuck in DC when the snow storm hit today (Friday, February 5th).  Hopefully we can get down to see you guys soon but it just wasn’t meant to be on this trip. With our minds made up and our bags packed we hit the road again..this time on our way home.

The drive home through Maryland, Delaware and finally NJ was a really easy one and it was just so surreal for the both of us when we hit Route 40 towards Atlantic City. I know that we have been away a while (and for Americans, an eternity) but it didn’t feel like very long when we pulled into Evan’s drive way on Main Street and greeted his mom at the door. It just felt like we’d driven around the block a few times and came back because we forgot something.

Last night we had some real Jersey subs and beer after stocking up at the grocery store for the big snowstorm expected to land here tonight. It was awesome to hang out at my mom’s and surprise my stepdad, of course I cried upon seeing both of them…Evan is much more of a grownup than I am! We gave them trinkets from our trip and started the first part of what will be many conversations about the trip and the last five months of everyone’s lives. It was weird to spend our first night without each other in five months (I know, mushy!) but I think that we are both really looking forward to spending the six months or so back here in South Jersey before we head back to Brooklyn in the fall. We’re not sure of our next steps in our careers, schooling, living, anything but we’re both happy to be back here with our family and our friends for a time.

We will be writing a final blog post in the week to come with thoughts on the trip, tips for fellow travelers and musings over plans for our next big adventure, hopefully to happen before we’re 30.  Sorry for the lack of photos in this post..we just got tired of taking them!! That said, we have uploaded all of our photos to our flickr page and hope you’ll check it out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanchezandrenn/

I hope that you’ve enjoyed taking this journey with us..we have certainly enjoyed relaying it to all of you! Thank you to everyone who helped us have a wonderful experience and thank you to Evan for encouraging me to take this trip, guiding me through it the entire time and getting me home safely.

Cheers.