San Antonio

Had the 'famous' chicken fried steak in Lulus bakery, which was on Man Vs Food. Weren't the best thing I've eaten, but then I am very fussy so I'm probably not the best person to get a review off. The bakery was on Man Vs Food because they also sold a cinnamon bun that weighed a pound, but neither of us like cinnamon, which it seems everyone in America does, so we didn't try it.

The Alamo

We visited the Alamo, which is the site of a Battle, between Mexico and Texas, and was interesting to walk around. A bit of culture for us, but I have to admit, I only knew about it because of Top Gear.

Spent the afternoon walking around the canals. It was SO hot, we went into the nearest bar we could, which turned out to be an Irish bar and Laura got drunk on one Long Island Iced tea while we watched some football on the tv. Very dramatic as it went to penalties. Think the Germans won.

We then went for Mexican. This is me trying out some Tex Mex, very tasty.

 The margarita Laura made me buy however, was not!!!!!!! And theres a mariachi band sneaking up behind me, but I couldn't concentrate because I was holding back the vomit. We got talking to a couple from Denver during dinner and I got distracted talking to them and managed to finish the drink.

New Orleans

Next stop is New Orleans. Found this old classic at the start of the Mississippi river. I welled up after they played the English national anthem on the pipes. Must have been feeling home sick that day!! The Americans all stood up and put their hand on their hearts when theirs played...!

                                                

New Orleans is full of street entertainers, and this chap is just one of the many we got to see! 

An example of the AMAZING buildings they have there, we wanted to live in every single one we saw.

The days we were there, there was some sort of celebration that brought sailors from all over the world into the Port, so they were all walking round, taking in the sites like we were, although we did see a couple being sick in the streets, enjoying their leave a bit too much!

This is taken in the amazing guest house we stayed in, just made us love New Orleans even more. We stayed in one night and got chatting to some of the other guests (hi if you're reading!!) and had a great time comparing cultures.

Laura got dragged up by a brass band that were performing on the street, and someone took this picture of her and emailed it to her which was really nice of him. I was too busy laughing to take any good pictures.

Panama City

We were originally meant to spend the day in Pensacola but there was a storm so we stayed at one of the stop off points waiting for it to clear as there was torrential rain. So we spent a good few hours in Ripleys believe it or not in Panama City, the beach was really nice too but obviously it was raining so it didn't look its best.

This was in ripleys, the car was covered in English coins.

When we came out after the storm this was over the road ;)

We found this restaurant board very humorous!

This is Panama City Beach it would be beautiful on a sunny day but I like it all the same.

We travelled to a little town called Seaside, this is where the Truman Show was recorded and it does look like a film set everything was clean and tidy and expensive looking i'd imagine this is where the rich people holiday.

From here we travelled to Pensacola and another storm hit but I had no option but to drive on as it was getting dark, I've never seen rain like it, I couldn't see a thing in front of me I was petrified!! I had blisters on my hands by the end of it from holding onto the steering wheel for dear life, but obviously we made it in one piece.

Tallahassee

We visited Goodwood plantation built in the 1830's, it was this lovely big house and the grounds around it. It was beautiful, I wanted to move in instantly!

A panoramic of the pool and garden area.

Leanne sat by the pool checking out her sandals.

Krispy Kremes! They were all eaten in approx 36 hours, terrible! They cost $7 for 12 thats about £4.50, at home they'd be about £12 so we just had to have a dozen!!!

I think we earnt them anyway as Leanne saw the KK shop on the way to the restaurant and said it was practically next door so we decided to walk down after dinner (get some pudding) about 1 mile later we're still walking towards the shop, thats leanne and her navigation skills at their finest, good job we have the satnav and she's not navigating thats all I have to say!!!

Had a lovely FaceTime call from a couple of nutters!

Tampa

Laura enjoying a fresh cream eclair. We seriously cannot walk past a bakery without popping in, they have sooo much to choose from.

We decided to get the tram which only cost a few dollars, and travelled across town to a place called Ybor, which you pronounce similar to Eeyore.

Which we both really liked. Was full of cafes, bars, amazing little boutiques and thrift shops that we always end up buying things from. Usually I walk out with a dress and Laura with some funny postcard, and Tampa was no different.

On the slabs there were loads of different inscriptions, where people could have dedications inscribed, like messages of love if someone has passed away. Now this is probably aimed at someone whose nickname is Sugar, but we thought it pretty much summed up how I feel about actual sugar. 

We also went to the Aquarium and saw this chap. Look at his little face! We could stroke the stingrays as long as we didn't touch the danger zone, a young girl about six kept stroking the danger zone she was gonna get steve Irwined, as responsible citizens we left her to it and walked off laughing.

We got to see lots of turtles, sharks and even penguins!!

We saw a bowling alley so decided to see how the Americans bowl. It was extremely posh in comparison to back home theres a proper bar and proper food and waitresses and the whole set up is much more respectable to say the least! We were somehow placed in the middle of some sort of private party, and people had to keep walking past our lane to get to the spread of food that was next to us. Looked pretty tasty too, we were toying with the idea of robbing some but decided not to. As you can see Laura won, which she was very pleased about, but annoyed cause I'm not competitive at all so it annoys her when I congratulate her :) 

Orlando

 We went to Gatorland on the way in to Orlando to see some alligators believe it or not!

But we also met this 100 year old giant tortoise :) 

The gators! sunbathing with the turtles, living in perfect harmony.

A parrot

We went in the budgie house and anyone that knows leanne will be aware of her hatred towards budgies and will be completely surprised at the joy in her eyes! She loved it and kept buying more bird food, thats why she's covered in birds because she had seeds everywhere!

We bought some sausages to feed the gators with one warning, don't feed the birds, however the birds were more interested than the gators! This one stalked up behind me and there was a big caffufle when he cornered me and all I could do was throw my sausages at leanne which of course she didn't catch and the bird ran off with the sausages packaging and all.

Leanne and Walt

The next day we went to DisneyLand, now before you're all disappointed at my disinterest in the rides I'm not a ride person and leanne's not so much either so we only went on the kiddie rides! Its a good job as well because every time Leanne got scared she repeatedly punched me! 

The Magic Kingdom

So not being ride people we were there to enjoy the essence of Disney and to take it all in. Its an amazing place but the queues are horrific and the children even more so! Its a good job I wasn't queueing for rides all day or id of left feeling bitter.

We hadn't been there long and a street parade started with music everywhere and all the kids looked so excited (and the adults on the sly) they started dancing in the streets, me and leanne were welling up! It was lovely to see everyone so excited but that was the one and only time the children/pushchairs were cute!!!    

Mickey and Minnie

The Muppets fountain

We got those tea cups spinning!

Leanne enjoyed herself singing in the rain, I enjoyed myself with a cocktail! I needed fluids, id had too much sun and had to see the nurse for paracetamol, she recommended water but I went with Long Island Iced Tea :) 

This is us finally getting some sort of tan! (mainly freckles)

Leanne's in the queue for the best ride EVER!! Toy story! painfully she beat me but if there wasn't a 1hour+ wait id of gone on this ride all day long! This was probably the highlight of my day.

Daytona Beach

There wasn't much to see here other than the beach which was lovely. Its known for getting crazy at spring break which we were nervous about encountering, not really our sort of thing, but we were here the week between spring break and bike week so it was quiet. Bit of a strange mix of people really, bikers and the last dregs of college students.

First and only parking meter we've used, very exciting stuff!

The world famous beach, we spent the day sunbathing and walked in to the sea up to our knees and that was all as it was freezing!  

A sign saying its world famous.

 Leanne woke up in the night with something black on her arm about the size of a 50p (blatant cockroach!) batted it away half asleep then woke up with two fang holes in her arm! she's currently turning into roach woman her only special power is freaking people out!!

Pretty ferris wheel