from beignets to fried chicken

we kicked off our last day in NOLA with more beignets - this time, with the whole family in tow.

 the iced cafe au lait was pretty delicious.

then it was back to the hotel to check out and hop in the car for one last look at bourbon street.  did i happen to mention the smell of that place?  it's...indescribable.  and not in a good way.  imagine alcohol and cigarette smoke mixed with the lingering aroma of fresh vomit, and then multiply that by about ten.  yeah.  yum yum.

we crossed this bridge on our way out of the city, crossing the mississippi river one last time.

at one of our stops for gas, i picked up one of those gross local snacks that had so much promise, but was a huge fail on so many levels.

i'd pictured them being crunchy and fun to eat like chicharrones, but instead they were so hard i feared for my teeth.  the couple of pieces i was able to munch on had such great flavor, but alas, i ended up tossing it at our next stop.  so sad.

my bummer streak continued as this stupid truck cockblocked my "welcome to texas" sign picture.  buttonhole.

this looked...interesting.  if "interesting" means "depressing as hell."

when we were just about half an hour away from dallas, the ILs had us all stop here to see "the truck stop of all truck stops."  the hub wasn't much in the mood, but he pulled in anyway.

it was indeed quite a truck stop.  rather like a giant walmart with a gas station.

after we'd gotten a chance to unwind and relax a little at the ILs' house, we headed out again to grab some dee-licious grub at babe's.  fried chicken sounded like a great way to end the day.

by the way, we all peered at this sign, sounded it out several times, and still can't figure out what the hell it's supposed to be saying.  help?

this one has turned into an inside joke between the bean and me.

oh, and one last photo from new orleans - a little collage i put together from our half-marathon walk:

good times, man.