Dancing in the Streets, New Orleans

People can say what they want about the French Quarter being "touristy" or whatever, but there's no denying that it's an entertaining place to be. The entire district is alive with jazz and blues, and it's difficult not to dance with all the vitality flowing out into the well-worn streets. Street performers are the norm. Live music is expected, if not demanded, by the very spirit of the city itself. Absolutely enchanting.

Coming into focus

Sunset over New Orleans, as seen from the Algiers Ferry.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Some random moments from the Big Easy

I'll be going back to explore that lovely city as soon as I can.

Taos, New Mexico

I swear...the sky is simply bluer in New Mexico.

Americuh.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of awesomeness. Meeting up with great friends, having the most gracious hosts I could ever imagine, and just doing ridiculous things, making memories and all. You know the drill. These are just snippets of my journey across America. Stay tuned for a culminating project after all of this madness is over. If all goes well, it'll be something worth seeing.

There's something absolutely wonderful about plane flights. The building excitement of moving closer to one's destination, combined with the thrill of being up in the air, high over the world - it's intoxicating. While this may no longer be the days of romantic airlines like Pan Am, I'll take what I can get.

Huntsville, Alabama. It's beautiful here. I honestly had no idea what to expect when I flew in, but regardless, I'm glad that I did. Every moment here has been filled with good food, good music, and good company. I haven't even started on the roadtrip yet, and I'm already heading home with great memories.

Shooting in the woods outside of Huntsville. It was a bit appropriate to do this down south, I suppose, but I just had fun shooting regardless. Completely failed at hitting a watermelon at 200 yards, though, which made me sad.

And by far my most favorite part of the trip thus far: learning to fly. I never imagined that I would be in the cockpit of an airplane, taking off, flying, and landing. The thrill of piloting around the thunderheads, seeing the Tennessee River below, is undoubtedly one of the highlights of my recent memory. Knocked something off my bucket list, and also felt incredibly badass talking through the giant headset.

I feel like I've been trying so hard to capture little moments that I consider to be stereotypically Southern. Sweet tea at sunset in the backyard, grits for breakfast, fried chicken for dinner. But even so, I'm picking up so many things that I could never have predicted, nor would I have wanted to. It's the thrill of the surprise - of never knowing what's in store as we move forward on this road trip - that calls to me.

I'm gone.

The wait's finally over.

I'm gone.