ATTENTION: We are having SO MUCH FUN and we’re so excited
about what’s to come in the next several days! We will be traveling through some
areas where the Internet is spotty, so the blog may be posted later on that
day! As soon as we can, we will post so you can see all the fun we’re having!
Thank y’all for being patient with us! We are loving every minute!!! Love and
miss y’all!!!
This morning Vicky woke us up with encouraging words, which
later turned into threats of licking us if we didn’t get up! So we quickly got
up and got dressed, heading to the bus and vans at 6:05. WE’RE HEADING TO NEW
ORLEANS TODAY!!!!!
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| AUBURN UNIVERSITY!!!! GO TIGERS! |
Our first stop for the day was Auburn University in
Alabama. This was also our first time
zone change of the trip. We began with research by Matthew Lacayo from
Stokedale. He provided many interesting facts about The State of Alabama. Following, we learned facts about Auburn
University from Jacqueline Garcia from Fort Mill, SC. She included many famous
people that graduated from Auburn including Cam Newton, Bo Jackson, Charles Barkley
and most importantly her mom!
We took our group picture in front of the clock—IT WAS
6:15AM!! We then headed to our first Wal-Mart trip of the day! Many bought
Auburn trinkets and others bought food! The Happy’s provided another delicious
meal including bagels, with cream cheese and bananas.
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| LOOK WHAT TIME IT IS!!!! |
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| Matthew Lacayo |
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| Jacqueline Garcia |
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| Anna Brady and Taylor Kennedy! Selfie with new friends! |
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| Peighton Quin and Katie Edwards |
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| Laura Hayes and Ashley Beaty |
Heading back to the bus and vans we were all looking forward
to taking naps on the way to New Orleans! After much needed rest, many played
cards and sang and dance to music to wakeup.
We love a good jam session!!!
We were served a traveling lunch consisting of ham or turkey
and cheese sandwiches with a side of pudding.
YUM!!!
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| Can you guess where this picture was taken? |
Finally, arriving to New Orleans around 1:00 pm, we were all
ecstatic about the jazz filled streets. We again had many interesting facts and
wonderful research presented by the participants. Reid Brigman shared facts
about The State of Louisiana, followed by Brae Troutman with facts about
Bourbon Street. Next, Taylor Kennedy
gave us information about the amazing Café DuMonde. Kristina Sheppard told us
about the famous Jackson Square in New Orleans where we also went shopping and
explored the town! Dan Caruso presented information about the St. Louis
Cathedral. Lastly, Meggie Cauley presented her research on the second longest
river in the world, The Mississippi River!
After, we all went to Café Du Monde where we enjoyed some
delicious beignets and coffee. We then
walked over to the St. Louis Cathedral and admired the beautiful structure and
artwork!
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| WE LOVE CAFE DU MONDE |
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| Ready to take on Bourbon Street |
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| St. Louis Cathedral |
Traveling in groups of four of more, we experienced some of
the most popular dishes from local restaurants downtown New Orleans such as the
Cajun cuisines. Some of us bought post
cards, key chains and coffee mugs.
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| Bourbon Street |
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| Boas...lots of boas! |
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| When's the masquerade ball? |
When shopping our time was over, we all met at the bus and
vans around 4:45 pm to go to our campsite for the night. On the bus ride we were treated to a 23-mile
bridge ride over Lake Pontchartrain. The view from the bridge included the
skyline of New Orleans and a lot of open water.
We arrived at our campsite around 6:15pm and we all met to
talk about the game plan for the night. Then, unpacked the buses and got
settled into our cabins (yes, we get to sleep inside tonight! On actual
beds)!!! The cooks began to work on our sit down dinner. While waiting for dinner we practiced our
skits for the show tonight, which were original renditions of the song
Dixieland Delight!
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Spaghetti for dinner tonight!
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| Happy Happy's! |
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| TIME FOR DINNER! |
The cooks treated us to a gourmet meal of spaghetti with
marinara or alfredo sauce to go along with garlic bread and a salad. The noodles may have been slightly
undercooked, but the meal was still edible and enjoyed.
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| Thank you dishwashers!! |
After it was time to run through our skits one last time
before the big show! There were many laughs as we all watched the groups
perform. We were entertained with some
an interpretative dance, poetry and acting.
Even though the performances were for points towards the group
competition, it’s safe to say we were all winners tonight. We didn’t know people could move like that or
had that much talent!!!
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| HAPPY'S |
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| DOPEY'S |
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| SNEEZY'S-- WINNERS!!!!!!!!! |
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| GRUMPY'S |
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| SLEEPY'S |
Overall, the group had a fantastic day. From our first early
wake up call to being tortured with horror stories of the hike we are preparing
to take, I think I speak for the whole group when I say we are going to
thoroughly enjoy seeing this beautiful country and becoming a TWB family.
