april. the end of texas. the road trip east. and the 4th month of christmas.

lets start by wrapping up texas. i like to take full advantage of wherever i am and there were quite a few things in texas to do. here's a picture tour of some of the other things i did while i was down there...in no real particular order. 

SEA WORLD

saw flipper. shamu. flamingos...all the typical sea world stuff.
the best part, one free military pass for you and your family per year!

AUSTIN

i decided to be a good texas tourist and go see where all this
tx pride comes from. austin is totally worth your time, i think i made 3
trips up, but one this particular one, i hit up the capital for a tour of
some good ol' texan history. 

SIX FLAGS FIESTA TX

this picture shows 2 things. first, as you can see, we went to 6 flags and
rode the most hardcore insane terrifying rides they had
to offer.
second, this is the guy is now my roommate. it went pretty
much like this. "hey man, you're getting stationed up in DC right?"
"yeah" "sweet. want to room together? save a buck?"
"sure"
there you have it. nate. 

BOLC...THE END

above is my platoon picture.
below is my nurse track platoon picture

so that was the end of texas. i packed up, and with 2 other friends headed east...
first stop. new orleans

NEW ORLEANS

horse cops. cause they're cool

i don't even know...thats why i had to take this picture

the infamous hand grenade from new orleans. i guess its
not that famous cause i've never heard of it, but when in rome...
can't say i'd ever get one again. it was like drinking pure alcohol
mixed with the most grossly sweet, nickelodeon green, fruit punch
you're 4 year old sugar addict nephew could dream up.
i've never liked fruit punch, and i don't really care for most
hard liquors. but now i've been there and done that. check please.

now this on the other hand...i can get into. cajun food. we did it.
gator, crawdads, po' boys, gumbo, jambalaya...
i'd do it again just to eat my way through that city.

FORT CAMPBELL KY

next stop, fort campbell ky. home of the historic 101st airborne.
now air assault.
also home of my good friends matt and claire. mat was one of my
good friends from my combat engineer days and also a great friend
through school. at the time i was passing through, matt was back in
afghanistan doing what he does. but i was able to enjoy a nice dinner
with claire and catch up. so thanks for the evening! and thanks matt
and all our other troops for serving.

on my way out i drove through this. nashville.
this picture shows about as much as i got to
see of nashville. its one place
i was not able to stop and enjoy...but its coming down
the hopper soon 

A-town! A-ville! Ash-vegas!

ASHEVILLE

after leaving ft campbell, i headed east once again where i finally left

the company of my 2 travel buddies who split south for ft bragg nc. 

(we'll get to ft bragg in the near future months)

but asheville. i made a quick stop to say hi, see the fam, and pick up 

my sister and kids who kept me company up to my final destination. DC.

here's a pic of my gangster nephew. 

and my niece

and i'm sorry leah, andrew, ryan, mers....now that there are kids,
they get all the photo attention.

it was a quick trip in and out of asheville and back on the road to

WASHINGTON DC

we spent some time with leah's old school friends and then headed into dc 

to catch the tail end of the cherry bloom fest. 

little na na and her cherry bloom. 

ben and his all american popsicle 

ben dripping his all american popsicle all over
andrew's hair. 

kite day on the mall

and last but not least. 

ROCKVILLE MD

home sweet home. until further notice

mom, dad, and grandpa came out to see the new place and we
caught up with some of dad's friends (ramji)

there's no good transition into this so here it is. 

my trusty steed. 

thats if folks. april.