BACK IN BIG RED - LOUISIANA, JAN. 2012

Finally! On January 16, after some last minute servicing (Big Red was only there from Dec. 16 on...) we drove off from Buda, TX to spend the night in the Houston area, visit sister, Janet, and pick up Moe the cat, a.k.a. King of the Road.

On the road again! First stop: Coushatta Red Shoes RV Resort at Grand Casino Coushatta in Kinder, LA. Yes, we lost more than we made, but we had fun doing it! We also toured around the area.

Bayou Bridge

Rice field

Irrigation canal for the rice fields

Lake Charles Waterfront Park

But, by far the neatest and most enjoyable sight in the Louisiana countryside was our visit to the McIlhenny Tabasco Factory on Avery Island. Not only is it fun to see the production process and all those bottles whipping through the various machines, but the whole property is beautiful, and very in keeping with the environment.

The gate keeper collecting our entrance fee ($2, I think!).

The original production plant, with appropriate new wing, visible on the right end.

During our tour we received a miniature bottle of each Tabasco flavor, but we still hit the gift store to stock up on larger sizes for Holden! Not only do they have a great selection of Tabasco products and related items, they have a great little snack bar, where we bought etoufee (crawfish stew) and spicy steamed sausages to enjoy on the large outdoor patio. There's even fun stuff for kids, too.

The McIlhennys were very environmentally conscious, setting aside land as a sanctuary for snowy egrets, and building an area on Avery Island called The Jungle Garden. 

Next thing we did was head to NOLA (New Orleans, LA). Believe it or not, there's a really nice rv resort in the French Quarter, which is only 3 blocks from Bourbon Street.

Our visit was just before Mardi Gras, but people were already decorating for the big event.

We happened upon a  great (and free!), concert given in St. Louis Cathedral by the excellent Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra; a history of classical music in Louisiana through to the advent of jazz, with such featured composers as Dvorak, von Suppe and Jelly Roll Morton. Other than that we spent our time eating fabulous food (be sure to try MiLa, a restaurant in the Renaissance New Orleans Pere Marquette Hotel at 817 Common St.), trolleying around the Garden District and walking, walking, walking!

Had a drink at the riverfront Westin Hotel, as we enjoyed the view.

Adieu to the French Quarter and time to hit the road again.  Please join us in our next post as we head through Florida to the Keys.

THE WEDDING AND BEYOND! JANUARY 2012

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. David Irwin, married on January 1, 2012.
Clare and David had a beautiful ceremony at the First Congregational Church of Griswold, near their home, officiated by Clare's uncle, Rev. Dr. Byron E. Waterman. They even wrote their own vows, which were beautiful. After the ceremony we all enjoyed a great sit-down dinner in the church hall, complete with "birch log" wedding cake. 

During our 2 1/2 week visit in CT, besides the wedding, we had a great time with family and friends (especially Christmas morning with our grandgirls!). Little Blue took us all the way up from Texas and back, and we had some great scenery and stops along the way. One regret is not getting pictures of Cousin Courtney and her family, who graciously hosted us for a night at their great home in Jefferson, GA. 

Here is a pictorial history of our Little Blue/Christmas Holiday travels.

Early frosty morning on I 66 from Washington, DC after spending the night
with Carol's sister Nancy Twist and  her husband, Russell.

Over-nighted in Pigeon Forge, TN, and drove through Smoky Mountains National Park.
We plan to revisit this beautiful park in the future.

On our way down to Memphis we trailed behind this truck towing two vehicles,
which were only held together by the vines that have grown over them! Yee-haw!

Made our pilgrimage to Graceland, which Holden hadn't seen, and he particularly enjoyed the kitchen. I was impressed with the fancy fabric ceiling in the billiard room. Graceland is really worth the stop, partly to get a look inside the two private planes parked on the property, as well as Elvis' awesome auto collection (including the famous pink cadillac). They also have great audio tour technology.

After Memphis we headed to the Dallas area, spending a night with Holden's cousin Woody, wife Anita and daughter Emma. As seems to happen so often on our travels, we get so busy visiting that we forget to take pictures once we get inside! So, here's a picture of their rental house in Richmond Hills, TX.

While in Dallas, we stayed at the unique Aloft Hotel, which is literally a loft hotel, with lots of cement and colors.

We took a day's tour of Dallas and nearby Fort Worth, including a reenactment of a cattle drive, which consisted of a dozen head of longhorns wandering down the street to the sound of whips cracking and cowboys shouting. :-)

Dallas City Hall

Dallas relocated numerous historic houses to this one section of town,

and now each one houses various different non-profit organizations.

Part of Dallas' skyline

Here ends our Christmas holiday road trip adventures. Next stop,

"spring" Big Red from Crestview RV service and hit the road again!

 

Catch-Up Post #1: December,2011!

Sorry for the long hiatus in blogging!
I guess we're taking this retirement thing seriously, and o-d'ing on leisure!


First, here's a correction to the very first blog: our very first dinner guest was our good friend, Jo Kennard, who joined us for an afternoon and evening while we were parked at Riverdale Farm Campsite in Clinton, CT. (We still get busy with visiting and miss photo ops, so this is a photo from Christmas at Jo's house!)

Okay, here we go for another installment of fun!

In December we left New Caney, TX, passing this Christmas house

 near our rv resort for the last time. Sadly, they never lit it up for us!

We headed to Galveston, which has really made a come back from being devastated by Hurricane Ike in 2008. We stayed a couple of nights at the newly repaired/renovated Dellanera State Park, a beautiful campground smack dab on the ocean.

Galveston hosts "Dickens On the Strand" every December, and it was fun to walk the streets with all sorts of folks dressed up in Dickensian attire, and to enjoy the music and food venues.

Holden and Old Saint Nicholas

Traveling down from Galveston we landed in Port Aransas, on Mustang Island, which is across from Corpus Christi. First time Big Red got to ride on a ferry! We enjoyed the beautiful campground and got to see whooping cranes from afar, but we stayed bundled up, as the weather was pretty chilly.

Next stop San Antonio, and the Riverwalk all decorated for the holidays - what a wonderland!

After San Antonio we headed to Austin and the Salt Lick Barbecue. We had plans to drive back over to Houston and leave Big Red for service during the time we'd be in CT visiting with the family for Christmas, but the morning of our departure from Austin the slides wouldn't go in (no power at all!) and one of the leveler jacks got stuck again. So, we called an RV service place in nearby Buda, TX, lined them up to pick up the rig, and drove off leaving Big Red behind!