It was another driving day for us. Hoping to have learned a lesson from our last road trip, we set out earlier this time. I must say that we are getting pretty good at packing up - we've certainly had some practice the last few weeks!
Would you believe that in 10 hours, we drove through 4 states; Louisiana (where we started), Mississippi, Alabama, and now Florida? The bayous and swamps have given way to drier ground with lush green everywhere, and tall deciduous and pine trees.
When we drive, we tend to stop every few hours to stretch and walk Max - it's typically 30 min to an hour which does makes the trip a bit longer. Some of the rest stops have walking trails and picnic areas nicer than some parks in Ontario.
We stopped at the Florida Welcome Centre for lunch. Got some great pictures, one they did in the welcome centre, with an alligator! (In case you are wondering, the gator wasn't real).
Better luck with traffic this time with no big delays (so Karl didn't need to threaten Suzie).
The park we are staying at is Emerald Coast which bills itself as the best RV park in America. I did a quick tour in the dark, but so far, I am impressed. There are 2 heated pools and a hot tub, 2 small lakes with trails around them, (one has paddle-boats and a dock for fishing- catch and release), there are 2 activity rooms, an exercise room - well equipped, and Karl just came back from his walk to say that there is a pet wash! Anyway, I think we'll be comfy here for a few days. Lots of plans for checking out the beach to soak up some sun and gather the courage to wander back north next week (... if we feel like it!).
Tomorrow is Easter and we have found a church right next to the park which we plan to attend.
Hope all of you have a great day with your families - in one way it's sad not to be there with y'all, but you are in our hearts and we'll see ya soon!
Saturday, 19 April 2014
Friday, 18 April 2014
New Orleans
Allright!! The rain is gone and the sun has come out, time to make our way to the heart of New Orleans!
We hung out at the park this morning to watch an Imax video - Hurricane on the Bayou. It's about the effects of Hurricane Katrina on not just the people, but also the wetlands....
Just driving around the city, there are buildings and homes that were either patched or left empty with roofs torn open and walls crumbling. These are right alongside newly built and or repaired houses. Where we are is actually beside an upscale marina ... at least one building still badly damaged, but standing and being used.
We made it to The French Quarter just before noon. We peeked into St Louis Cathedral, a huge, white church built in the 1700's. There was a mass being held, but oh my, the paintings on the ceiling and just the woodwork/ sculpturing was incredible!!
The buildings in the French Quarter looked like something in Europe 200 years ago (probably are that old) and painted in bright colours with wrought iron balconies on the 2nd or 3rd floors and flower boxes full of brightly coloured plants. Apparently the levies broke very close to this area, so they were badly affected by the hurricane ... still, other than the occasional shop, this area likely looks a lot like it did before.
The air was full of music - some of the streets were blocked off to traffic, and jazz or blues musicians were set up just a block or two apart. There were buskers, hotdog carts, and even psychics set up on the streets. Oh and panhandlers - I listened to one fellow who was anxious to talk about his life and we ended up $4 poorer. The fellow who targeted Karl tried for $20 (for shining his scandals), but only got $1!!
We found a little Mexican restaurant where they told Max he could come in and bring his people. They had a pretty little courtyard where we had our lunch.
Lots of walking, lots of real characters!! One fellow was collecting money to legalize marijuana and then there were the artists out on the sidewalk, and on and on.
We walked along the levy and saw one of the big paddle-boats leaving, then checked out the French Market area - food and flea-market. Karl had a gator dog and I found a teeshirt - Roadtrip 2014 New Orleans. Well by that time, we had been walking for almost 4 hours, and were done and so was poor little Max.
Just a postscript about Max - everybody loves Max. He got sooooo many pets and cuddles today, wow. But the poor little thing ran for the trailer once we got back and was, within minutes, sound asleep. Same as Karl.
We hung out at the park this morning to watch an Imax video - Hurricane on the Bayou. It's about the effects of Hurricane Katrina on not just the people, but also the wetlands....
Just driving around the city, there are buildings and homes that were either patched or left empty with roofs torn open and walls crumbling. These are right alongside newly built and or repaired houses. Where we are is actually beside an upscale marina ... at least one building still badly damaged, but standing and being used.
We made it to The French Quarter just before noon. We peeked into St Louis Cathedral, a huge, white church built in the 1700's. There was a mass being held, but oh my, the paintings on the ceiling and just the woodwork/ sculpturing was incredible!!
The buildings in the French Quarter looked like something in Europe 200 years ago (probably are that old) and painted in bright colours with wrought iron balconies on the 2nd or 3rd floors and flower boxes full of brightly coloured plants. Apparently the levies broke very close to this area, so they were badly affected by the hurricane ... still, other than the occasional shop, this area likely looks a lot like it did before.
The air was full of music - some of the streets were blocked off to traffic, and jazz or blues musicians were set up just a block or two apart. There were buskers, hotdog carts, and even psychics set up on the streets. Oh and panhandlers - I listened to one fellow who was anxious to talk about his life and we ended up $4 poorer. The fellow who targeted Karl tried for $20 (for shining his scandals), but only got $1!!
We found a little Mexican restaurant where they told Max he could come in and bring his people. They had a pretty little courtyard where we had our lunch.
Lots of walking, lots of real characters!! One fellow was collecting money to legalize marijuana and then there were the artists out on the sidewalk, and on and on.
We walked along the levy and saw one of the big paddle-boats leaving, then checked out the French Market area - food and flea-market. Karl had a gator dog and I found a teeshirt - Roadtrip 2014 New Orleans. Well by that time, we had been walking for almost 4 hours, and were done and so was poor little Max.
Just a postscript about Max - everybody loves Max. He got sooooo many pets and cuddles today, wow. But the poor little thing ran for the trailer once we got back and was, within minutes, sound asleep. Same as Karl.
Pontchartrain Landing
We had arrived at Pelican RV park 2 nights ago and happily could not see much. Suffice it to say that we may not have stayed if we had! The light of day yesterday prompted an urgent need to find another park. On a scale of 1 to 10, this would be a 0.1, the only 2 redeeming qualities are the security and Pam, the wonderful office manager who met up with us on arrival and helped us settle in. She has a great sense of humour! When asked about noise at night, she just laughed and said, now I'm not gonna lie to you honey, yes indeed there are trains right right next door to us, we are also near a busy highway and intersection - it is noisy. If anybody told y'all otherwise, well they just weren't honest.
Well, in the morning we made our way over to Pontchartrain RV Park, only 10 min drive from Pelican RV Park. This one is waterfront, also a marina and just beautiful! It is landscaped with a large Rec hall and whatever you might need, including a pool of course. Lesson learned, you get what you pay for - this one is $55 per night.
The weather is still cool, but because of the "planes, trains and automobiles" at Pelican, plus the occasional sirens and of course intermittent tire screeching from drag racing ... we hadn't slept much at all! So once we arrived at the new park, we took the tour, checked out the pool and the pub/grill for french onion soup and loaded fries (US version of poutine; fries with cheese, sour cream, and bacon pieces). The hall is a large wooden building with huge covered porches overlooking the river on one side and the park on the other.
Took it easy for the afternoon (slept) and then set off to check out New Orleans. We toured around the French Quarter by car because of the light rain - tomorrow we'll go back and tour it on foot. So much of really interesting buildings, obviously French, balconies with wrought iron railings - overlooking the narrow streets. Even in the car, the atmosphere was almost carnival, with people playing instruments and singing on every other street corner. Three teens with dreadlocks were strumming "air guitars" and singing. So many characters and so much history in the area!!
Well, in the morning we made our way over to Pontchartrain RV Park, only 10 min drive from Pelican RV Park. This one is waterfront, also a marina and just beautiful! It is landscaped with a large Rec hall and whatever you might need, including a pool of course. Lesson learned, you get what you pay for - this one is $55 per night.
The weather is still cool, but because of the "planes, trains and automobiles" at Pelican, plus the occasional sirens and of course intermittent tire screeching from drag racing ... we hadn't slept much at all! So once we arrived at the new park, we took the tour, checked out the pool and the pub/grill for french onion soup and loaded fries (US version of poutine; fries with cheese, sour cream, and bacon pieces). The hall is a large wooden building with huge covered porches overlooking the river on one side and the park on the other.
Took it easy for the afternoon (slept) and then set off to check out New Orleans. We toured around the French Quarter by car because of the light rain - tomorrow we'll go back and tour it on foot. So much of really interesting buildings, obviously French, balconies with wrought iron railings - overlooking the narrow streets. Even in the car, the atmosphere was almost carnival, with people playing instruments and singing on every other street corner. Three teens with dreadlocks were strumming "air guitars" and singing. So many characters and so much history in the area!!
Thursday, 17 April 2014
Louisiana
We set off this morning anxious to make it to New Orleans in good time. We knew that it would take at least 7 or 8 hours, but things can happen and ... they did! We left at 10 am and are now, at 6:20 pm., in our third traffic jam since we arrived in Baton Rouge ... sigh. We have another hour and a half to drive. As we watch the cars around us, it's easy to imagine how these accidents are happening!
However, stuff happens. Our GPS, Suzie, has taken us on a scenic tour of Baton Rouge, off the highway to get around one accident and we ended up stuck in another!! We finally got back out on the highway and ... you guessed it ... are stuck in another traffic jam. Now she is suggesting "another" route which would save us 7 min., and Karl got tired of her nagging, and pulled her plug!! Karl is vowing never to come to Baton Rouge again!!
Oh well, at least it's sunny and warm ... could be worse?
We calculated (once we figured out the actual date - you loose track on holidays.) that we were in Texas for 15 days and really enjoyed the time. For me, the 5 things I will most remember are; palm trees/cactus, warm sand between my toes on the beach, meeting up with old friends & making new ones, playing gypsy with my honey, and of course the incessant wind.
Karl's list would be meeting up with Helga and Dave in Dallas, hanging out with his honey, Whataburger, the old guys in the morning coffee clatch at Tip of Texas Resort, and touring NASA.
On the drive from Houston to the border of Louisiana, we saw more oil storage tanks, pipes, and tanker ships than we thought possible. If anyone tells you there is a shortage of oil in the world, it all seems to be in Texas!
Louisiana, so far, is lush green with miles and miles of swamps and bayous. We stopped at a rest area and went for a quick walk on a trail over a Bayou - lotsa signs warning folks not to swim, and to watch their pets because of alligators and snakes!! Trust me, we really looked, but no alligators (woulda liked to see one ....) I think Max may have smelled something, but we thought better of letting him check it out - even if he is a mooch, we don't want him to be lunch for a gator!
Well, while we were talking just now, the traffic cleared up and we are rolling again. Since this was poor Karl's turn driving, he is now smiling and has plugged Suzie back in (although he turned off her speech, I think)
Well, after spending an hour and a half stuck in traffic, we stopped and had a quick supper in the parking lot of a service centre, before setting out again to find our RV park. This is definitely one of the perks of having our little camper ... meals anytime, anywhere, without the restaurant waiting and prices. We both felt better after a supper of potato salad and sausage. Maxie never complains, but he also made short work of his supper and a fair bit of Karl's sausage!!
However, stuff happens. Our GPS, Suzie, has taken us on a scenic tour of Baton Rouge, off the highway to get around one accident and we ended up stuck in another!! We finally got back out on the highway and ... you guessed it ... are stuck in another traffic jam. Now she is suggesting "another" route which would save us 7 min., and Karl got tired of her nagging, and pulled her plug!! Karl is vowing never to come to Baton Rouge again!!
Oh well, at least it's sunny and warm ... could be worse?
We calculated (once we figured out the actual date - you loose track on holidays.) that we were in Texas for 15 days and really enjoyed the time. For me, the 5 things I will most remember are; palm trees/cactus, warm sand between my toes on the beach, meeting up with old friends & making new ones, playing gypsy with my honey, and of course the incessant wind.
Karl's list would be meeting up with Helga and Dave in Dallas, hanging out with his honey, Whataburger, the old guys in the morning coffee clatch at Tip of Texas Resort, and touring NASA.
On the drive from Houston to the border of Louisiana, we saw more oil storage tanks, pipes, and tanker ships than we thought possible. If anyone tells you there is a shortage of oil in the world, it all seems to be in Texas!
Louisiana, so far, is lush green with miles and miles of swamps and bayous. We stopped at a rest area and went for a quick walk on a trail over a Bayou - lotsa signs warning folks not to swim, and to watch their pets because of alligators and snakes!! Trust me, we really looked, but no alligators (woulda liked to see one ....) I think Max may have smelled something, but we thought better of letting him check it out - even if he is a mooch, we don't want him to be lunch for a gator!
Well, while we were talking just now, the traffic cleared up and we are rolling again. Since this was poor Karl's turn driving, he is now smiling and has plugged Suzie back in (although he turned off her speech, I think)
Well, after spending an hour and a half stuck in traffic, we stopped and had a quick supper in the parking lot of a service centre, before setting out again to find our RV park. This is definitely one of the perks of having our little camper ... meals anytime, anywhere, without the restaurant waiting and prices. We both felt better after a supper of potato salad and sausage. Maxie never complains, but he also made short work of his supper and a fair bit of Karl's sausage!!
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
Galveston
What a difference a day makes! The heavy rain that lasted most of the day on Monday settled in to a cold night. Everything in our trailer was damp this morning, but we were at least warm. Our little heater worked like a trooper! Today (Tuesday) has been sunny and fresh, like a beautiful spring day!!
We spent the morning just relaxing, and visiting with the other folks in the park. Most of them are long term residents and every one of them has a story. One lady in a wheelchair totally reminds me of Cindy, our neighbour when we lived in Mission Texas 20 years ago. She looks like Cindy, but even has the same accent and quirky personality!
This afternoon we went on an adventure to "discover" Galveston Island which is about 20 miles from here, right on the Gulf coast. We saw SO many huge oil storage tanks, pipelines, and I think refineries in that half hour drive.... Tried to walk along the waterfront and check out the Pleasure Pier (amusement park) but, despite the 17 C temp., with wind off the water, it felt frigid. So, after that, we toured Galveston mostly by car. There is a historic district with beautiful old houses and churches which have been there over 100 years. From there we found the waterfront with ships of all sizes, seafood vendors, restaurants - you can even see what we think are oil rigs offshore.
By this time we are cold and thirsty so we stopped at a seafood restaurant next to the pier, "Eat at Joe's". We had to explain what we meant by hot tea, and Karl checked out some of their shrimp, just to be social.....
Well, next door to the restaurant there was an honest to goodness deep sea oil drilling rig converted into a museum. We spent almost 2 hours checking it out - wow!!! They explained the whole process and we got to see/touch a lot of the equipment they would have used, even the ROV they use to explore the ocean floor.
This evening (Tuesday) poor Max got to sit home in the trailer while we finally made it over to Cracker Barrel -absolutely one of my favourite restaurants and well worth the wait!!
Tonight will be chilly for us, about 8 C, but then I hear that y'all in Ontario have had snow again.....
We spent the morning just relaxing, and visiting with the other folks in the park. Most of them are long term residents and every one of them has a story. One lady in a wheelchair totally reminds me of Cindy, our neighbour when we lived in Mission Texas 20 years ago. She looks like Cindy, but even has the same accent and quirky personality!
This afternoon we went on an adventure to "discover" Galveston Island which is about 20 miles from here, right on the Gulf coast. We saw SO many huge oil storage tanks, pipelines, and I think refineries in that half hour drive.... Tried to walk along the waterfront and check out the Pleasure Pier (amusement park) but, despite the 17 C temp., with wind off the water, it felt frigid. So, after that, we toured Galveston mostly by car. There is a historic district with beautiful old houses and churches which have been there over 100 years. From there we found the waterfront with ships of all sizes, seafood vendors, restaurants - you can even see what we think are oil rigs offshore.
By this time we are cold and thirsty so we stopped at a seafood restaurant next to the pier, "Eat at Joe's". We had to explain what we meant by hot tea, and Karl checked out some of their shrimp, just to be social.....
Well, next door to the restaurant there was an honest to goodness deep sea oil drilling rig converted into a museum. We spent almost 2 hours checking it out - wow!!! They explained the whole process and we got to see/touch a lot of the equipment they would have used, even the ROV they use to explore the ocean floor.
This evening (Tuesday) poor Max got to sit home in the trailer while we finally made it over to Cracker Barrel -absolutely one of my favourite restaurants and well worth the wait!!
Tonight will be chilly for us, about 8 C, but then I hear that y'all in Ontario have had snow again.....
Monday, 14 April 2014
Rain !!
OK, so our run of luck has finally fizzled.
Today started off at 22C so after a leisurely breakfast we set out for Walmart about 10:30. slummed there a while and started to hear rumbling like thunder. Yep, it was, and then the rain started. Y'alls might know that down here there is no such thing as 'gentle' rain ... when it rains you can't see the house across the street, just like we couldn't see our car when we came out of Walmart. Of course we had left the windows down a bit for Max, so now all the car seats were drenched. Ewwwww ....!
Worse yet, the rain came in on a cold front and the temperature had suddenly plummeted to 17C. Ugh!
After a quick lunch I thought a rainy day might be a good time to go to the Houston Space Centre (NASA), only 9 miles from here. Max wasn't allowed in so he stayed behind to keep Joanne company at the trailer. Joanne volunteered to stay behind and be on clothes-dryer duty after our sitting in our drenched car seats.
The Space Centre was great, with lots of history, actual space capsules, actual moon rocks, space suits with real moon dust still on them, etc., but a large part of it was a kids' educational area with stations for experimenting with gravity, friction, propulsion, etc.
Upon coming out of the Centre it was, like, really bleedin' cold, the temperature having dropped to 12C !! Oh man!!! ... anybody feeling any pity for us yet?
So, as I sit here waiting for supper to magically appear, the temp has again plummeted, now to 8C. Shame to have to put on sox and long pants!
Today started off at 22C so after a leisurely breakfast we set out for Walmart about 10:30. slummed there a while and started to hear rumbling like thunder. Yep, it was, and then the rain started. Y'alls might know that down here there is no such thing as 'gentle' rain ... when it rains you can't see the house across the street, just like we couldn't see our car when we came out of Walmart. Of course we had left the windows down a bit for Max, so now all the car seats were drenched. Ewwwww ....!
Worse yet, the rain came in on a cold front and the temperature had suddenly plummeted to 17C. Ugh!
After a quick lunch I thought a rainy day might be a good time to go to the Houston Space Centre (NASA), only 9 miles from here. Max wasn't allowed in so he stayed behind to keep Joanne company at the trailer. Joanne volunteered to stay behind and be on clothes-dryer duty after our sitting in our drenched car seats.
The Space Centre was great, with lots of history, actual space capsules, actual moon rocks, space suits with real moon dust still on them, etc., but a large part of it was a kids' educational area with stations for experimenting with gravity, friction, propulsion, etc.
Upon coming out of the Centre it was, like, really bleedin' cold, the temperature having dropped to 12C !! Oh man!!! ... anybody feeling any pity for us yet?
So, as I sit here waiting for supper to magically appear, the temp has again plummeted, now to 8C. Shame to have to put on sox and long pants!
Sunday, 13 April 2014
Houston
Today was a driving day, from Corpus Christi to Houston.
We are getting quicker at packing up and hitting the road! It really only takes 30 or 40 min., usually. Unless of course you get talking with some of the other campers! The lady in the next trailer, (a toy hauler, so besides the 5th wheel style living area, it has a sort of garage for their motorcycles, etc.) Sheila, has a little dog about Max's size. When we were packing up, she took Max to the dog park to play with her little Rufus. When they got back, we ended up talking .... this is part of what makes everything so enjoyable, but it also slows you down!
Quiet drive. Lots of open land and huge ranches until we got close to Houston. Sometimes there are long gaps between gas stations so you need to fill up when you see one!
We are now parked at the Kemah RV Resort in Kemah, a suburb on the southeast side of Houston, for a couple of days.
It was a cloudy day, so we didn't feel like we were losing any sun time in the car. We just got pulled in and set up here, and exactly 30 seconds later the rain started. It's supposed to rain thru the nite until about noon tomorrow.
While the previous park (Pioneer) was great for those who love the beach, it was a bit of a nuisance cuz the constant high wind blew the sand around a lot and things got a little gritty, and the breeze was always onshore so the air was never dry. Bathing suits hung outside in the evening were still wet in the morning, and your skin always felt a little clammy from the dampness.
Here, we're not by the water, and although the sites are quite small, there's a lot of trees and it promises to be very 'woodsy' when the rain stops and the sun comes out.
We met a few of the neighbours already. Since the park office is closed on Sunday, the fellow in the trailer next to us filled us in on a few of the "need to know" things, like how to get onto the internet. (Really interesting man, a marine vet) The fellow across from us helped Karl with positioning the trailer and then setup. The park itself is "quaint" but clean and friendly. Hard to see much because of the on/off rain, but there is always tomorrow!
This gives us a chance to catch our breath and do some planning for the next few days and of course the next few weeks. We still have a list of things we'd like to do, but there is time yet....
We aren't really heading home, but the road signs are starting to read north?!?! Not sure about this!?! First we'll just go east for a while.
We are getting quicker at packing up and hitting the road! It really only takes 30 or 40 min., usually. Unless of course you get talking with some of the other campers! The lady in the next trailer, (a toy hauler, so besides the 5th wheel style living area, it has a sort of garage for their motorcycles, etc.) Sheila, has a little dog about Max's size. When we were packing up, she took Max to the dog park to play with her little Rufus. When they got back, we ended up talking .... this is part of what makes everything so enjoyable, but it also slows you down!
Quiet drive. Lots of open land and huge ranches until we got close to Houston. Sometimes there are long gaps between gas stations so you need to fill up when you see one!
We are now parked at the Kemah RV Resort in Kemah, a suburb on the southeast side of Houston, for a couple of days.
It was a cloudy day, so we didn't feel like we were losing any sun time in the car. We just got pulled in and set up here, and exactly 30 seconds later the rain started. It's supposed to rain thru the nite until about noon tomorrow.
While the previous park (Pioneer) was great for those who love the beach, it was a bit of a nuisance cuz the constant high wind blew the sand around a lot and things got a little gritty, and the breeze was always onshore so the air was never dry. Bathing suits hung outside in the evening were still wet in the morning, and your skin always felt a little clammy from the dampness.
Here, we're not by the water, and although the sites are quite small, there's a lot of trees and it promises to be very 'woodsy' when the rain stops and the sun comes out.
We met a few of the neighbours already. Since the park office is closed on Sunday, the fellow in the trailer next to us filled us in on a few of the "need to know" things, like how to get onto the internet. (Really interesting man, a marine vet) The fellow across from us helped Karl with positioning the trailer and then setup. The park itself is "quaint" but clean and friendly. Hard to see much because of the on/off rain, but there is always tomorrow!
This gives us a chance to catch our breath and do some planning for the next few days and of course the next few weeks. We still have a list of things we'd like to do, but there is time yet....
We aren't really heading home, but the road signs are starting to read north?!?! Not sure about this!?! First we'll just go east for a while.
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