_29/30 January ‘09

What can you say about New Orleans that hasn’t already been said ???  If it involves having a great time, then New Orleans is the place…if its Mardi Gras time, then you are really going to have a blast.  Guess what…ITS MARDI GRAS time and we’re really having a blast!!!  We are camped on the opposite side of Lake Pontchartrain as New Orleans so that means we either take I-12 to Slidell and then I-10 into New Orleans or make the 24 mile drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.  That causeway is amazing.  Like I just wrote, it is 24 miles long, 4 lanes wide (2 & 2 with water dividing), 65 MPH (and everyone does it…), and a toll of $3 total.  It also saves us about 15-20 minutes travel time vs. I-10/I-12.  Our first drive into N.O. was no big deal.  We just plugged our destination into our GPS and drove directly into our parking lot.  For $16 we had a full day enjoying the town.  Our first destination was to the “French Quarter”, but especially to Café du Monde.  You all know how much I enjoy coffee, and you also know how much I enjoy my pastries,

_well with Café du Monde specializes in both…  The trademark coffee with chicory and the delicious beignets are just more than I could ask for.  Fact is, we did this for two mornings in a row !!!  New Orleans also has something else that I’ve never seen in other cities.  They have two National Parks and they both are located in the French Quarter.  One of these is the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park.  We just happened to walk in just prior to some Jazz musicians holding a jam session.  Not only did they play their music, they explained the many different types of New Orleans jazz and how it developed.  It was very entertaining and interesting.  Over the last two days that we went into New Orleans we walked the French Quarter from one end to the other at least 3 times.

_In 1962 Louise and I passed through New Orleans just after I was discharged from the Navy.  One of the restaurants that we enjoyed is still here...The Court of Two Sisters. 

_Its amazing, it hasn't changed much.  We also took in an amazing IMAX presentation on New Orleans prior to and after Hurricane Katrina.  That was a terrible disaster to this area, and there is still a lot of evidence from the storm showing up constantly as we travel through the area.  Well we also found another “Free Ferry” to ride.  This one would take us across the Mississippi River to Algiers Point and back in about 10 minutes total…well, it’s free.  We just had two things we wanted…1) Take another Free Ferry.  2) Take a ride on the Mississippi.

_Whenever you go to New Orleans, you’ve got to make it to Bourbon Street, and that’s what we did.  We haven’t been there at night yet, but the afternoon that we were there, we had a great time. 

_We did a little people watching, stepping inside to listen to some music at different places, and enjoying the architecture of the old buildings (especially the wrought iron balconies).  One afternoon, with the sun warming us comfortably, we took a walk around Jackson Square

_to listen to a “sidewalk jazz group” playing to the crowd.  It’s amazing just how good these kids are…they have great technique, and great sound, and they work the masses to perfection. 

_The one disappointment was the French Market.  I don’t know, maybe it was the economy, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Pikes Place Market in Seattle. 

_27 January ‘09 Tuesday

What a day…  Louise found a company that advertizes that they have “The Best Swamp” tours in Louisiana, so we made our call.

_For less than $20 each we (and 10 others) were put aboard a small flat bottomed swamp boat and headed out into the Honey Island swamp.

_For 2 hours we were in the bayous of the Honey Island Swamp and experiencing Louisiana’s wetlands and wildlife.  Some of the wildlife that we saw included the alligator,

_ egrets,

_ heron,

_ water moccasin, turtles,

_nutrias,

_and the un-seeable.  The swamp was named after a special tree here…  The Tupelo Tree. 

_The Tupelo Tree seems to be attractive to the honeybee that build their hives deep in the base of the tree.  The “natives” will make their way there at the time that the hive has the largest amount of honey available, and using some of the hanging moss from the area, start a smudge pot.  As the bees were over-come, the harvest would begin….thus, Honey Island Swamp.  Our guide had so many tales of the area and his life here in the bayous of Louisiana that our time with him was a real treat.  He also must be some “chef”…, he told us what to look forward to eating and he always told us just how all the foods were prepared for the best flavors.  What a treat.  Fact is, after our tour I just had to find the “guides choice” for our lunch for which we were more than ready.  It turned out to be “Dickey D’s”.  As we walked in, I wanted to make sure that they knew that “Cajun Encounters” had sent us, and the first thing they said was…well I’m sure that you will want to have a cup of our “Gumbo”.  Well hell yes, and I’ll also have an Oyster Po-Boy as well…  Now we’re eatin…  Following lunch, Louise and I went back to the bridge were we launched for our swamp tour and launched our kayak.

_Our guide had pointed out a small passage that he said that he couldn’t get his flat-bottomed boat into, but with our kayak we would see some great “bayou”.  We paddled through that part of Honey Island for over an hour before coming back out.  Fortunately it was easy to follow in and out.  Coming out, we had a slight current that kind of pushed us and gave us a quiet glide through the swamps…pretty cool…

_With daylight starting to fade we headed back towards the coach.  There is a brewery here in Abita Springs and we’ve been told that “if you’d like a good beer”, this was the place.  Well we stopped.  Fortunately they offered a very good IPA so we were well satisfied.  It happens that this place we walked into was not the brewery but the bar/restaurant, so that means that now we’ve got to visit the “Brewery”…too bad isn’t it?  After enjoying a good refreshing beer, we headed out the door to head home.  In the same parking lot of the pub is a small fish monger.  As we walked by, I saw that he was advertizing “fresh and tasty crawdad”.  Well after the last exposure to crawdads I wasn’t too excited to try another “tasty crawdad”, but after giving it a quick thought and knowing that now we’re in Louisiana instead of California, I should at least try a “sample”…  Well after the sample and after a great conversation with Howdy,

_I walked out with my 2# of crawdad.  I must say that now that I’ve tasted the real thing I’m really livin… 

_26 January ‘09

Monday

With the rainy weather we went through on Saturday and Sunday morning, we arrived with a couple of very dirty vehicles, so the first thing this morning was to “bucket wash” both of them.  No sooner had I finished and Louise had the afternoon scheduled out for us.  We drove out to Slidell to have lunch and see the sites around the area.  For some reason we’ve found the bayou’s to be intriguing and inviting and for that reason we headed out a gravel road that was signed to be Big Branch Marsh and Native Wildlife Reserve.

_At the end of the road we found a small boat launch that lead deep into the marsh and then into Lake Pontchartrain.  It also gave us the first chance to see a sign making us aware of Manatee’s being in the area…would that be a blast to see one of those in the wild.  Down the road, we found the Fontainebleau State Park.  Not only was this state park on Lake Pontchartrain, but it was large, it had one of the best looking campgrounds, and an absolutely beautiful beach for all to enjoy.

_This must be one of the real hot spots for the locals during the Spring and Summer times.  At one time this large park and a much larger area surrounding it was the private holdings of Bernard de Marigny.  He built the Fontainebleau Plantation in 1828 and used it as his summer residence and sugar mill while his main residence was still maintained in New Orleans. 

_25 January ‘09 Sunday

Our drive out of Port Arthur took us up to Hwy 10, into Louisiana traveling over the Atchafalaya Basin.

_Long after the Indians had settled this area, some very tough and early Europeans also settled here.  These peoples were called “Acadiens” and they were those that were forced into the deep swamplands of the Mississippi River Delta.  They lived a life of solitude and once a week a boat would come by and hold a Catholic service for them.  School boats were also used for many years to take the children to the one room school houses.  Living was tough and got even tougher when the “Flood of 1927” hit.  Then the need for a bridge to cross the 18 miles of the swamp was needed.  This changed the lives of those in the swamp, and also changed the lives of those that lived outside of the basin.  It took 10 years to build the “Swamp Expressway”.  It was finally completed in 1972 when the pile drivers would pound the poles 148 feet into the 95 feet of muck and 6 feet of hard sand to make it work.  As you cross the expressway today, you see the “camps” that now host the hunters and fishermen.  18 miles through a swamp, that is an amazing accomplishment.  Prior to hitting Lafayette, we turned south at Crowley and headed down to New Iberia.  Just south of there is a small island of Avery.  Avery Island is the home of the McIlhenny Company which is the company that found the taste that has made its self around the world…TABASCO. 

_Unfortunately we arrived on a Sunday and the factory is shut down, but on the positive side, we were able to make “a” tour.  It was definitely a good tour, and we did learn a lot from it.  Next time we would love to see the factory in action.   After a turn in the Tabasco store, we were back on the road.  We found another Wal-Mart in Breaux Bridge before continuing the next morning to Abita Springs and our new home for 10 days.

_24 January ‘09 Saturday

Bob and Debbie were just pulling out of the campground and heading west as we were pulling out and heading east.  Our route will take us east on Hwy 35, through Port Lavaca, Palacios, up to Angleton and then dropping down to Freeport.  We really wanted to by-pass Houston, so that’s why we headed south towards the coast.  Once there, we again headed east to Galveston.  I’m sure you will remember that just last year Hurricane Ike hurled its way through here, but thank God the refineries faired well. 

_It may not have been the hurricane that had the high number, but it was very destructive.  We covered miles on miles of total destruction and every half mile along the road,

_we came across piles of wood, metal, paper, and all kinds of different property just waiting for the next truck to come by and haul it away to the “dumping place”…what a mess, what a tragedy, what a waste, that’s nature at its worse.

There wasn’t any reason to stop to “see the sites” as the sites were not as inspiring when you see something like this, so we just kept on…at the end of Galveston Island we caught another “free ferry”.

_This one would take us across to Port Bolivar and up to Port Arthur were we will spend another Wal-Mart night. 

_23 January ‘09

Friday

Today was a day that we set aside to “house cleaning and…”.  While Louise was handling the interior, I was working hard on cleaning the car and the coach.  Since most campgrounds don’t let you “wash” your rigs with having a hose hooked up, you are relegated to bucket washing.   First, I’ve got to get the bucket filled with water to the roof of the motor home, then as I climb to the top the second time, I handle my washing brush (a brush on a 4’ handle) in one hand while the second takes me to the top.  I also wanted to put a coat of wax on the front and the driver’s side (I did the rear and the other side last time).  Yesterday morning I went over the club house to take in a seminar on this new “digit TV” change-over.  Seeing as how we have 2 TV’s that are not digital, we’ve got to add the $49 box to each TV in order to receive programming through our antenna.  We thought about the reasoning behind adding the boxes and whether or not we would ever use them and then went out and bought 2.  With the boxes in hand, I decided to take the time now and install them.  Unfortunately I had to add a couple of cables.  Both of them had to run from the front cabinet on the right to the front cabinet on the left.  The center area was filled with the TV, so I had to remove it to get the cables through.  There is a wooden frame that circles the TV so that was first to come off…in order to remove it, I had to remove 6 screws.  With the frame off, I had to remove 2 additional screws from the bottom of the box surrounding the TV.  At the point of the 2nd screw coming out the TV immediately fell out onto my back and head…”What the hell???”  As I slid out from under the weight of the TV I was able to settle it into the driver’s seat and contemplate just what the hell happen.  Fortunately nothing broke (especially me…) and I was able to wrestle it back into place after threading the two new cables across.  Finally getting everything all wired together properly and making sure it was all working as advertized we sat down to enjoy a well deserved glass of wine.  We decided not to hook up the satellite TV dish and go with the new digital antenna.  Boy were we ever surprised, the quality of the picture is even better than what we get with the satellite hook-up.  Bob and Debbie (our next door neighbors) took pity on us after hearing our story, and asked us to come over and have a slice of apple pie topped with ice cream. 

_21 January ‘09 Wednesday

The sun is still shining, the winds are very mild, and the temperature is still hovering around 75 degrees.  With just 2 more full days here in Rockport, and we haven’t been in the water yet, we made a point of making today the day.  But first….  We drove into Rockport to the Visitor Center, stopped by one of the local “bakeries”, and visited the one and only farmers market in town.  Overall we found some real good veggies for a good price.  Back to the coach to drop it all off and then head across the highway for a quick lunch.  We had tried to eat at Stevie Lew’s BBQ the other night, but it was closed so this afternoon we made sure that we could enjoy one of their BBQ sandwiches.  The pulled pork with their “special sauce” was soooo good…  OK, back to the coach again and get ready for a little paddling.  Clark and Reba were still home, so we asked them if they would want to join us for the afternoon.  Our destination was to head down T-361, and down San Jose Island.  We had Redfish Bay on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other.  After traveling about halfway down the island, we turned off into an area where we saw 6 to 8 kayaks and other boats.  They were heading into the waterways that were bordered on each side by Black Mangrove and Oyster reefs. 

_This looked like a spot that we could really enjoy.  This is a place that must be one of the hot spots for fishing as they were fishing from their boats, kayaks, and lining the banks on both sides.  We found a spot to pull in next to one of those fishermen and pulled the kayak out for launch.  Louise and I took the first paddle and headed out into the passageways with the mangroves close by.  About an hour later Clark and Reba took the paddles and headed out for their turn.

_A little later we repacked the car and continued our drive towards Port Aransas.  At the end of San Jose Island, they have a ferry that will take you across to Mustang Island and the little community of Port Aransas.

_They use these little ferries that will carry about 20 cars with the crossing taking about 5 minutes.  We were surprised to find that they don’t charge for this service.  On the return, we actually had to get into a moderately long line as apparently we had gotten into Corpus Christi’s commuter time…       

_20 January ‘09 Tuesday

From the early morning to late tonight we have been enjoying the triumph and inauguration of our new President, President Barack Obama…  We are very proud of our country and the decision that was made by the people to elect Barack Obama to this position. 

Enough politics for the night… 

A couple of days ago I came down with a cold…this is the first cold that I’ve had for well over a year and I WANT IT OUT OF HERE !!! 

We’ve got some great neighbors again, can you imagine that?  It is so easy to get together with “strangers”, especially those that are on the road and known as “full-timer’s”…  Bob and Debbie Keller, have a beautiful 5th wheel next door to us and have given us a number of places to consider stopping at on our way east.  And as luck would have it, they have a kayak…can you believe it?  I pulled out one of my “expensive” bottles of wine last night ($2.97 at Wal-Mart) and asked them to join us for a glass on our sunny patio.  We're both pulling out this Friday and heading in opposite directions but will most likely run into each other again down the road. 

We haven’t done any hiking here yet, but I have had the bike out and put a few miles on it.  I just wish Louise felt more comfortable biking…oh well, it will come. 

Clark and Reba Lovrien, neighbors on the other side of us, invited us to join them for dinner at The Big Fisherman Restaurant.    This place is something else…  Mr. William Louis Stevens, III came to Aranas Pass (just around the corner from here) once a week for fresh seafood for his restaurants.  The Big Fisherman opened its Rockport location in 1887 and has been family owned (now the second family) and operated ever since.  The building is huge and holds a lot of people and ALWAYS has a crowd.  This being our first time there shouldn’t be a surprise, but not having heard about it…that’s a shame.  The big draw is a “special” for $2.50.  The choice tonight was chicken fried steak, gizzards, or fish.  With your choice of meat, you were served mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, and a bowl of soup….all for $2.50…that’s a bargain, and the food was very good and fresh.  Hell, they even come around and ask if you would like more. 

_
16 January ‘09

Friday

Up to night before last we thought Thursday was our last day in Brownsville, but then Louise got to looking at our calendar and saw that we still had one more day to go.  Thursday was a day of “do nothing day” except to gather everything from the outside and get it stored into the basement.  Now that took about 15 minutes or less so I suggested a cup of coffee at Starbucks…now that was our day.  This morning we found ourselves underway early and aimed for a fuel station with diesel advertized for $2.02.  We’ve found diesel running from $2.02 to $2.45 and thought that we might as well top off before it finds a new high.  The station that was found on the internet was selling at $2.02 turned out to be one that we couldn’t get into, but with a little negotiating through town and then out, we found another $2.02 that could handle the “big” rigs easily.  So with tanks topped off we continued onto Corpus Christi and then Rockport.  The drive was taken on one of the longest, flattest, and straightest roads we’ve been on for a long time.  I hope I’ve mentioned this before, but Texas has THE BEST ROADS ever…If we had any “rumble”, it couldn’t have been more than a stretch of ½ mile at most.  We’re back into a Western Horizon campground (Bay View RV Resort) which is right at the end of point past Fulton, TX.  We’ve got 2 club house, 2 pools, 2 hot tubs, and the sites surround 2 lakes…  On top of all that, we’re about ½ mile from the Gulf of Mexico and another bay on the other side that’s about the same distance away.  After getting all set up, I walked over to the office to get the log-in information for their Wifi.  The office also sits on the bank of one of the small lakes so in walking over to it, I noticed one of the warning signs posted on the bank…Watch for Alligators and Water moccasin.  Well I guess we’ve traveled into new territory.   

_13 January ‘09 Tuesday

Yesterday was a busy day.  We were crossing over the Queen Isabella Causeway

_just after 10:30 on our way to the South Padre Island.  The white sands of South Padre Island, is a destination beach area with a few high rise luxury hotels, condominiums, loads of restaurants, rv parks, and…Schlitterbahn.  Schlitterbahn is a 15 acre water park that sits on the south end.  It features a 240 foot tube shoot, a half mile river to float, and among other things, a 5 story Sandcastle slide. 

_I can only imagine just how crowded this place is during “the season”.  We also had read some good things about the zoo in Brownsville, so seeing as how it’s been a long time since we’ve visited a zoo…we went.  No sooner do you walk through the gates and you are standing in front of the gorilla enclosure.  The “gray-back” definitely made his self noticed as he watched over his family. 

_This zoo is also known as one that has some great skills in animal reproduction.  In the gorilla enclosure there was at least 3 that were less than 6 months old and another female that was pregnant.  And then there was the giraffe enclosure…there were 2 little ones there as well.  Over all I wouldn’t say that this was one of the best zoo’s we’ve been too but we did have a good time.  This morning we decided that we should visit Matamoros, Mexico.  Brownsville has a great deal for those of us that want to visit Matamoros by walking across the bridge.  They offer curb-side parking in downtown Brownsville for $.25 an hour.  For $1 we got 4 hours parking so that we could go across the border to visit the market and have lunch.  We found this little lunch counter

_that served us a great meal and made us both wish we were spending more time in Mexico, if not just for the food (and drink..).