Family time!

 

While our trip to Alabama and Tennessee was planned to see family we got a bonus of running into Stephen & Donna in Mississippi! I had texted Ben to let him know we were going thru Starkville (home of Mississippi State where he did his undergrad) and he said "that's funny, my parents are there too!". They were there to play golf but were able to fit us in for breakfast before hitting the course. It was a nice surprise visit!

After a quick drop off of the RV in Alabama at Dave's folks house we drove the truck up to our favorite place...Hippensteal's Mountain View Inn. While we missed the exact day of our anniversary, we were still able to have a few special days there to celebrate. Then some good hiking with Emma & Lauren.

After our time at the Inn we stayed at Emma & Lauren's house and got to see Ali. She is still so sweet but getting a little persnickety in her old age. :)

As usual, there was work to be done around the house. While Emma & Dave worked inside on some towel bar reinforcements, I was up on the roof doing some painting. Earlier in the summer they had someone replace a beam on the front porch and fix the flashing & siding. After they finished they wanted $600 to paint it. Clearly they just didn't want to paint...no problem, mom can do it! :) 

 

 

Back to Alabama where my kitties clearly missed me and more domestic work...getting the turkey ready for it's big day!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with Mom & Dad Thomas and even though we told her we would do it, mom still helped with the meal. We are so blessed to still have them and doing remarkably well for being almost 94 & 96, and recovering from COVID! Their little street is so peaceful; Dave got these two amazing pictures of the sunrise.

After leaving Alabama we were able to spend a couple days with Aunt Pris and are also so thankful she is doing better. She is still struggling with some sores on her legs and feet but at least in her home with her kitties.  We now are headed to our campground in Florida to get it all set up for the winter. In a few weeks we'll fly back to Michigan for Christmas with Mom & Dad Craw and Dave's kids. Family is everything! 💗

The Big Easy!

 

Hello from New Orleans, the Big Easy! While we hated that our schedule didn't allow us to be at the Inn in Tennessee for our anniversary, we enjoyed a lovely dinner downtown at Muriel's. Food was outstanding and service to match! Yummy Shrimp and Grits for me and a double pork chop for Dave. Happy 23rd Anniversary to us!

Another great city to play tourist, we did the hop on hop off bus to get the lay of the land and see some of the gorgeous architecture. Sorry the pictures aren't level, we were moving!

The famous Cafe DuMonde, which we made our first stop in town. Yummy beignets with a "light" coating of powdered sugar! 😋

 

The Jackson Square area complete with artists, psychics, musicians, and mule drawn carriages and of course a statue of Andrew Jackson. 

More architecture in the French Quarter, the Faulkner house and a double Creole cottage being renovated by the state for a museum. This cottage would have been owned by a wealthy family because it was raised up to protect from the floods. 

 

Dave's new friend. 😄

 

Monument to all the women in the military. 

Super-dome below where the 2024 Super Bowl will be held.

Lots of the buildings had "wall art". This Holiday Inn had the clarinet for the Louis Armstrong area and park. 

The Plaza Tower building below has been vacant for over 20 years. When it was built all the who's who of New Orleans had space in the building but when many of them starting getting sick they found asbestos and mold. So sad to see so much space still abandoned and not fixed when there are so many un-homed people in the area.

 

This was the monument to Katrina, built with debris left from after the storm. 

One of the many recommended restaurants from Michelle, Brennan's, is a great place for brunch. We were so full we didn't order it but the table next to us had the bananas foster created tableside...

 

We took a ride on an old street car. Make sure you get the red ones which have air conditioning!

Of course we had to go to Bourbon street (during the day!). Like the beignets, I indulged in a famous Hand Grenade.  Loved the sweet sour combination!

Just like the original one in Paris, this Joan of Arc was given to the city of New Orleans by France in 1972.

That night we took the Creole Queen for a jazz boat dinner, down the mighty Mississippi river.

The next day we did the walking tour of the Garden District homes. They were all so stately and southern.

This one brought in some interesting architectural styles with the Gingerbread accents and is the home of Sandra Bullock (that's why the privacy bushes cover the first floor of the house).

 

This is a very typical home referred to as "shotgun" style with one hallway and no doors to the rooms. While many believe it's name comes from the ability to open the front door and shoot a shotgun straight thru the house, the architecture was actually from the islands where the breeze from front to back was necessary for ventilation. The houses were also popular because they were taxed on the width of the home. When you needed more space you went up (look at the very back of the house). They were then called a camel-back shotgun.

 

Another New Orleans classic, the hurricane at Pat O'Briens. 😉

More fabulous food at the Court of Two Sisters with this "charmed" gate at the entryway.

To give you a little of the New Orleans experience...

 

...and one of my favorite pictures of this town. Such fabulous food, splendid architecture and fun. Another great city on the books!

Seminole Canyon, San Antonio, a detour and Waco!

 

Hello from the desert of Texas at Seminole Canyon State park! The sites at the campground were abundantly spacious and with open views for miles, it made for gorgeous sunrises (Dave's picture to the right) and sunsets (my picture below).

The park had 50 amp electric and water with great pressure...so great it blew a hole in the water line! Good thing Dave is so handy and was able to do a temporary repair so we can get to Red Bay and replace the whole line.

While at the park we were able to hike to the Fate Bell shelter and view some amazing pictographs. These are paintings on the wall vs. the petroglyphs we saw at Three Rivers which were carved into the rocks. The modern statue on the left was at the visitor's center and was inspired by the artistry of the wall pictographs.

The hike into the canyon was very dry and hot but the views were worth it.

It was very helpful that the park had these renderings done to showcase the pictographs. I couldn't help but think of Emma and that if this was her park, these would have been her renderings. 💗

Most curious were the fossils that were in the ceiling of the overhang...of sea creatures when the whole canyon was under water! Speaking of water, we are on to San Antonio, home of the beautiful river walk.

The La Antorcha de la Amistad (torch of friendship) given to the city from a group of entrepreneurs from Mexico. The Tower Life building is in the background with it's crazy gargoyles the original owners had built on the building to ward off bad spirits.  Too bad it didn't work for them as they had to sell the building at a huge loss after being open only 3 months...in 1929. That was sure bad timing!

Riding up top on the hop on hop off bus through town with the Tower of Americas in the background.

After seeing the town and going to the Mexican marketplace (note the change in Dave's hat below) it was time for the Alamo. So strange that it sits right in downtown but city ordnance won't allow any of the buildings around it to shadow it out of respect for all those that died there.

Then on to the tower of the Americas built for the 1968 Hemisfair World's Fair. The 750 foot tower is daunting looking up but provides for panoramic views of the city below. We ate in the restaurant at the top, which rotates while you dine! It goes all the way around in about 45 minutes so we got the full 360 view!

Another fun fact is that the building that sits at the front of the photo below is a hotel and was also built for the World's fair but in 207 days! It was modular construction with each hotel room being constructed offsite complete with furniture, bedding and towels and then placed onto the building with a crane!

Here's another view of it from the river walk, which we so enjoyed we took the boat cruise twice (that's also where all these fun facts are coming from!).

It is just so lush (especially after being in the desert for the weeks before) and has great art work along the way. Then at night when all the lights come on, it is even prettier.

 

The weather is turning on us and rain from hurricane Norma is coming soon. It is almost eerie looking as San Antonio gets ready for their day of the dead parade this Friday.

Also on the river walk is Rivercenter, a huge mall currently with a dinosaur exhibit in it! The city has so many interesting buildings and art work. Check out the stained glass Alamo below.

We ended our time in downtown San Antonio at the San Fernando Cathedral. Every night they do this amazing light show on the front the building. It is a "Vegas worthy" production and the church offers it for free. It went on for about 25 minutes but I captured at least a few seconds for you to enjoy as well!

OK, so for those of you counting our missed stops, we took a little detour. This picture makes it look like we had motorhome issues but this was just a minor repair to the tailpipe, but we are in Michelle's driveway! A bit of a long story but I believe providential in that Michelle's dad needed to be transported from Austin TX to Owasso, OK to a new memory care facility and we were close by. Can you say SUPER BIG UBER? 😄 

 

Back on track and we are now at this great campground on Waco Lake. They are supposed to be back in sites but with a view like below we were putting our picture window forward, even Noddle likes it!

Dave looks pretty happy too, enjoying his biscuits and gravy at Magnolia Table. We didn't see Chip and Joanna but we sure enjoyed our time at the Silos while doing a little Christmas shopping before we are on the road again today headed towards the "Big Easy"!