Adventures Continued

 

Mexico was in our rear view mirror and it was time to head toward home, but first a tad more adventuring.

Monday Joy: The last Puerto Vallarta joy was breakfast with Son 1’s family. They had an earlier flight than ours, so we enjoyed a few more hours before having to leave paradise and return to the real world. Ok, not our real world, but we had to at least return to the states. We landed in Dallas  that night and headed to Ft Worth to spend the night.

Monday dinner: You know that old saying “ any port in a storm”. We had not eaten since breakfast ( I had only had a cup of coffee) and it was about 9 pm by the time we retrieved the car, drove to Ft Worth and checked in to the hotel. We were both really hungry. After driving around a minute we saw the golden arches and thought all we wanted was food and at that point were not picky about what it was. Neither of us wanted a combo meal, we both just wanted a sandwich so we ordered the ala carte burgers. It seems at that particular McD’s ala carte had a different meaning. Instead of the burgers they gave us a bag with just the patties in plastic containers. We had to wait more than a couple of minutes to have our order fixed, since no one seemed to understand what ala carte on the McDonalds menu meant. 

Hamburger, water, frustration 

Tuesday joy: We checked out of the hotel and drove to my cousin K’s house. It was the first time I had seen it, though I had heard what a wonderful place it is. No one had done it justice. 

She lives in a historic area filled with Craftsman cottages. She has hers filled with period furnishings and incredible artwork. It is a fantastic home fitting for an incredible woman. 

We visited for a while then went out for lunch at a charming local restaurant.

After a meal and more conversation we dropped her back at her house, then began our journey south.

Normally the drive between Dallas and Houston might have been just a boring interstate drive. Instead we were treated to bluebonnets, plains coreopsis, primroses, and buttercups blooming all along the sides of the road and the medians. It was a visually stunning drive. 

We finally arrived at our destination, Galveston, about 8 pm

Tuesday dinner: K vacations on Galveston Island yearly and told us if we wanted a delicious meal, to eat at Gaido’s. I trust her opinions and she was not wrong. If you are ever on Galveston Island go. It is pricey but worth every penny. We left with happy mouths and overfilled stomachs. 

Blackened tile fish with jambalaya, grilled tomatoes, creamed spinach, freshly baked bread. 

Wednesday joy: We began our trip home via the coastal roads through Texas and on into Louisiana. Neither of us had ever been there before and saw and did things for the first time.

On coastal roads 82 in Louisiana the water from the Gulf literally meets the road with waves breaking on rocks place next to the pavement. The seas were rough and every time a wave hit the rocks sea foam would bounce across the road in front of the car. It only did it for a few miles and with the gray skies overhead it was eerily beautiful.

Later in the afternoon we crossed 2 bodies of water in ferry boats. We have taken a ferry before but never a car ferry. Now we have, so another check off our list of things we’ve never done. 

We drove until we reached New Iberia and decided to call it a night.

Wednesday dinner: TheHub asked the guy manning the hotel front desk for a recommendation for our dinner. Without hesitation he said Jane’s Seafood and Chinese. 

Now I don't know about you, but I was very suspicious of going somewhere with seafood and Chinese in the name, but we went anyway. 

Wow, what a surprise. Though we cannot speak for food from the Chinese menu, the seafood we had was delicious.

Gumbo, potato salad, bread, hushpuppies*

Thursday joy: We woke, checked out of the hotel and were on our way down the coastal route toward New Orleans. By this time the term coastal route was a misnomer. We went through towns that were all off the beach, and though we saw backwaters sometimes, we really were not seeing the gulf at all. 

About 2/3 of the way to New Orleans we made a decision and headed North on a four lane road to Metarie (a suburb just north of the New Orleans city limits). We stopped there to have lunch ( another delicious seafood meal) then made the decision to abandon the coastal route entirely. 

Several years ago we had driven the coast from New Orleans to Mobile. We made a quick decision because we had seen it before, and really did not relish driving through  downtown N.O. just to pick up he coastal road through Mississippi, we would just connect with I-10 and save a bit of time. OK, it would have been quite a bit of time because the coastal route through New Orleans would mean traveling through the southern part of the city block after block.

Thursday dinner: We arrived in Daphne by late afternoon, freshened up a bit and met our SIL, who lives there, for dinner. Our niece who also lives nearby came by the restaurant, but could not stay for the meal because her son had a little league baseball game. 

We had a great visit  and meal at Market on the Bay, but it was just too short.  We vowed to come back to Daphne before too long.

Crab cakes, coleslaw, Moscow mule (me) Grilled catch of the day, coleslaw, beer (TheHub) Shrimp and grits, coleslaw, pinot noir (SIL)

Friday joy: Our big adventure was finally really coming to an end. We left Daphne and headed home. 

TheHub plans every trip when we are driving on the southern part of I-65  to include a lunch stop at Bates House of Turkey. It does not matter whether we are headed south or north. If we are on 65, there will be a meal. I get tired of doing the same thing every time, but have to admit their turkey is really good. 

Another stop we have to make is Peach Park, but only if we are headed north. Usually there is a peach fried pie that comes home with us, but Friday was only a quick rest room stop with a little browsing the sale table located near the women's rest room. Coincidence that the sale table was placed there?

We finally arrived home and after unloading the car, the great wash began. We had worn every single thing we packed so there was 2 weeks of laundry to do. 

I only got three loads down before calling it quits for the day. I kind of copped a "Fiddle dee dee, I'll think of that tomorrow" Scarlett O'Hara attitude.

Friday dinner: There was no food (at least nothing thawed) to cook. Instead we went to Fired Green Tomatoes for dinner.

Pork chop, coleslaw, green beans (me) Chicken and dumplings, creamed corn, lima beans (TheHub)

Saturday joy: After waking from a delicious sleep in our own bed with my own pillows, I made my own coffee just like I prefer it- strong and black. And since I was at my own house, I could have as much of it as I wanted. 

I would have enjoyed hanging out in my pjs sipping on coffee and reading. Alas ,we had no produce, bread, milk, eggs etc. and needed to go to the grocery store. TheHub had some things he wanted that could only be found at one store and of course I wanted to cherry pick Aldi and Publix  We wound up going to all three stores, coming back by the house between each store to put things away. It seemed to take forever. 

The bonus of going with TheHub to Walmart’s Neighborhood Market to get his 1/2 loaf of rye bread was checking out the day old bakery items  I was able to snag a sliced loaf of Italian bread for 69 cents and a 6 pack of bolillo rolls half off Score!!

We finished all the shopping with time for a couple of chores before it was time to watch the semi finals of March Madness. Both Auburn and Duke lost. I thought they would both be in the final game. Never ask me to handicap anything before placing a bet!

Saturday dinner: Ball game watching requires ball game food.

Sloppy Joes on split bolillo rolls, coleslaw**

Sunday joy: We were both tired, and skipped church so I could catch up on my sleep. 

I don’t sleep well when I am away from home, which is why I’ve already read three books this month. When we are in a hotel, TheHub likes to go to sleep earlier than I do. Since I am not able to get to sleep I use my iPad to read.

Sunday dinner: After buying all the things we needed Saturday (plus a few other groceries just because we wanted them) and a full freezer, there was no excuse for me not cooking a real meal.

Pork chops, couscous, asparagus

Planned for this week:

1. Spaghetti with meat sauce, tossed salad

2. Tacos with all the fixings, or taco salad

3. Egg rolls, fried rice, soup

4. Cheese sandwiches, veggie sticks

5. Crack chicken, Brussels sprouts, tossed salad,  Italian bread

6. Chicken pot pie, coleslaw

7. Cheeseburger salad

Books read in April:

Listen  for the Lies

What I Ate in One Year

Sandwich

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all.

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Anne

*This was one of their most requested meals and even though it sounds like a weird combination it really did work. The gumbo was chock full of shrimp, crab and fish, and the potato salad was spicy and savory rather than some I have had that are a tad sweet. The bread was a light Italian bread. The only thing I did not like were the hushpuppies that had cooked banana in the center. I thought they had committed a hushpuppy sacrilege but TheHub thought they were the bomb. Different strokes!

** You may have noticed how often we have coleslaw. We both love it so we eat it all the time. I always buy the biggest heads of cabbage I can find for that very reason.

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