April 2017 – Our RV Trip

Aaaannnddd…We’re Back

By Jennie Simpson | April 26, 2017

Hey Guys!! Aaaannnddd…we’re back in Houston! I can’t even begin to tell you how fast our Eastern Loop 2016 went or how good it feels to drive back onto Texas soil after having been gone for a whole year. A whole year, Guys!! This was our first full year loop and it was…well, it was kind of awesome. I’m not going to do our Year-In-Review post right now so stay tuned for that!

All of our loops start and end in Houston. That’s by design. We go back to Houston once a year to see our friends and get all of our yearly check-ups done. Even nomads have to go to the Dentist (waves and Dr, McGriff & staff), get their eyes checked (waves at everyone at Today’s Vision Sugarland), and they definitely have to get physicals done (waves at Dr. Kahn & all of the lovely Ladies). And, with two nomad cats, a good Veterinarian staff is a must (waves at SPAH)!

We spent two weeks getting our business done, visiting friends,

and hitting our favorite eateries. Y’all know we’re foodies and Houston is a foodie town. I’ve tried several other places in several other cities, but the best Indian Food is in Houston and this is my favorite place to indulge.

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We spent the whole year missing Torchy’s Tacos. They have awesome tacos, but my favorite thing to get there is the queso. It’s…well…magical.

We didn’t just hit all of our favorite foodie spots, we also went to the Houston RV Show! No, we’re not looking for a new home. We wanted to see what new features were being added and get a few ideas for some upgrades we are wanting to make to our home-on-wheels. Check out this slick feature! This is an induction cook top that has been designed in a way that allows you to easily remove it and move it to another spot like the table or outside and still use it! We want to take out our gas cook top and replace it with something like this. Our current cook top uses propane and we’ve found that in some areas propane can be…well, a pain to find.

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I got to spend the entire afternoon with one of my absolute favorite BFF (waves and Andrea). We always celebrate both of our birthdays while I’m back even though neither one of them is in February. She knows me so well…check out those truffles!

We’d just left Louisiana and all of that wonderful Cajun food right in the middle of crawfish season. We tried a place not far from where we were staying in Houston. It was ok. If we hadn’t just had the real thing, it would’ve been good.

During crawfish season all of the HEBs (Here Everything is Better) have live crawfish that you can get live or you can get them already boiled up in a spicy Cajun seasoning! We got 8 lbs of crawfish! We ended up with about 17 ounces of crawfish to use later in an Étouffée. Guys, we didn’t actually eat any of it as we shelled it. Maybe a few…for quality control purposes only. I promise! lol! We were a little surprised by how little we ended up with so we headed back and bought some crawfish in the freezer section that had already been cleaned up. And you know what? It was cheaper to buy them frozen! Oh well, lesson learned. I’ll post up my Étouffée later if y’all are interested.

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Living in an RV, weather is always on our minds. We had a few close calls with tornadoes in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. We didn’t really expect any trouble in Houston. But we spent an hour or so up at the RV park office during a tornado warning one morning. Growing up in Tornado Alley, we know the power and devastation Mother Nature can cause so we’re always prepared to jump and run.

While we always enjoy our time in Houston…

we don’t enjoy the endless supply of traffic.

See y’all down the road!!

NOLA

By Jennie Simpson | April 20, 2017

Hey Guys!! We spent one day exploring New Orleans.

We stayed about an hour north of NOLA so we got to drive across Lake Pontchartrain on the longest (continuous) bridge over water in the world to get to New Orleans. This bridge is about 23 miles long with several crossovers on it. Can you imagine getting on it by mistake and having to go the full length of the bridge before being able to turn around? Yikes!

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We went on a Sunday morning hoping to avoid some of the crowds. Too bad we didn’t know about the 5k run that was taking place. There were cars everywhere, no parking spots, and streets blocked off! We made it to a parking garage where we choked on the cost of parking. We learned later that traffic is always bad and parking is always pricey in NOLA. We’d been told that NOLA isn’t really family friendly. We were hoping by going on a Sunday morning there would be more families out and there were! We had a good time strolling around looking at all of the street performers. You can see how many kids were around in the pic above.

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We headed right to Cafe du Monde! The line was long, but moved fast. Make sure you take cash if you go to Cafe du Monde. Things run a little differently there. You order with the waiter and then they go stand in the line you see in the photo above to get your order. The waiter pays with their money before they bring you your order so you then owe your waiter for your order. We’d never seen a process quite like that before. I wonder what happens if the costumer didn’t bring enough cash? Our fluffy pillows of fried dough (otherwise known as beignets) and chickory coffee came in record time. They’re pretty good, but I think it’s mainly the novelty of eating at Cafe du Monde that brings people in masses to this cafe.

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We took some time to look through The Cabildo where we learned about life in Louisiana starting in the colonial times. Check out this blunderbuss! It’s so ornate! We also got to stroll through the room where the Louisiana Purchase transfer happened in 1803.

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This is called an Immortelle. An immortelle is a wreath made of durable material (the one above is made from wire and beads) to be placed on crypts and tombs.

Throughout the late 18th century, most of south Louisiana suffered from epidemics of yellow fever, malaria, cholera, and smallpox. We stopped by St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 to see what the famed “cities of the dead” look like. We made it to the Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 for a quick walk through. I wanted to go to the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, but you now have to have a guided tour just to get in the gates. Pretty much all of the graves are above ground in crypts.

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We went the week before Mardi Gras and everything was decorated for the party. We took a quick peek at Bourbon Street, but didn’t actually walk down it. We’d been warned it wasn’t really family friendly.

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Since pralines (pronounced Praw-leens) is the Louisiana state candy…we had to grab some. Plus, we wanted to compare them to the ones we got in Charleston. You might be surprised by how different they were. The ones from Charleston used heavy cream in theirs and there wasn’t any milk in the ones from NOLA. The ones from Charleston only came in two flavors (original and chocolate) while the ones in NOLA came in five flavors (original, peanut butter, coconut, rum, and chocolate). We all enjoyed the ones from NOLA more.

We couldn’t leave NOLA without sampling some of the dishes they’re known for. We found a place called Mother’s. We found it on one of those tv food apps. Mother’s has been on quite a few shows. I wanted to make sure and get a little of everything so I ended up with a sampler plate. I got to try the crawfish etouffee, the jambalaya, the red beans & rice, and the turnip greens. It was all really good! The thing Mother’s is really known for though are the Poboys. Jerl got the Famous Ferdi Special which has ham, roast beef, debris, and gravy on it. Debris? What the heck is debris? It’s magic. Mother’s cooks their roast for hours and all of the juice and shavings that fall off the roast is then ladled onto the top of a poboy. It’s basically a NOLA version of a french dip. Like I said…magic.

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So! We survived NOLA! We got to see most of what we wanted to see and got out of their before it got dark.

See y’all down the road!!

Louisiana

By Jennie Simpson | April 12, 2017

Hey Guys!

We spent one week in Louisiana!

Maybe I should say…we spent one week in Louisiana…eating. ;-P I knew it was bad when we found this place called Ronnie’s only five minutes away from where we stayed. We went there for dinner our very first day in LA and it did not disappoint!

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I know, I know…it doesn’t look like much, but let me tell you….woo-WEE…it is amazing! What you’re looking at are boudin balls. They’re made of rice and smoked pork then deep fried. The ones we got were stuffed with pepper jack cheese. If you’re ever in Louisiana make sure to get yourself some and make sure you pronounce it like a local… boodan. Ours was served with a spicy remoulade sauce that just really pushed it all over the top! We went back to Ronnie’s just for these. Y’all, I think we gained twenty pounds here, but you know what…I’d totally do it again!

We did actually get out and see some of the state. We didn’t just eat. I promise. We made it to the SCB in Baton Rouge. Check out that front door! We were completely surprised by the Louisiana State Capitol Building.

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This is the front hall of the SCB. We haven’t seen too many great halls like this. Out of 35 states…maybe three (including LA). I mean…look at the ceiling. Look at our ornate and detailed it is! We spent several minutes with our heads craned back trying to take it all in.

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One of the things I always look for at a SCB is the State Seal. In LA they’ve got a huge one right in the middle of the great hall! This is the Senate Chamber. Check out those columns. We really walked around totally stunned at the opulence of the LA SCB.

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Now, there’s not a dome at the SCB, but there’s a fantastic view on the 27th floor! And…you can actually go outside on the walk! That was a first for us. Usually, if there’s some kind of walk up that high it’s locked. It’s usually off limits. You can look out the windows, but you can’t get outside. It was so nice being able to go outside and checkout that view!

We also stopped by the old SCB. It looks like a castle! It was very cool!

When you walk into the old SCB you immediately see this amazing staircase! And Guys…look at the dome!!! I took sooo many pictures of this dome! But, look at it! Gorgeous!! The old SCB has been turned into a small museum. We didn’t really look through it all due to time.

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The stained glass wasn’t just on the dome. There were several of these wonderful windows too! Check out this mirror! I had the boys stand next to it so you could really see how huge it is!

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Here’s another view of that ah-mazing dome…and one more shot of the outside. Because, castles are cool.

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Zapps chips are offered in tons of states, but they’re a huge thing in LA so we grabbed a couple of bags. We weren’t too impressed with the VooDoo flavor. It was both very sweet and very sour all at the same time. I’ve struggled this entire EasternLoop2016 to find decent root beer. Y’all…it’s been so hard! And then we get to LA and there’s four different Barq’s!!! What?!?! I had to get some of each.