We spent most of day 4 driving from Austin over to New Orleans. For the first 2-3 hours outside of Houston (btw, Houston had a ton of road construction on the West side of town on our way in!) we drove through a big ole rain storm that we almost didn't escape it seemed! I think we drove through more rain in those 2-3 hours than we get in AZ all year!
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| The storm we drove through East of Houston! We're the little blue dot. |
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| Not everything is BIGGER in Texas. We found these at a Walgreens in NO. We'd never seen jugs that big! |
We discovered the joy of a Buc-ee's truck/travel stop (https://www.buc-ees.com/index.php)on the West side of Houston! I think it was the best truck stop I've ever been to! They have about 50 types of jerky, as well as a full kitchen/deli counter. Not to mention you can shop for all kinds of crap there that you don't need! It was clean, well lit, and I wish there were more of them along our route. But it seems as if they are only in TX.
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| Our first family selfie ever! Taken at Buc-ee's. Yee haw! |
On our way across I-10 we dropped down to Avery Island and toured the Tabasco Museum! It was pretty cool to learn bout how the McIlhenny family started and has continued the pepper growing and sauce making over the years. It's amazing the crap they have tried to infuse their pepper flavored sauce into - ice cream, cola, green beans, pickles, Sriracha sauce (as if it's not already hot enough), suckers, seasoning salt, etc., etc. It was a fun place to stop and see, but we didn't linger long as that darned rain storm was on our heels and it began to sprinkle just as we were leaving!
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| On Avery Island. |
Our hotel in NO was only a few blocks off of Bourbon/Canal streets, so we had good access to most of the major sites. After relaxing for a bit in our hotel room, we walked down to dinner at the treat of all treats... Mother's! We got to stand in line to get in as is the expectation, and then all had a great meal! We all agreed that Darby won the "best choice" with the Ralph Po-Boy! Bish wanted me to be sure to mention that I was confused as to where our room was on our floor, and couldn't find the ice machine that was just outside out door!
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| Danica got hers "with debris!" |
On Monday we decided to kick around in the French Quarter. First off was the Audubon Insectarium based on a recommendation from Dr. Thirsty! For those from Purdue Ag/Entomology 105, we got to pet a Blaberus craniifer!!! Look it up if you are not sure what it is! The movie show was similar to It's a Bug's Life ride/show at California Adventure. Danica did NOT enjoy the 100X life size underground simulation! We got to taste cooked meal worms, crickets, and had a "chirping cookie!"
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| Blaberus Craniifer! |
We walked through the French Market, and had to stop in Cafe Du Monde for some chicory coffee and beignets! We attempted to go to John Lafitte's Blacksmith bar, the oldest in the country I believe, but no minors allowed. Bish got to walk back to Jackson Square again. :-) After lots of walking followed by a rain storm, we decided that cooling off/no more sweating for a bit back in our hotel room was a good idea.
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| Notice all of the powdered sugar on the ground! |
After a few hours of cooling off in our hotel room, we ventured back out to try a variety of New Orleans delicacies. First stop was just down the street from our hotel to have oysters on the half shell. We then hit a place near Bourbon St. and had some really good gumbo. Our final stop was Deanie's for some crawfish and beer of course! The food here is always soooooo good!
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| Suck da heads! |
you need to go to the Cajun place over by the convention center where they play the music in the dining room and the waitresses dance in between bringing out their orders, great food and great fun! Huck
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good trip. You do such a good job of writing about it. A good time had by all, you guys take good trips and put a lot of thought and planning into it.
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