May 20, 2013 - New Orleans Revisited

Today the sun was shining in New Orleans unlike our previous visit. A tour of Bourbon Street was an experience for Lin and my first sober walk there. It smells bad!! Had a great lunch at Redfish Grill. Barbequed oysters to share, barbequed Redfish for me and a seafood fettucine for my Lady. Then it was off to Pat O'Brien's so Lin could have her first and second Hurricane. The Lady holds her rum well!! Found some street musicians who were good enough for a tip. The only problem was that The Hurricane Lady missed the bucket with the...

May 15, 2013 - A New Bayou Tour with food

Today we took a journey to Houma with no plans beyond going there. At the visitor center a very nice lady gave us the name of two restaurants and a map of the town which was far bigger than we expected. Next stop was Dave's Cajun Kitchen where the catfish was to die for and the lima beans made the palate cry for more. After the main course our super nice waitress explained that it was a requirement that all male diners consume a serving of bread pudding and I forced myself to partake of a fine culinary masterpiece and Linda stole three...

May 14, 2013 - Duck Dynasty, Catfish and Crawfish

Another great day with a couple of surprises. Drove to West Monroe for another try at getting inside the Duck Commander store. No crowds this time and spent a whole lot of money and sure hope the Grands like their souvenirs. Took a peak in the warehouse and who to our wondering eyes did appear? None other than Jase Robertson. We found him to be a very nice and polite young man. After my bride finished hugging him, he autographed our new book and we headed for lunch. We later discovered that he signed not only his name but the words "Hebrews...

May 13, 2013 - New Orleans

We made it to New Orleans. The weather is just great. We went into New Orleans yesterday and saw all kind of police. Little did we know about the shooting at the parade that injured 19 people including 2 children. Today though has been better. No shooting. We took a carriage ride and the man pointed out lots of places for us. We saw some buildings on our way in that are still destroyed from Katrina. Parking today was a little bit better today than yesterday. We sat outside and ate while overlooking the Mississippi River and watched a...

May 12, 2013 - New Orleans, LA

We spent a week and a half at the New Orleans East Kampground in Slidell, Louisiana just about 30 miles away from New Orleans. It is a nice enough campground but lets just say it is not as “glamorous” as our winter home at Anchors Aweigh. The fact that it rained 6 days out of the 11 days we were there may have had something to do with that. Between the water front site, huge puddles and the biting bugs that the camp host called “noseeems” we pretty much had to stay indoors except when we had to walk Lucy. The 5 days that it didn’t rain the...

May 12, 2013 - Happy Mother's Day!

We want to wish all mothers a very Happy Mother’s Day! The “I Love Mom” card was sent from Jerry and Kim, it was absolutely perfect for where I was at the beach, it was a wonderful gift card. It’s so hard to send gifts when all you have is a PO Box. Jerry wanted to send flowers but it was such a hassle, I told him a gift card was so much easier. Vickie and Ed did the same. Their gift card had Sammy in his Texas cowboy outfit, another perfect gift. I loved them both and have a lot of shopping to do. :-) We spent our day on a long Sunday...

May 11, 2013 - Bayous, Beads and Bourbon Street

Departed the great city of Memphis, with a promise to get back there for a longer stay next time. Just too much fun to be had! A promise we plan to keep. A long drive through Mississippi on US 55, both boring and bumpy over miles of road under construction or roadway that certainly needs it. Broke up the 8 hour trip to New Orleans with an overnight stop in the capitol city of Jackson at the Roosevelt State Park. A very nice, full service facility which gave us just enough time to recharge. Interesting trip through Louisiana over miles and...

May 5, 2013 - Iowa, La. to Slidell, La

We drove from Iowa to Slidell, a distance of 199 miles. This is our second (and final) stop in Louisiana. They had very heavy rain early this morning in the Slidell area, but we were traveling from the west, and the event was over by the time we arrived. :-) We are at the Slidell Elks Lodge, and the grounds here are pure, "Bayou". Here are some pictures! Mike and Nancy P.S. - We are a few days ahead of our postings, so please do not let the 'dates' confuse you! :-)

May 4, 2013 - A Taste of The Bayou

We decided to go for a drive outside the small town of Iowa & see what was beyond the borders. We drove a few miles to the Town of Hayes. The country roads stretch for miles in all directions. We headed east, passing stretches of farmland & came to a small park along the banks of a picturesque river. There was a small campground and a few people were out fishing along the banks of the river. It was a warm day & the air around the water was fresh & cool. After leaving the river we noticed a narrow side road leading to an old cemetary, and we...

May 2, 2013 - Cypress Bend

Cypress Bend RV Park is in Iowa, Louisiana. The town was so named because it was settled by Midwesterners, mostly from Iowa and Kansas. However, this tiny town is very Cajun, with all sorts of interesting items in the grocery stores. We aren't sure what half of them are, but they have canned items that are the size of large, 1 gallon paint cans! We selected this stop because it wasn't too far from our last one, and we generally like to drive for four hours or less. We belong to Passport America (a discount RV Park Club) and the location &...

May 1, 2013 - Alleyton, Tx. to Iowa, La.

We drove from Alleyton, Texas, to Iowa, Louisiana, a distance of 225 miles. We are about 45 miles east of the Texas border, and not too far from the Gulf. The weather is in the 80's, and we will be here for about two days or so. Along our route we stopped at the last rest stop in east Texas, and at the first Visitors Center in Louisiana, just 6 miles or so inside Louisiana. These are two of the best and most beautiful rest stop areas we have seen in our two years of traveling. Here are a few pictures of our journey to Cajun Country! Mike...

Apr 29, 2013 - Alexandria

Ruston, LA. Alexandria Zoological Park First opened to the public in 1926. It is a small zoo, home to about 500 animals. The zoo was started with discarded pets such as rabbits, goats, and deer and grew from there. It has four themed habitat areas. All were very well done with lots of shade and nice plantings. The paths were well-laid out. We especially liked the Louisiana Habitat which features the plants, animals, architecture, industry and culture of Louisiana. The naturalistic exhibits depict the marshes, swamps, and uplands of the...