Day 19 New Orleans To Point Clear, THE END!

We woke early in New Orleans, before the people with hangovers could stumble out for aspirin. Shopkeepers were hosing down their sidewalks. I don’t want to know why. We walked a few blocks from our hotel to here:

Cafe Du Monde has been serving up beignets and cafe au lait for just about forever, so long that they have it down to a science.

A delicious, delicious science.

We passed by Jackson Square. I have no idea what it is, but ain’t it purdy?

You can’t leave New Orleans without a few pralines. (Or maybe you can, but I can’t.)

I chose this place because it looked like a mom-and-pop store in the middle of huge praline chains. Plus they said they had the best pralines, and you know how I feel about places that say they’re the best.

But in this case, they weren’t exaggerating because OH, MY GOODNESS!! Seriously the best, best pralines I’ve ever had. (And I’ve had a few. Heh.)

Since it’s our last night, I chose a sort of special occasion place on the coast of Alabama, in Fairhope, to be exact. I’d always heard the gulf shores are lovely. Turns out they are. For supper, I had fried seafood at an Italian place named Gambinos. (Somehow that made sense at the time. Also, it was delicious!)

We spent the rest of the night swimming and enjoying the ocean at our wonderful, fabulous hotel.

Tomorrow we head north again to Tennessee. (We’re planning to stop for supper and ice cream in Chattanooga, woo-hoo!) It’s been a wonderful, fabulous road trip. Thanks for tagging along!

Day Eighteen: Houston to New Orleans

The day started off well. We went to the Breakfast Klub, a super-friendly eatery that specializes in made-from-scratch breakfast dishes bigger than your head. They also have awesome, bottomless cups of coffee, and not the thimble-sized ones. These are for serious coffee drinkers. Then we got to the parking lot and someone sideswiped the rental car, leaving a small but distinguishable scratch. We spent the next two and a half hours being shuttled between three police stations to try and make a report for insurance. Nothing says vacation like soul-crushing bureaucracy.

On the way to New Orleans at last, the scenery began to flatten out into marshes, sugar cane, and bridges. The massive bridges stretched for miles and miles. (One was eighteen miles, to be precise.) To take a break, we stopped at one of the visitor centers in Louisiana. What a delight!

This is what rest areas dream of being when they grow up–clean, spacious, staffed with friendly people, and good smelling. Plus they have alligators!

The wasted time made a massive dent in my near lifelong desire to see New Orleans. But we still had time for a po’ boy.

The Parkway Bakery & Tavern is the place to go for these sandwiches. I got the oysters, which they only have on Mondays and Wednesdays. I can also heartily recommend the bread pudding. (Take note that they’re closed on Tuesdays.)

I was game for ice cream, but no one else was. That might have been a good thing since the baby had one of those diapers that’s so bad it takes a pit crew to change it.

On the way to the hotel, we saw a bit of the French Quarter.

Tomorrow we finish New Orleans and head for our last day. Sadness.

Day Seventeen: San Antonio to Houston

We were warned to get out of San Antonio early. (Not in a malicious shoot-out-at-noon way, but in a you’ll-be-stuck-in-traffic way. Apparently I-10 on this route becomes a parking lot on most days.) But we couldn’t scoot out of San Antonio without visiting my mom’s favorite TV preacher, Pastor Hagee.

Cornerstone church was ultra-huge, but the music was good and so was the sermon. And the people were friendly. And the baby got to play with toys instead of hotel ice buckets and toiletries. It was a win for everyone.

Due to our early departure, the three-hour trip was fairly uneventful. In fact, we arrived too early to check into our hotel. So we went here to feed the police horses some carrots. They know when you’re coming and flock toward the treats. It’s adorable.

Did I mention it was 99 degrees? It was 99 degrees. We drove by the water wall, but didn’t get out. Because it was 99 degrees.

Then we found a bakery, Uncommon Bond. The chocolate chip cookies, oh, the chocolate chip cookies. They’re 3.50 per cookie, but they’re worth it. Seriously. (Take it from a connoisseur.)

The bakery was in Montrose, a strip full of quirky stores and antique shops.

Next we went to our hotel, a Sheraton Suites near the Galleria. For the uninformed, the Galleria is the country’s fourth largest mall. To beat the heat, we swam for a bit and then grabbed supper here.

Good Dog Houston makes upscale hotdogs. They’re good, so good that I forgot to get a picture.

For dessert, we headed here. They make ribbon ice, sort of a creamy shaved ice milk. They also have sno-cones with all-natural syrups. My daughter, who is allergic to all food dyes, was able to have a sno-cone for the first time ever. It was a grand day.

After, we drove around Memorial park, a giant green space in the middle of the city. There were people out walking. They must not have gotten the memo that it was too hot for that sort of thing. Houston seems like a lovely city, especially when viewed from the safety of our air-conditioned van.

Days Fifteen and Sixteen: San Antonio

Before heading to San Antonio, we needed to finish Carlsbad Caverns. We arrived bright and early to head into the darkness seven stories below ground.

We explored one mile of the cave, called The Big Room.

That left 30 miles of cave we didn’t explore.

It was a cool and moist 56 degrees below ground, something we would remember fondly as we headed into the heart of Texas hill country, San Antonio. As we made our way southeast, we spent a long time on a highway in the heart of oil-boom country. All we saw were oil trucks, pipelines, and crews and crews of men, trucks, and equipment working on them. It was oddly fascinating. Then we hopped on I-10 and the fascination came to a halt. Let me just say that there is very little for a very long way and then all of a sudden you’re in San Antonio, which is huge.

Last night, exhausted from our long day, we grabbed a bite at The Big Bib, a BBQ joint. (If you don’t eat BBQ while you’re in Texas, they don’t let you leave, I think.) The Big Bib is one of those Mom and Pop-type places that makes you smile when you walk in, probably because it smells so good and you know you’re going to get good food, which we did. In fact, the food was pretty spectacular.

See that sweet potato casserole? Nom, nom, nom. Delicious! PS. All this food isn’t for me. I shared it with both my kids. Just felt I needed to put that out there before people start mailing me anonymous memberships to Overeaters Anonymous.

The next morning we went to the Riverwalk. We parked at the far end of the walk. (At The Pearl, an outdoor marketplace. It was also free to park.) We then hailed a river taxi, the best way to see everything. (You pay $15 and can hop on or off anywhere all day.)

And my husband got to add some new birds (a yellow crowned night heron) to his bird list.

(We also saw some neo-tropic cormorants and black bellied whistling ducks.)

If you’ve never been to San Antonio, let me explain that the Riverwalk is fifteen miles of scenic downtown, comprised of shops, restaurants, and this place.

Despite the fact that the Alamo battle took place in 1836, you still get a sort of sad, reverential feeling when you step inside. Or maybe it’s because you’re waiting in nearly hundred degree weather in a line that looks like this.

It’s worth the trip, if only to see this flag which riled my fighting spirit.

You want this cookie?? You’d better come and try to take it!! But I digress…

The river walk is beautiful, even if you never leave the boat. (Considering the high temperatures and crowds of people, you might be better off never leaving the boat. Bring water. And don’t go on the weekend that 85,000 Seventh Day Adventists are there for their annual conference like we did. Oops. At least we had the pork products all to ourselves.)

We left the river walk and headed back toward our hotel for supper. We stopped off at a ginormous shopping mall called La Cantera and ate at a place called Whiskey Cake.

Normally I don’t condone eating at chain restaurants on vacation, preferring instead to eat locally. But this is a regional chain that cooks from scratch using locally sourced ingredients. I would give it a mixed review.

My BBQ pork Bahn Mi was meh. But their eponymous whisky cake was fabulous.

After such a long, hot day, nothing sounded better than a dip in the pool. Nothing except fresh, warm cookies hand delivered to my door, that is. Thankfully Tiff’s Treats offers such a service.

They come packaged like an engagement ring. Coincidence? I think not.

Our biggest surprise about San Antonio was the size. It’s huge, and tonight we learned that Houston–tomorrow’s destination–is four times bigger. Fingers crossed that means four times the cookie bakeries.

Day Seven: Glenwood Springs to Arches National Park

We headed west again. But first doughnuts.

Coloradough in Glenwood Springs custom fills their doughnuts with multiple selections of fillings. Why isn’t this a thing everywhere? How does one start a White House petition to make it so?

Moving on, we continued westward for a few more hours and arrived in Utah.

The greenness of Colorado had slowly morphed into rocks. Then the gray and green rocks morphed into red and we were here:

Let me tell you what I like about Arches. In addition to the beauty, the park isn’t super crowded like some others. (That’s right, I’m talking to you, Yellowstone.) There aren’t hordes of people hemming you in on every side, crowding for their turn to suck up the beauty. Also, it’s possible to see the park in one day. We drove the main road and paused a few times to take pictures. Of course die-hard hikers and campers will want to take more time, but the near-hundred degree temps mandated that we keep our walks short. Here are some of the highlights. (If some of these scenes look familiar, it’s because some movies have been shot here, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.)

Balance Rock

There are petroglyphs:

And of course some arches: (This one’s Delicate Arch.)

This was the arch used in the Indiana Jones movie. You were also able to climb part of it.

My husband and kids above and my husband making the final ascent solo below.

For supper we ate at Susie’s Branding Iron.

The food was good, the portions large, and the prices reasonable. (Their pie is supposed to be awesome, but we were too full.)

*A word about our hotel: We’re staying at the Archway Inn. It’s quiet with a nice pool and full breakfast. Best of all the room is set up for a large group. There are three queen size beds and two TV’s, so even though everyone is together we each have our own space.

Tomorrow we’ll be hiking in another national park, and it suddenly seems important to know which one the guy who did his own amputation got his arm trapped in. Fingers crossed we’ll all come out intact.