Sweet Home Blacksburg (not Alabama!)

We made it home last night after a pretty long drive.  Took about 14 hours total time in the car yesterday to drive from NOLA to Blacksburg.  A few stops and a couple minor traffic incidents, but mostly smooth sailing.  On our final stop, we learned that they are putting a Buc-ees in Tennessee at the Gatlinburg exit (near Knoxville).  It opens June 27 (tomorrow), so we just missed it.  Anyway, something for a future trip when we go to Jack Daniels/Nashville.  We have a renewed interest in visiting Tennessee again, although probably won't venture all the way to Memphis, because after seeing Bourbon St again, we realize Memphis is just not on the same planet, scale-wise.

Our adventure was over 3100 miles and if my math is right, that's also over 500 smackers on gas at 30 mpg and over $5/gallon on average.  

Final route details:

Anyway, I guess this trip is a wrap.  A great time overall.

Beignets, Sazerac, Frozen drinks, and Fun

New Orleans is the same and different than what I remember.  Hadn't been there in about 10 years.  We did a ton of walking in the city, reminiscent of our time on the other Riverwalk, just a week earlier.  Yes, they also now have a Riverwalk, although this one is much more localized than San Antonio.  The city smells pretty bad on several streets and isn't super clean, but that was expected.  They really, really have ratched up the volume on Bourbon St, or maybe it's just my 50 year old ears perceiving it's louder than ever.

Beignets are STILL awesome.  Had them both Thurs/Fri, first at the legendary Cafe du Monde and then at Cafe Beignet - with chocolate sauce - which had some relaxing (not jacked up to 11) entertainment. 

 

We got a couple of pretty good meals with much of the traditional fare - Muffaletta, Red Beans and Rice, Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffe, Gumbo...some via a sampler...good food, as expected.

Obviously, we also had a couple of beverages.  Got a required (in my mind) Hurricane at Pat O's, a frozen Mojita, an Ice Cream Daiquiri and a smattering of more normal drinks.  Speaking of drinks, our hotel (Drury Inn) provided us each with 3 drinks each evening, along with a light dinner buffet.  This hotel was a great find for the middle of a city with very convenient parking, great rooms with high ceilings, at a reasonable rate just a few blocks from the French Quarter and Bourbon St.  I definitely recommend it.

What I didn't recall (likely just my memory) was just how loud and how big the "party district" (for lack of a better term) is in that city.  It's truly mind boggling.  Just block after block of bars, restaurants, shopping, and people just going nuts.  Soooo, many people playing the BUCKETS (not really an instrument mind you), insane outfits, and did I mention, SUPER LOUD music.  We checked out the Piano Bar at Pat O's on Thursday (just ok, not great singers, although they entertained) and then spend an hour plus on Friday at Krazy Korner catching a (mostly) 90s cover band blasting Pearl Jam, Nirvana, STP, and similar tunes.  Really enjoyed that band.

The Riverwalk there is also not something I recalled - it's NEWISH - and we did some shopping and got out of the heat for a few minutes.  

Another highlight of this leg of our journey was our trip to the Sazerac House.  We really just randomly stumbled onto it after a long walk and an attempt to visit the St. Louis Cemetery #1.  We figured we could walk right in and check out the crypts, but were rebuffed by security and his requirement we pay for a tour.  Luckily, found a free tour just a few blocks away at the SH.

A good way to end our trip.  New Orleans did not disappoint.  

 

To New Orleans via Baton Rouge (well, almost)

Today was a long day.  And not the get up early, run on the beach, drink margaritas for hours while occasionally hitting the waves kind of long, but rather the stuck in traffic due to a jack-knifed tractor trailer kind of long.  What should have been a relatively easy 7-8 hour cruise from Port A to Baton Rouge became an 11 hour odyssey of misery.  All because one driver on the I-10 had very bad day slightly across the border from Texas into Louisiana, flipping his crane truck and causing I-10 to be shutdown the entire day. What's up with Waze?  The accident happened early in the morning and yet no redirection around the multi-hour parking lot.  So, while we tried to make it to NOLA today, we failed.  I don't often try things and fail.  I'm more in line with that famous little green guy's mantra: I "do" things.  After a very long day of driving, we pulled an audible and decided to lodge for the night in Baton Rouge. 

We got a very filling and pleasurable dinner at the Chimes and then went to check out Tiger Stadium at night.  Wow.  It's huge.  I didn't make it to the Cowboys stadium in Dallas, but I have to believe the outside structures are similar in size.  I'll someday need to get to night game in that stadium.  Seems very awesome.  I often get confused why football recruits choose teams over our beloved Hokies, but not in the case of LSU.  I fully get it and that's solely from seeing the outside of their Tiger-shrine.  Couple that with the SEC and the history at LSU and if one was good enough for big time football, LSU would be a strong choice.

More exploration of Baton Rouge in the morning and more trips down memory lane for Buttercup before we (again) head off to New Orleans. 

Final day at the Beach

Today is it.  Our final day of relaxing, as we're going to start our journey back to Blacksburg pretty soon.  Tomorrow, we will stop in Baton Rouge on our way to a 2 night sojourn to New Orleans.  So, figured, I'd post a few beach pictures to wrap this part of our adventure.

 

Exploring Port A

On Monday, we did some recon of the local area.  There are quite a few nature preserves and the like around here.  This broke up our usual routine of pool in the morning, resting at high sun, and then beach from 3-6pm or so, interleaving some exploration time.

We first stopped in at University of Texas Marine Science Institute and traversed the grounds.  Some interesting plant life, but not many birds other than the ubiquitous (here, at least) pelicans.  Boy, was it hot.  And quite humid, but I think that's just the norm here.

The Leanobelle Turnbull Birding Center was our next stop.  Still hot.  Not many birds out, but did spot a few herons/egrets.  Spotted these two odd looking gators wandering around too...

Stopped in a few local beach shops as well (did not make a purchase).

 

Sunrise today!

Buttercup was up early and on the beach today.

Beaching continues

Friday was relatively uneventful, with just a normal beach day now under our belts.  Both the pool water and ocean water temperatures are the warmest I can recall encountering in my life.  The ocean here is also interesting.  All sand bottom (no rocks) and a very deep shelf of sand with a quite gradual ocean deepening - we got out "pretty far" (relative to other beaches) and still were only in about 4-5 feet deep.  The water is most certainly not clear - constantly churned by the waves and overall just murky.

Saturday was a bit more exciting.  We started our day with early morning run/walk on the beach.  And well, we hit some weather about 30 minutes into our exercise.  Check these out:

Don't mind the fact that I seemed to think it was June 22 when recording (it was not!)

Rather than hang out on the beach and deal with the floods, we made our way to Corpus Christi.  Buttercup met up with a former student for lunch at Kiko's Mexican and SuperJimi braved the mean streets of CC on his own, landing at Whataburger.  Tasty on both accounts.  They have Dr. Pepper milkshakes, which are quite the treat.  We drove around and got a little taste of CC - not particularly exciting, but an ok town.

(as a fan of "Fear the Walking Dead", I really like this sign....)

At 4pm on Saturday an acoustic concert was held at the SandCastle Condos, so we made a quick stop at the HEB plus and then raced back to the crib.  Two guys played and sang for about 3 hours and we were able to sit on our balcony and enjoy the show.  Good, clean fun.

A new phase of our trip

We have transitioned from the being city dwellers to beach dwellers.  Still some posts forthcoming, but much of our time during the next several days will be repetitive.  Get up.  Hang out on beach.  Nap during peak heat of the day.  Hang out on beach.  Sleep.  Rinse and repeat.  You get the idea.  Before we completely transition though, a few updates on things from yesterday.

First, on our drive from San Antonio to Port Aransas, we encountered a few periods of what we surmise were wild fires.  Not sure.  I guess they could have been controlled burns, but it was something we never saw before.  Check out this footage:

Lots of smoke and grass between lanes was definitely on fire.  Odd.  After avoiding a fiery fate, we continued on.  These days, we kind of just blindly follow Waze (or Google Maps) depending upon random draw.  As we got closer, I was confused as to why there seemed to be RED closer to the shore (traffic clogged) and why were less than 10 miles from our new pad and it was an estimate of nearly an hour of drive time.  I figured that these map programs would only take you on paths which you can actually successfully navigate via car, and I figured wrong.  After finally reading ahead and actually looking at a map, I saw that there was NO BRIDGE from the mainland to Port A.  Just water.  Why did our navigation system take us to a dead end?  Well, it actually took us to a FREE ferry.  A very short ferry ride across, but during the peak of the summer the line was pretty long.  Anyway, free boat ride.

After 3pm we arrived at the Sandcastle resort and checked in for our 6 night stay.  Nice view from our balcony and a very nice pool.

River(Dance) Party!

So, if you saw the title of this post and thought, I've got to see this...SuperJimi and Buttercup DANCING, well then I just won.  It's called click-bait.  The only thing more unlikely than seeing me dancing in a blog would be to see me singing.  Not happening. 

Today, rather than jump right onto the Riverwalk, which is now old hat to us, we decided to stay on the surface roads and walk towards the space needle.  I guess here they call it the Tower of the Americas, but it's the same idea.  On the way, we found the ever-so-charming Yanaguana Garden at Hemsfair and also spotted the Alamo Dome, home of the SA Spurs (SuperJimi likes arenas and stadiums).

Nearby the tower, we also saw the city convention center. Much to our surprise, but probably not to the city planners, we we able to hop back on the Riverwalk near the CC.

Several thousand more steps under our belt, we made our way to yet another Mexican restaurant to grab a bite.  Poblanos on Main was freakin' killer.  Great prices and really good food.  If only we had found this yesterday, we'd have gone back today. 

A 20,000 step (River)Walk

Well, that was quite the day.  Logged around 15K and for me 20,000 steps.  Buttercup ended with 23,000+ steps.  We went up and down, back and forth, and all around the Riverwalk today.  We made it to the Alamo, and as previously described to me by a co-worker (Gary B), it was a bit underwhelming, as kind of just a "room" after hearing about the lore of the Alamo my whole life.  We aren't much into history, despite one of us (not me) having an undergrad degree in history, but we did read some and learned about the various stages of the Alamo over the years and saw the models showing the fort back in the 1800s.  Worth seeing.  And later in the day, once closed, you can get a shot sans a bunch of tourists out front. 

We stayed out until the evening to check out the place with lights...

Tons of other pictures in the album.  A couple I especially like this one:

our authentic Mexican dessert place:

We also went to a local downtown Mexican place today that on TripAdvisor was called "El Jalisco" but when we arrived at the address it was "La Mexicana".  Tasty and a relative bargain.  Another update tomorrow. 

  

Another travel day (with some fun stops)

We were back on the road today, after a nice two day visit with Todd B.  The goal was to get to our VRBO reserved condo in San Antonio by evening, and we were successful.  We passed the 1500 mile mark since last Thursday, here's our general route so far:

Given that we had the day to make a 4-5 hour drive, we decided it would be worth a few stops.  Our first was to visit our friends Chip & Joanna.  I guess they aren't really our friends, but I probably have spent more time with them (via the old tube) in the past few years than actual friends.  Yes, it's sad, but true.  They have a nice place at the Silos in a few cool square blocks.  I long wanted to try one of their bakery cupcakes and wasn't disappointed when I finally sunk my teeth into the lemon frosting during the late morning hours today.

There were quite a few small shops around the silos and we did some light perusing in and around the time of our sugar coma.  Lots of nice stuff.  Modern country isn't really my personal favorite style (and I'm not sure that's the right name for it, just what I call it), but I will say most of what they had for home goods and the like was pretty darn nice.

We then decided to mosey on down to Lockhart.  A quick shout out to Mr. Quinn W for suggesting a stop, while we made our way past Austin down to San Antonio.  We picked Black's and had a tasty, all-meat, full-carnivore style nosh this afternoon for linner.  

Another hour or so and we arrived at our destination for evening one of a 3 night stay.  Took a nice walk along the river to start this part of the vacation.  

A little nibble?

Spent most of the day at the Taste of Dallas.  We were a bit skeptical about the $20 entrance fee, but were rewarded with many, many shots and many included snacks (and some paid food too).  Too many vendors to list, but notably we had some tasty licorice, some milk bars (yeah, I never heard of them either), and pork rinds.  Got the hard sell from a theragun competitor.  Had some really good tacos.  We also had our share of adult beverages, sample size.  Bacardi, Crown Royal, Yuengling, Don Julio, Ketel One and many others were had.  DO NOT try the cucumber Ketel One botanical.  It's nasty. I would also counsel against Heineken 0.0 - zero taste, zero flavor. Is that what the 0.0 is supposed to mean? Most everything else we drank was quite good, but vodka that tastes like cucumber and 0.0 beer are not flavors anyone can possibly enjoy.   Why do they sell these?

One hidden gem.  Note the name on the sign behind us.  It is indeed Vandalay Industries.  Costanza would be proud.  I wonder if the name came from Seinfeld or if it's just an actual surname (spelling is different). 

We ended the evening at La Hacienda Ranch scarfing down some quite tasty Tex-Mex. Got to catch up with Courtney for a few hours too.  

5K in the Dallas heat

Got up this morning with some enthusiasm to move, so went over to a local running path at Brookhaven Community College.  They had a pretty nice 3K loop around the campus, so did some light jogging.  Man, it's hot here.  Anyway, hadn't run in several days, so it was good to do something.  Like much of this area (Addison, TX) the community college path was a bit torn up, but I persevered.  Roadways very much under construction, Starbucks jacked up, walking path a mess.  Anyway, we are far outside the Dallas city limits and yet there is major traffic and people and shopping everywhere.  I think that's one thing I take away from this part of our trip.  This place is really crazy.  1 square mile here has more places to eat and shop compare to the entirety of Montgomery County, VA.  This goes on for huge radius around Dallas too.  The highway system here is unbelievable too.

A day of eating and chillin'

First item of note today is the irony in the title of this post.  It hit 106 degrees today in and around Dallas and if you haven't felt this kind of heat in while, it's smoking hot.  It's 7:17pm as I pen this post and the mercury is still at 100.  Wild stuff.

We decided today to head to downtown Dallas.  After some discussion, we eschewed a history lovers trip to the JFK sites, although we did drive past the grassy knoll and book depository.  We also considered checking out the Cowboys stadium, but its not the ideal time of year for tours.  So, instead we scoped out a giant eyeball...

Also, it was apparently some sort of Summer Bash in the arts district.  So we hung out a few minutes playing some games, listening to the DJ, and checked out the AT&T discovery center.

After working up some appetite, we headed on to grab some by the pound meats (Texas style) at Hard Eight.  

After filling up on food, we had some drinks at two different places: