Louisiana

 9 March     Castroville, TX - Broussard, LA     453 miles      9 hours

Today was a very long day  of driving. We left right after 7am. Caught the San Antonio morning traffic and it just went downhill from there. Lots of road work along the way, slow moving traffic, and idiot drivers. The I-10 is just very busy and the roads are awful. 

We finally made it to a Buc-ee's. We passed two others along the I-10 but it was very busy and we couldn't find parking. This one was located in Baytown and parking was a breeze. This store is something else! We had a brisket sandwich and I just looked around. We spent about an hour there.

Finally made it to Parkside RV Park in Broussard, LA. This is right outside Lafayette. This park looks pretty new and its very nice. They honor Good Sam. Total for 3 nights $135. There's a huge sports complex next door, looks pretty new too. 

10 March   Avery Island

We did the Tabasco Factory tour on Avery Island. It was $15 per person, that includes a self guided tour of the factory that takes you through the history and process of making Tabasco sauce. Tabasco brand products are made by McIlhenny Company, founded by Edmund McIlhenny in 1868 on Avery Island, Louisiana. It was here that he developed the recipe for Tabasco original red pepper sauce that's been passed down from generation to generation. To this day, the company is still family owned and operated. The mashed peppers are barreled for 3 years before they are pressed and processed. This tour was excellent, we really enjoyed ourselves. 

We had lunch at the restaurant there. We're in Louisiana so I tried a sampler which included gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee and red beans and rice. I also tried their version of a spicy bloody mary. Everything was very good. They took extra long to bring out my plate, Joe was already finished eating his. When they finally brought mine out, they included a pecan pie and apologized for the mix up. This was our first time trying a pecan pie. We both didn't care for it but everything else was excellent.

Afterwards, we drove through Jungle Gardens which was included with the Tabasco tour. Beautiful gardens created by Edward McIlhenny. In 1895, he founded a private bird sanctuary known as Bird City to protect endangered snowy egrets. 

Alligator

Bird City    

In the 1920's McIlhenny found time to convert his private Avery Island estate into Jungle Gardens - decorating it with exotic botanical specimens from around the world. Its present size is over 170 acres. Jungle Gardens was opened to the public in 1935.

The grounds has numerous live oaks that are absolutely beautiful. Covered in spanish moss, these oaks are hundreds of years old. 

Jungle Gardens has remained a favorite south Louisiana tourist destination, wildlife refuge, and botanical marvel. Today, Bird City is home to thousands of egrets, other birds, and wildlife.

12 March     Broussard - New Orleans, LA       154 miles    3 hours 30 minutes

Pretty nice drive today. We decided to travel on Hwy 90 instead of I-10 to New Orleans. We think that was a good decision. We're staying at a Harvest Host location. Faubourg Brewing Company is located about 20 minutes from the city. The first night is free, additional nights are $20 to dry camp in their parking lot. We're staying here 4 nights. The surrounding area is industrial and looks kind of ghetto but there is a gate that is locked at night. This brewery is very nice with a large area for RV's.

Boondock in the parking lot

13 March   New Orleans

 We were here on our very first RV adventure back in 2010 but it was a quick trip and we didn't see much. Today, we took a Lyft to the city and went on the Hop On Hop Off tour of New Orleans. We bought a 2 day ticket for $51 per person. The tour was pretty good. We got off at Jackson Square to get beignets at Cafe Du Monde. We waited in line over an hour but it was worth it. We've tried beignets here and there in our travels but nothing compares to a beignet at Cafe Du Monde. 

Beignets so good

  

Then we went on a walking tour that was included with the Hop On Hop Off ticket. This was a French Quarter guided walking tour. Our guide was pretty good, it lasted about 45 minutes. 

We tried a muffuletta at Verdi Marte, a hole in the wall store. This was a first for us. A muffuletta is a famous italian sandwich with ham, salami, provolone cheese, olive dressing, and bread. The olive dressing is the secret. Chopped green and black olives with onions, spices, and olive oil. The bread is a round sesame seed roll big enough for sharing. These sandwiches are huge! We paid $16 and really enjoyed it. 

14 March    Back to New Orleans

 

Back to tour more of New Orleans today. We got off at the Garden District and did another walking tour. Beautiful, old homes with their wrought iron and cast iron fences. We passed Sandra Bullocks house and also the childhood home of Peyton and Eli Manning. 

   We went back to Jackson Square and walked to Oceana Restaurant. This is a very popular restaurant. In fact we ate here back in 2010 with my parents. The food was excellent. Joe had a creamy chicken alfredo. He said the chicken was  cooked perfect, so soft and very tasty. I had a jambalaya pasta...so good! We also had boudin sausage and a rajin cajun bloody mary. We enjoyed our meal.

Our stay here at Faubourg Brewing Company has been good. Lots of RV's stay here. Can't beat the location, about 20 minutes from the city. Lyft cost us between $15-20 one way. 

16 March     New Orleans - Vidalia, LA     176 miles     5 hours  45 minutes

The drive from New Orleans to Vidalia was very nice. Two lane road most of the way. Very scenic with rolling hills, farm lands, and big plantation homes. We took a 2 hour break in Gonzalez. Had a meal at Cracker Barrel and a Tanger Outlet was right next door so had to do some shopping. 

We're at River View RV Park. It's pretty here with big sites right on the Mississippi River. This is the main reason for coming to Louisiana. We are members of the Freightliner Chassis Owners Club. Joe will be attending Camp Freightliner for 2 days and a Freightliner RV rally follows. We'll be here for 8 days. Our friends from Tennessee, Mark & Julia will also attend. 

Joe & Mark

Joe & Mark completed Camp Freightliner and thought it was pretty good. The rally was pretty good too. There were some seminars, we participated in a couple of them. This rally was a little different from other rallies that we've gone to. There were a lot of socializing. Breakfast and dinner was provided everyday. The dinners were pretty good. They had a lot of local foods from the south. After dinner, we had some kind of activity so it was fun. 

Julia, Rachel, Dawn    

 We had a lot of fun this past week hanging out with Mark & Julia. We also made some new friends. Jim & Jane is from Florida and Leon & Rachel is from Alabama. We were all parked together so after dinner, we would gather by our RV and hang out. Rachel taught us a new card game, Swoop. Lots of fun, I hope I remember enough to teach my family when I go home.

Hope we can all get together again soon. 

Big Bend, San Antonio, TX

 25 February     Anthony, NM - Terlingua, TX     319 miles     5 hours 25 minutes

Long drive today and at times, pretty interesting. Anthony, NM is right on the border of New Mexico and Texas. As we approached El Paso, we could see Mexico right across the way...very, very, close. Looked very congested, lots of shacks and very trashy but very colorful which was nice. 

Today was a long drive but in the middle of it, we made a stop at Prada in Marfa, TX. Strange to see a Prada store out in the frickin boonies. There were items on display. This is a roadside attraction.

We're headed to Big Bend National Park, I've been wanting to do this for a long time. Big Bend National Park roads end at the Rio Grande, the boundary between the United States and Mexico. It's in a remote part of Southern Texas. 

We're staying at Roadrunner Travelers RV Park in Terlingua for 2 nights. Nothing fancy, a gravel lot with full hookups, total was $115. It's located a few minutes outside the National Park.

26 Feb  Santa Elena Canyon

We spent the day on the west side of the park. We drove along the 30 mile Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. It highlights the geologic splendor Big Bend is famous for. We continued to the magnificent Santa Elena Canyon, where limestone cliffs rise 1500' above the Rio Grande. 

We hiked the trail into the canyon. Just magnificent. The trail was a little rocky with some climbing at the start but just very beautiful. Hard to believe Mexico is right across the river. The limestone cliffs were unbelievable, towering straight up above us. 

 

Towards the end of the hike, Joe almost ran into a rattlesnake. He heard the snake rattling and stopped right away. It was a big one! We watched it for a bit and found another path to take. So scary!

27 February     Terlingua - Rio Grande Village Campground      46 miles   2 hours

We moved into the park today. It was about an hours drive but we made a stop at the visitors center on the way. Rio Grande Village Campground is located on the east side of the park. It's dry camping and cost $16 a night. The campground is pretty big, about 100 sites. When we checked in about 1pm, there was a lot of gnats. So much that we couldn't hang out outside. We're still not feeling well so we just rested in the afternoon. Later, we took a drive to Boquillas Canyon Overlook. There was a bunch of Mexicans with their trinkets for sale. I guess they just crossed the river. Made me kind of nervous. 

28 February    Hot Springs and Chisos Mountain

This morning we took a drive to the Hot Springs. The hike was a short one along the Rio Grande. It was very nice because there weren't too many people there. The hot springs were at a very nice temperature, felt so good. It's a riverside hot spring so when it got a little warm, I just jumped into the river to cool off. Really enjoyed my soak. 

We took a drive to the Chisos Mountains this afternoon. The mountains are so pretty, at a high elevation so very green.  Very different from the rest of the National park. We took a short walk to the Window View and went to the visitors center. 

When we got back to the campground, we took out our bikes and went for a ride. There's a lot of gnats so I found some mosquito nets that went over our heads. I think I bought it when we went to Alaska, about 10 years ago. Came in handy.

I wanted to do one more hike at sunset but we were pretty wiped out. We're still kind of sick and we have another long drive tomorrow. We enjoyed our stay at Big Bend National Park. It's one of those "need to do it once" kind of park. So glad we came. 

01 March     Big Bend National Park - Castroville, TX     388 miles     9 hours 15 mins

Leaving at sunrise

Another long drive today. We left Rio Grande Village Campground at 645am. This is a huge park, it took us over an hour just to drive out of Big Bend. We made a couple of stops along the way. We had a very late lunch at Oasis in Uvalde, TX. Pretty good stop. It's a restaurant inside of a sports store.

We're staying at Alsatian RV Resort in Castroville, TX for 8 days. We've been on the go since we started, staying put for just 1 or 2 nights then moving on. We really need this stay, time to clean up, do laundry, relax, and try to get in touch with our doctor to help us kick this cold. We paid for the week and the added an extra day, $310. This is a nice RV resort. Very spacious sites, swimming pool and hot tub area, right next to a golf course. San Antonio is about 1/2 hour away. 

We went to our first HEB market. So fun! I enjoy going into local markets and this was a good one. They sell everything. We got in touch with our doctor and he put us on antibiotics so I hope we start feeling better soon. I have a really awful cough and just feel like crap. Joe's pretty sick too.

03 March    Alamo and River Walk

I finally got to see the Alamo and River Walk. This is something I've wanted to see for a very long time. It's like Big Bend National Park...."yep, I've seen it but I don't think I'll be back." Very, very crowded and the water is so pilau. It's a good thing the temperature was pretty comfortable. The Alamo was interesting, lots of history here. Lots of tourist and pretty crowded. 

05 March  The Pearl

The Pearl is a historic landmark in San Antonio. Hotel Emma was the highlight. The hotel building was originally Pearl's Brewhouse, built in 1894 and a San Antonio landmark ever since. A brewery back in the 1800's now a complex offering dining, shopping, and a farmers market on the weekends. 

We made a stop at the Japanese Gardens afterwards. It's a Sunday, so very crowded. The grounds were nice with koi ponds but the plants didn't look good. I think its off season, I bet everything starts blooming later in the season. 

07 March   Historic Market Square

Today we went to visit the Historic Market Square. It's a 3 block outdoor plaza lined with shops and restaurants in downtown San Antonio. Historic Market Square is the largest Mexican market in the U.S. We felt like we crossed the border into Mexico. Lots of fun going into the shops and seeing all the touristy stuff. We ate at Mi Tierra, very festive inside. The food was great, I had a taco salad with chicken. This is the best taco salad ever, I really enjoyed it. We went to the bakery after and bought too much. Everything looked delicious we got carried away. When we got home and started eating the pastries, they weren't that great. The best thing was the cinnamon cookies. Wish I bought more.

08 March  Missions

San Antonio Missions Historical Park is a designated World Heritage site. The park consists of 4 Catholic missions. A walking/biking trail connects the missions. 

We decided to bring our bikes and visit the missions. Excellent maps posted. We ended up doing 3, we ran out of gas....so exhausting. We rode over 10 miles. Yes, it's electric bikes but still.....

We missed Mission Espada but the other 3 were incredible. The architecture so beautiful. The grounds are very well maintained and there's a lot of information available with great exhibits. The missions of San Antonio were far more than just churches, they were communities. Each was a village with its own church, farm, and ranch. We spent a lot of time at each mission reading about the history and soaking up the beauty. So glad we were able to do this. 

Mission San Juan    

Mission San Jose is named Queen of the Missions, very well deserved. This historical site is incredible. We were impressed by its size and beauty. Great to see how people lived back then. 

Mission San Jose    

Mission Concepcion

The bike trails in this area are outstanding. It goes right along the river with exhibits about the area and some artwork, lots of benches and places to rest and enjoy the scenery. I wish we had a few more days to do more biking, we're finally feeling a little better after a few days of antibiotics. 

We enjoyed our visit to Big Bend National Park and San Antonio. This trip took us to the southern part of Texas, we hardly ever go this route and I'm not sure if we'll ever be back. So glad we were able to explore this area.