Today is Thanksgiving in America, and we are celebrating in very relaxed style sitting by the lake, fishing, having a few cold beverages and just chilling – it’s bliss.
Thanksgiving is actually a really cool holiday, and I love the history behind the day, and how it brings people together and reminds us to stop and think about what we are thankful for in our lives. Check out this website, it explains everything about Thanksgiving.
Our thanksgiving RV feast
Happy Thanksgiving y’all.
M.
Lots of today was spent sitting in the RV in traffic, driving from New Orleans to Breaux Bridge (6 miles from Lafayette). A friendly American man staying the the French Quarter RV park suggested to Martin that we make our way to Pochés RV fish-n-park. And he also insisted that we eat at the Pochés Market & Restaurant and get the crawfish étouffée and the chicken and sausage gumbo. So guess what? That’s what we did, and it’s delightful. We parked up next to one of 5 small lakes, and we arrived just as the sun was going down.
Then we headed out for dinner and tried everything they had on the menu: crawfish étouffée, fried shrimp, crumbed catfish, chicken and sausage gumbo (which was MUCH nicer than the seafood one we tried in New Orleans), and sides of coleslaw, potato salad mash, and fries. It was actually pretty good. So much fried food though! I’m definitely going to cook up some veggies for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night.
M.
Martin appointed me (M) chief trip organiser, so I decided today we would venture out of the French Quarter and see some more of what New Orleans has to offer. We walked to Canal Street and caught the trolley (tram) west to the Garden District. Here we visited Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, the oldest of the seven municipal, city-operated cemeteries in New Orleans. It is unique in that it is non-segregated, non-denominational and has immigrants from over 25 different countries and natives of 26 states. It is also quite unique to us as all of the graves are actually tombs above the ground. This is because the water table in New Orleans is so high. Here are some photos so you can get the idea.
After the cemetery Stephen and I went to visit Christ Church Cathedral. It was the first non-Roman Catholic church founded in the entire Louisiana area in 1803, and is still a fully functioning and practicing church today. We went inside to take a look around and even met the priest, whose name as also Steven. We went into the chapel first, which was exquisite. We then made our way into the the main congregational area and it was beautiful. The wooden ceiling was so high and grand. There were enormous stained glass windows depicting Christ in different settings. There was also a pipe organ that was so huge we could only imagine the sound that would come out of it. I think the most fascinating thing for me was how the church seems so ancient and is so well maintained, and that people still worship there to this day.
These pictures really don’t do it justice.
Next we travelled by taxi to the Audubon Zoo. I’m not generally a fan of zoos, however it was actually my idea to go here (M). This is because the zoo covers 58 acres and is located in a section of Audubon Park in uptown New Orleans named in honour of artist and naturalist John James Audubon. The zoo prides itself on it’s enclosures and conservation efforts. Some of the exhibits we really enjoyed were the gorillas (the silver back was amazing), the bird aviary, and the Louisiana swamp exhibit. This exhibit was primarily outdoors on a boardwalk through swamp. It housed many samples of animals native to Southern Louisiana: black bears, racoons, otters, nutria, cottonmouth and copperhead snakes, a few different birds, and some alligators. I’m not sure whether it’s school holidays, or if children are on break for upcoming Thanksgiving, or if Tuesday’s kids enter for free, but there were kids EVERYWHERE! It was insane. We may have even been the only people in the entire zoo unaccompanied by children.
The swamp exhibit
We caught a local bus back into the French Quarter and made our way back to the RV park. All of us were pooped after walking around all day in the sun – wish I wore my fitbit so I could tell you how many kilometres we walked today! – so we had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner in the RV and I’m not writing this in bed and it’s only 9:30pm. Stay tuned for more adventures tomorrow.
M.
Martin (Stephen’s dad, and owner of the RV) woke up early this morning (2am!!) and couldn’t go back to sleep, so decided to hit the road again. I made the decision to stay in the bed at the back of the RV and try to continue to sleep for 3 hours…bad idea. 1. I didn’t sleep (although I was resting). 2. Once I got up around 5am I had terrible ‘sea legs.’ I kept feeling like I was rocking back and forth. Safe to say I won’t be staying in bed whilst the RV is moving any time soon.
We stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast. Just like in the movies! A diner type set up with the cook and 2 waitresses behind the counter. The menu was pretty stock standard – waffles, bacon, eggs, hash browns, coffee and OJ. Everyone was lovely, and found it amusing that we had never been to a waffle house before. I ordered one waffle and the waitress just looked at me and asked if that was all! I caved under pressure and said, “OK, make it two.” … I only ate one. haha. Here’s a sneaky photo I took of the menu:
After breakfast we were back on the road. The scenery changed and we started to head through marsh-type swamp lands. It was really interesting to see. There were lots of oil refineries along the way too. We were both quite surprised to see so many. Then, not far out of New Orleans we crossed the Mississippi River. This was cool, and brought back memories of being a kid and learning to spell Mississippi (for some unknown reason!! haha).
Stephen drove the RV to the French Quarter RV Park. By this stage it was about 4pm, so we set off for the French Quarter (see map). Where we are staying is a great location as it was only a short walk to the French Quarter, which is the oldest neighbourhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. We stopped off at the Basin Street Station and got some advice from a lovely lady there. She gave us a map and pointed out a few different areas of interest. We strolled down the streets and along the foreshore until we hit Bourbon Street. By this stage it was after 5 and the sun was almost down, the time when Bourbon Street truely comes alive. Among the attracts were bars, restaurants and cafes, gaudy souvenir shops, and strip clubs. The French Quarter also has local open container laws, which means you can drink alcohol in the street. It was so weird to us to see people (mainly tourists) walking around with large plastic cups full of beer and wine. Martin told us about the popular local drink ‘hurricane cocktail’, however I was still feeling all wobbly from sleeping in the moving RV this morning, so I passed on the excessive amount of alcohol.
We found a highly rated bar/restaurant to have dinner, Napoleon House, and ordered all local Louisianan cuisine:
– Muffuletta: a burger type bun filled with ham, salami, pastrami, swiss cheese, provolone cheese and olive salad (which Stephen picked out, and I wish I had too! urgh!)
– Jambalaya: a mildly spicy rice with chicken and sausage.
– Po-boy: a traditional Louisiana club-type sandwich. We ask the waitress, Bobbie, for her recommendation and she suggest her favourite, the grilled alligator sausage with tabasco pepper jelly and creole mustard. It was really good! It did have a wasabi type heat to it too, which was nice.
– Seafood gumbo: a soupy stew type dish with rice, stock, and protein of some kind. Ours had shrimp and shellfish in it. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the strong fishy flavour, but Martin loved. it.
– Side of grilled chicken: a very succulent small piece of chicken breast.
– Side of potato chips: which turned out to be a little packet of crisps. We were expecting french fries type chips, but it was all good.
Unlike other good bloggers, I didn’t take any photos of the food. Sorry to disappoint. However I did take a photo of the lovely mosaic tiles on the floor at the front entrance.
That’s all for today’s adventures.
Goodnight y’all 😉
M.
Today we left sunny Houston, said goodbye to the family and the busy traffic and hit the open road in the RV. We’re on our way to New Orleans!
We stopped in Galveston for a little break. A nice seaside town with a theme park on the jetty – historic Pleasure Pier! We had lunch at Bubba Gump shrimp restaurant, which was an experience. Yummy prawns and fish and a myriad of other things. Then it was back in the beast and on the road again.
We’ve now pulled into the Port Arthur Walmart carpark (the store is open 24/7 and sells everything you could possibly imagine!). We’re allowed to park here overnight, which is cool. And we’ll get back on the road first thing in the morning.
Here’s some happy snaps from today.
M.
Yesterday we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate with Stephen’s cousin, Simon, and his family and friends as he married Amanda. It was such a lovely afternoon. Everyone looked absolutely stunning and the whole thing ran so smoothly.
Simon and Amanda exchanged vows under a huge tree lit by fairy lights as the sun was setting. We then proceeded to have drinks and canapés inside in front of a warm wood fire, after which we headed upstairs for the reception. The grand room was decorated so beautifully with fresh flowers and dim lighting. Speeches were short, sharp and shiny and then the dancing began. The food was decadent and delicious, and they even had a custom cocktail bar set up outside on the terrace.
The whole event was beautiful and we are so thankful we could be a part of Amanda and Simon’s special day.
Stephen and I have just begun our new adventure: USA – Japan – Hong Kong – China – New Zealand. Estimated return to Australia: unknown.
This morning we left little old Adelaide, bound for Houston USA. We managed to travel back in time, and arrived into Houston the afternoon of the same day! 😉
It’s hot and humid here, not at all what I was expecting. I was imagining crisp fall weather, cool breezes and autumn leaves all around. Having packed our suitcases full of winter clothes for Japan, I am a little ill-prepared, but it’s ok, at least I brought my havii’s with me.
Thanks to everyone in Adelaide who we got to catch up with before we left. It was great to see so many of you. Stay in touch and up-to-date with everything through this blog and facebook.
Much love.
M & S.
The view flying into Houston today.
What a great weekend. Although the weather was the complete opposite of last weekend (aka: it was shit!) we still made the most of it and had a great time up at Falls Creek.
My bestie and her husband, along with their daughter, miss-5 and miss-almost-2, made the journey over from Adelaide by car (brave parents!). They got here in one piece and we were all excited about our trip to the snow. We booked an apartment through air bnb, which was simple and good value for money. The girls were decked out in all their new snow gear, and everyone was keen to hit the snow.
However, the weather thought otherwise. This first day rained ALL day. Not a little bit of light drizzle, but a deluge of heavy, windy rain. So we remained inside most of the day, venturing out whenever the downpours became less heavy.
Day 2 was better. The rain stopped over night and a big dumping of fresh snow awaited us in the morning. Miss-5 was especially happy with this! The rain persisted in the afternoon, coming back with even more ferocious winds, yet we still ventured out at times. Miss-5 had her first ever go at skiing and went to a lesson. She loved it!!
Overall what could have been a really depressing weekend was actually really fun. It reminds us that we can’t control everything and we have to make the most of every situation. It was so nice being able to spend time with close friends, as well as get them addicted to the snow so we can have more snow-buddies next season 🙂
M.
Emma arrived on the train into Albury station on Thursday afternoon and we have had such a great weekend together. We went up to Falls Creek and spent a full day in the snow tobogganing, snowboarding, exploring and building snowmen! Throughout the weekend we visited Bright, stopped off at the bakery in Beechworth, had an amazing sausage roll from Treats cafe in Mount Beauty, laughed at people playing PokemonGo at the Hume dam, took in the breath taking view from the top of Huon Hill, and simply caught up like old times.
Wodonga appreciation post.
9 months ago I moved to Wodonga. Within 5kms of our house is a wonderful nature reserve that I love walking through (yes, sometimes I complain because I’m too tired to walk all the way to the top of the hill, but I still love it! haha).
The air is fresh and cool. The native scrub is full of wildlife – kangaroos, echidnas, lots of birds, and some friendly cows. And the scenery is beautiful.
The reserve is actually full of bike tracks, but there are some really nice walking tracks too. Every time we go we try to take a different path. We’ve decided to make an effort to walk to the top at least once a week.
Here are some photos from today’s walk.
I love where I live.
M.
p.s. check out the big ass thistles I found today! Despite their prickles, I think they’re beautiful!
Steve & Meegs 
