Baton Rouge to Galveston

Julia and I love the food in Louisiana.  A trip through the state would not be complete without Cajun cuisine.  After spending the night in Baton Rouge, we stopped at a little store outside of Lafayette for some fast food:  boudin balls and crawfish pies. 

The crawfish pies were very tasty.  I've had boudin before but maybe not the balls.  Imagine biting into a ball of spicy sausage and rice, releasing a stream of hot fat.  Probably the most unhealthy food I've eaten in awhile, but still preferable to a McDonald's drive-thru.  

Before long, we were driving into Texas and found a beach.

 

It felt wonderful to walk under the blue skies, feel the warm gulf breeze, and breathe in the sea smells after the pandemic winter in Wisconsin.  We made our way across the Bolivar Peninsula, taking the ferry to Galveston.

We were still not at our final destination; one more dog-friendly budget motel was necessary.  I dug deep into my pockets for the extra $10 and paid for a room at the Red Roof Inn Plus.  You may ask, "what is different about the Red Roof Inn from the Red Roof Inn Plus?"  After staying there, Julia says that question is unresolved.  

I think it was probably the location.  We could walk 1 1/2 blocks and be at the beach and the main drag along the beach.  If you are looking for a dog-friendly budget motel in Galveston for under $70 in late February, this would be my recommendation.  But I have to be honest, we didn't spend much time in the room.

 

We were very thankful to spend this time in Galveston.

 

Headed South: Baton Rouge

During our overnight stay in Memphis, the streets froze again. Everyone was slip slidin’ away.  The temperatures warmed by the time we hit Mississippi, but not enough to melt the unplowed snow in the left lane There were numerous abandoned cars in the median—evidence of the unusual winter storm several days before our trip.

By Jackson, however, the weather reached the 60’s, and the snowy ground was replaced by greening grass. When we made it to Baton Rouge, we were ready to stretch our legs. There is a levy walk along the Mississippi River from downtown to LSU. It felt so good to be outside without a heavy coat, breathing in the scene with all of our senses.

We worked up quite an appetite, and Louisiana is a great place to eat oysters—something we don’t quite trust in Wisconsin. We started off with grilled oysters and then oyster po’ boy sandwiches. We ate at a table by an open door, and there was “open mic” music on the sidewalk. This was the most entertainment that we have enjoyed in over a year.

Next stop: Galveston 

Headed South

Last week, after a brief in-person check-in with Justin, Julia and I jumped in the car and started driving south. We were in search of warmer temperatures and new adventures after nearly a year of very little travel. As I previously mentioned, we are both fully vaccinated and plan to continue social distancing and wearing a mask when appropriate. 

The temperature actually dropped down to -5 F as we drove through Illinois. Clearly, we would have to go further south.

Five hours later, we left St. Louis in our rear view mirror. There was still a lot of snow on the ground. A few hours later in Memphis, the temperature warmed up into the 40’s. While the interstate was mostly clear of snow, the side streets had not been plowed.  After checking into an economy pet-friendly motel, we went searching for bbq.  Quite a few bbq joints were closed due to the weather and the water boil advisory (broken water mains) for most of the region, but we found that one of our favorites was still open.

We opted for carry-out and brought our food back to the room. Julia had pulled pork, while I opted for the beef brisket. We were in food heaven and almost forgot to save a bite for Callie.

We tried to stretch our legs after dinner on the side streets around the motel. But between the very wet snow (which covered up some standing water) and some crazy drivers, we retreated back to our room before getting our daily steps goal. 

On our next day, we would drive out of the snow. Our daily steps goal was not a problem for the rest of our journey south.

Traveling Shoes

This winter has been a long one. I guess it goes without saying that the pandemic hasn’t made things any easier. There has been some good news. Justin is back at school, living his best adult life. Allie is launched in San Francisco with a good job. And, as Justin's family caregivers, we were able to get early vaccinations. We are more than two weeks out and as protected as we are going to be for awhile.

We have no idea what the future holds, so we are going to take this opportunity to move about the country a bit, socially distanced and masked when around other people. At the time of this writing, and it was written awhile ago, we aren’t quite sure where we will be headed, but it will be to warmer places. I'm in the mood for some southern bbq and maybe some fresh seafood. Some place where we can walk without a heavy coat, hat, gloves, and long underwear would be nice.

The Scamp is not available, due to the steep hill and winter conditions outside its protected storage. However, the Subaru is available and ready for an adventure. I will keep you posted.

Deep Freeze

One of the trendy words of the last few years is "unprecedented."  Every time I hear that word, I can't help but start to do an eye roll.  Here, in Wisconsin, we aren't breaking any weather records.  It's just cold and snowy.  Usually, all that means is that we need to dress more warmly before heading outside.

Despite the subzero temperatures and snowbanks, it's a beautiful time of year.

Frozen Waterfalls

 

 

The best part is we don't have to go very far to enjoy winter recreation; it's right outside our front or back door.  

 

Our small vineyard

the backyard

We've been enjoying the first month of real retirement without the presence of adult children.  However, last weekend, we entertained Jill, Julia's sister from Kentucky, who was here to visit their dad, Gene, in hospice.  

Julia, Jill, brother Scott, and Gene

Gene has good days and bad days.  One day he is engaged in the conversation, teasing and joking.  Other days, he is out of it and can't swallow food or water.  We're grateful that he is now getting the care that he needs for the time of life that he is at.  Gene worked as a computer guy (mainframes), but loved the outdoors best (hunting and fishing). 

That night, I made bibimbap, one of Korea's national dishes.  We first tried it when we adopted Justin in South Korea.  It took us a couple of years to find the stone bowls to make it in. 

Rice is the bottom layer with a small circle left open.  Stir fried vegetables and a protein are colorfully arranged on top of the rice and along the sides of the stone bowl.  The final step is to place the stone bowl directly over the gas flame.  An egg is placed in the empty circle at the bottom for the last few minutes. Fermented hot chili paste, called Gochujang,  is optional (but we like it). 

Served with Kimchi and Bell's Two-Hearted Ale

 

Breaking Trail on White Tara

 This is a post for the third day of our trip to the northern Wisconsin border.  Microspikes would have been a better choice for most of the trail conditions, but we were wearing snowshoes.  Not surprisingly, our best memories are of the short, unmaintained White Tara Trail, where our snowshoes broke through fresh snow.

The trail system is called the Three Eagle Trail--just south of Eagle River, Wisconsin.  The specific property that we were on is called Tara Li.  Most of the property was machine-tracked for cross country skiing:  striding and skating.  Some of the trails were marked for snowshoes, but these were mostly machine-packed also.

The entire property was so beautiful.  This is an area inhabited by bears, wolves, and many other animals.  

Just past the bridge, we saw a narrow, winding trail with fresh snow veer to the right.  An intriguing sign waited for us.

The deeper snow and downed trees across the unmaintained trail forced us to slow down and be more aware of our surroundings.  The heavy woods made me feel  like we were Hansel and Gretel, walking toward the witch's gingerbread house.  Alas, we never found the witch, but we enjoyed the trail immensely.

It was time to head home.  At present, we are settling into the daily routines of retirement.  I've been hiking every day--mostly at the marsh or at Gibraltar Rock.  Julia has been cross-country skiing almost every day.  We are trying to decide where our next trip should be.  

One of Justin's caregivers turned out to be a dud (didn't show up three out of four days and was late on the day he showed up).  Justin is in the process of hiring someone who will replace most of the hours, but the vetting takes several weeks.  Julia had to drive to Whitewater to fill a shift Sunday.  I'm on deck, although this week looks set.

That makes any longer trips problematic.  It's probably better to stick closer to home anyway.  One of these days though, we are going to make another run to the border (Wisconsin's border anyway).  Justin is supposed to be eligible for the vaccine around March 1st.  Ironically, as part of Justin's caregiving team, we are already eligible. Even Justin's young friends who help out occasionally without pay are eligible. That doesn't  make sense to me with Justin being high-risk.  

No one put me in charge of things, and that's probably a good idea.