Saturday, April 28, 2012
Beignets for breakfast and boudin for lunch
A few pics of eating breakfast in New Orleans and lunch in Jennings, LA and then the crossing into the Lone Star State.
LA
April 27, 2012 - New Orleans, LA - 0 miles
Weather - sunny and 80s
Ok, today in road trip/hiking parlance we put up a zero. That means we didn't make any forward progress. If you make just a little forward progress it is called putting up a Nero (near zero!)
This was a planned fun day off so we could join Emile's merry Krewe of Jazz Fest attendees and enjoy the fun out on the New Orleans fairgrounds. We had a perfect day for festy attending. The Jazz Fest is a great event with about ten stages and bands performing throughout the day. We had a chance to see great gospel with Irma Thomas and Shades of Praise, Cajun music with Beausoleil and the Texas Tornadoes, aging rock with the Beach Boys, blues with Buckwheat Zydeco and James Andrews, and much more. After the music we headed back to the Steamboat House Spa and Resort to enjoy an extremely tasty (let's put this in the category of best ever tasted) BBQ ribs meal from The Joint. The dinner after the music was fun and was well attended by local and visiting dignitaries including Doug and his brood, John and Melissa and kids, the ever charming Richard from the UK, Tony and Catherine, and our old friends Rick and Debbie. It was so nice to get a chance to chill by the tennis complex and chat over the ribs.
A perfect ending to an extremely fun day. Thanks to Emile and Katherine for all their hospitality. We hope to be able to reciprocate when they road trip through New Hampshire!
Weather - sunny and 80s
Ok, today in road trip/hiking parlance we put up a zero. That means we didn't make any forward progress. If you make just a little forward progress it is called putting up a Nero (near zero!)
This was a planned fun day off so we could join Emile's merry Krewe of Jazz Fest attendees and enjoy the fun out on the New Orleans fairgrounds. We had a perfect day for festy attending. The Jazz Fest is a great event with about ten stages and bands performing throughout the day. We had a chance to see great gospel with Irma Thomas and Shades of Praise, Cajun music with Beausoleil and the Texas Tornadoes, aging rock with the Beach Boys, blues with Buckwheat Zydeco and James Andrews, and much more. After the music we headed back to the Steamboat House Spa and Resort to enjoy an extremely tasty (let's put this in the category of best ever tasted) BBQ ribs meal from The Joint. The dinner after the music was fun and was well attended by local and visiting dignitaries including Doug and his brood, John and Melissa and kids, the ever charming Richard from the UK, Tony and Catherine, and our old friends Rick and Debbie. It was so nice to get a chance to chill by the tennis complex and chat over the ribs.
A perfect ending to an extremely fun day. Thanks to Emile and Katherine for all their hospitality. We hope to be able to reciprocate when they road trip through New Hampshire!
Friday, April 27, 2012
TN, GA, AL, MS, LA
April 26, 2012 - Chattanooga, TN to New Orleans, LA - 498 miles
Weather - sunny, high 80s
Today we got up early, ate breakfast and then got on I-59 South and drove. If you look at a map you will see that this highway takes you through all of our states today. We had a great stop for lunch at Nicki's West in Birmingham, AL as you might have seen in our pictures. We emailed back and forth with our New Orleans host, Emile Dumesnil, all day from the truck and he mentioned that we were all going to a garden party that evening. Luckily, this Victory Tour packing strategy included some fancy duds so we were able to stop at a rest area before New Orleans and throw on our garden party attire. We arrived at the home of Emile and Katherine's friend in the Garden District and joined a very nice event. The setting was beautiful, the musicians were great and the food was as tasty as you would expect in New Orleans. I am going to highly compliment the crawfish étouffée. We were thrilled to run into our old friends, Stuart and Renee Peck, who happened to live across the street. We have played some very serious croquet with the Pecks at Manomet and have dined out with them in Maine and it was great to see them.
After the party, Jayne and Dan went to the 11:30 show at Cafe Istanbul with Katherine to see her friend, Evan Christopher, play the clarinet with a great group. It was clarinet, bass, electric guitar, drums and trumpet. The music was so good we stayed until 1:30! We settled into Emile and Katherine's guest room on their property after another great day.
Happy to be in NOLA!
What a day!
Weather - sunny, high 80s
Today we got up early, ate breakfast and then got on I-59 South and drove. If you look at a map you will see that this highway takes you through all of our states today. We had a great stop for lunch at Nicki's West in Birmingham, AL as you might have seen in our pictures. We emailed back and forth with our New Orleans host, Emile Dumesnil, all day from the truck and he mentioned that we were all going to a garden party that evening. Luckily, this Victory Tour packing strategy included some fancy duds so we were able to stop at a rest area before New Orleans and throw on our garden party attire. We arrived at the home of Emile and Katherine's friend in the Garden District and joined a very nice event. The setting was beautiful, the musicians were great and the food was as tasty as you would expect in New Orleans. I am going to highly compliment the crawfish étouffée. We were thrilled to run into our old friends, Stuart and Renee Peck, who happened to live across the street. We have played some very serious croquet with the Pecks at Manomet and have dined out with them in Maine and it was great to see them.
After the party, Jayne and Dan went to the 11:30 show at Cafe Istanbul with Katherine to see her friend, Evan Christopher, play the clarinet with a great group. It was clarinet, bass, electric guitar, drums and trumpet. The music was so good we stayed until 1:30! We settled into Emile and Katherine's guest room on their property after another great day.
Happy to be in NOLA!
What a day!
Garden party and jazz in New Orleans
Rolled into NOLA about 6:30 and went straight to a garden party at friends of Emile and Catherine. After the party we went to the 11:30 show at Club Istanbul where one of Catherine's friends was playing. Amazing show.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Nikis West
A very important aspect of this trip is ROADFOOD. After missing the dinner meal yesterday, Jayne was all over the food plan for today. Using April's gift, the book entitled Roadfood, Trip Advisor and roadfood.com, Jayne triangulated on Niki's West in Birmingham, Alabama for lunch. Look it up on line, the place is Southern food heaven with fried green tomatoes and everything. We highly recommend it next time you find yourself in Birmingham!
VA, TN, NC, TN
April 25, 2012 - Peak of Otters, VA to Chattanooga, TN - 464 miles
Weather: sunny and warm, got into the high 70s
We woke up at the beautiful lodge on the BRP to see the sun slowly painting the pond and the hillside with golden light. We knew we had a big day so we got up and got after it. Drove into TN singing to every "Tennessee" titled song on Dan's iPod. I think we had a chance to Vox the OC kids in the middle of Tennessee Jed by the Grateful Dead. We got to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park about noon and went into the Visitors Center for advice. The guy told us a great picnic spot along a rocky stream, a good place to jump on to the AT for a hike and then a good trail to the summit of Clingmans Dome, highest point in the Park. It turned out to be great advice and we enjoyed each stop. The sign at the trailhead for the AT said Maine 1952 miles and we saw quite a few NOBO hikers. For those of you who haven't hiked extensive stretches of the AT (did I mention the NHAT?) the AT hikers are either NOBO or SOBO - northbound or southbound. Jayne put on her 5 toes and headed north and I had a hard time keeping up. I thought she forgot something in NH and was sprinting up the trail to get it. We passed quite a few young athletic types but tried to do so respectfully so as not to bruise their egos. The trail was actually very nice and it was hard to turn around but we did and then went back to the truck and drove to the summit trailhead. On that trail we saw a mother bear and two very cute cubs. Pretty amazing! The views from the top were excellent with mountains stretching in every direction. The OC kids will be happy to hear that ole smoky pants got himself a Smoky Mountains NP shirt.
After that hike we jumped in the truck and headed for Chattanooga. We had decided to go through Cherokee and through the Nahantala National Forest and it was a great decision because the road ran along a rushing river and was beautiful. It was a rafting/kayaking paradise. I should note here that all day we were seeing forests of rhododendron lining both sides of the road but we were early for the blooms. It must be amazing later in the spring.
You might notice with all this driving and hiking we haven't mentioned much food. Well we had an on the go breakfast (KJ had her cereal concoction and Dan had a PB&J) as we entered TN and a nice picnic on the river. Jayne had a lunch compliments of a lot of people. First thanks to Lyn for the egg salad, second thanks to Dan for the cherry tomatoes from the Fruit Center, next thanks to Nicky and Sindog for the expertly cut (matchstick sized) carrots and parsnips and finally thanks to herself for the cole slaw. It was quite a feast. Unfortunately, it was the last meal of the day because we had trails to hike and roads to drive and that dinner thing just got skipped. Perhaps one of the OC kids could call us late in the day and remind us to eat!
Ok, we are headed to the Bayou today. Just got an email from our friend Emile and he says it is a big weekend in NOLA! Let's go!
Weather: sunny and warm, got into the high 70s
We woke up at the beautiful lodge on the BRP to see the sun slowly painting the pond and the hillside with golden light. We knew we had a big day so we got up and got after it. Drove into TN singing to every "Tennessee" titled song on Dan's iPod. I think we had a chance to Vox the OC kids in the middle of Tennessee Jed by the Grateful Dead. We got to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park about noon and went into the Visitors Center for advice. The guy told us a great picnic spot along a rocky stream, a good place to jump on to the AT for a hike and then a good trail to the summit of Clingmans Dome, highest point in the Park. It turned out to be great advice and we enjoyed each stop. The sign at the trailhead for the AT said Maine 1952 miles and we saw quite a few NOBO hikers. For those of you who haven't hiked extensive stretches of the AT (did I mention the NHAT?) the AT hikers are either NOBO or SOBO - northbound or southbound. Jayne put on her 5 toes and headed north and I had a hard time keeping up. I thought she forgot something in NH and was sprinting up the trail to get it. We passed quite a few young athletic types but tried to do so respectfully so as not to bruise their egos. The trail was actually very nice and it was hard to turn around but we did and then went back to the truck and drove to the summit trailhead. On that trail we saw a mother bear and two very cute cubs. Pretty amazing! The views from the top were excellent with mountains stretching in every direction. The OC kids will be happy to hear that ole smoky pants got himself a Smoky Mountains NP shirt.
After that hike we jumped in the truck and headed for Chattanooga. We had decided to go through Cherokee and through the Nahantala National Forest and it was a great decision because the road ran along a rushing river and was beautiful. It was a rafting/kayaking paradise. I should note here that all day we were seeing forests of rhododendron lining both sides of the road but we were early for the blooms. It must be amazing later in the spring.
You might notice with all this driving and hiking we haven't mentioned much food. Well we had an on the go breakfast (KJ had her cereal concoction and Dan had a PB&J) as we entered TN and a nice picnic on the river. Jayne had a lunch compliments of a lot of people. First thanks to Lyn for the egg salad, second thanks to Dan for the cherry tomatoes from the Fruit Center, next thanks to Nicky and Sindog for the expertly cut (matchstick sized) carrots and parsnips and finally thanks to herself for the cole slaw. It was quite a feast. Unfortunately, it was the last meal of the day because we had trails to hike and roads to drive and that dinner thing just got skipped. Perhaps one of the OC kids could call us late in the day and remind us to eat!
Ok, we are headed to the Bayou today. Just got an email from our friend Emile and he says it is a big weekend in NOLA! Let's go!
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