Galveston

We arrived in Galveston 3 days ago on the ferry from Port Bolivar, a few miles to the east. The ferry cuts some miles off the trip, it’s a nice change of pace, and best of all, it’s free! We were one of the first on, front row seats.

Bolivar is a low peninsula which has seen its share of storm surge judging from the way they build their houses.

 Lots of ships anchored off shore, oil tankers I would guess.

Galveston doesn't get many breaks either when it comes to flooding. Last August, Hurricane Harvey left several feet of water in the streets. You wouldn't know it now, everything is back to normal. There is a great historical section with lots of old buildings, bars (some really fine bars), restaurants, and miles of waterfront along the Seawall Boulevard. Four traffic lanes, a centre turn lane, 2 parking lanes and a walking/bicycling lane and they all slope gently toward the Gulf. No storm sewers required. The boulevard sit on top of a berm maybe 15 feet high which protects the city from all but the worst storms.

The weather in Galveston has been... "meh". Toques and parkas were not required but the beach umbrella wind break allowed us to sit outside in the sun a few times. I had to tie it down with rope and tent pegs after it knocked over the table along with my beverage.

  

We had some serious rain last night starting around 4:30 AM. Lightning too, and more is coming our way this evening. The park had some pretty big puddles this morning.

This is the view from our bedroom window across the sand dunes. It's foggy and although you can't see it, it's raining.

I spent a few hours today planning the next month of our trip and making some reservations. I don't like reservations because they limit the ability to change your plans as you go. On the other hand, without reservations you would be spending a lot of time in third rate RV parks or Walmart parking lots. This time of year the better parks fill up quickly. 

We head for San Antonio tomorrow, then Austin, and then on to south western Texas, the area around Big Bend National Park for about a month, hopefully leaving the cold and rain behind.

So, after Galveston, not only do we need to warm up but now we need to dry out too.

Enough....with the food already!

We left Fontainbleau State Park today on our way to Galveston.

The North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain has some quaint little towns. Each one seems to have a weekend market with local crafts and food. Rip’s in Mandeville was the perfect spot for a late lunch. We shared an appetizer of breaded (and fried of course) crab claws and as an afterthought I asked for the onion rings as well. We've all heard the saying, "It'll take a lot of this to kill you". Well it won’t take a lot of this to kill you. But it's soooo good. I managed to eat 3 of the onion rings. Took the rest home.

We visited a unique attraction in Abita Springs, the “Mystery House”. This place was featured on American Pickers. Apparently the owner wouldn’t part with a single thing on the show. We paid $6 to walk through what is pretty much a junk yard. The only real entertainment was that we were accosted by the owner’s cat who followed us through the place, repeatedly jumping on my back from great heights while purring and meowing.  I’m pretty sure he wanted us to take him away with us.  It was bizarre.

Here is one of the displays. A  flying saucer that crashed into a trailer….. scary!

We were finally able to use up some of the firewood we have been hauling in the back of the Honda since Savannah. Strange as it sounds, most nights have just been too cold to have a campfire.

Tonight we are spending one night near Lafayette to break up the drive to Galveston and to load up on some local cuisine from the (apparently) world famous, Billy’s Boudin and Cracklin’.

We decided on a couple of boudin balls, a crawfish rollup and a scoop of seasoned cracklin’. That’s some gooood eatin’ y’all. (they use a lot of apostrophes here).  Oh, and we also got a stuffed chicken breast which we’ll have later this week and some plain and smoked boudin sausage.

Galveston will be our last chance for some beach time for a while, and it sounds like the weather is not going to co-operate. Stay tuned for a picture of yours truly wearing a toque and parka, using a  beach umbrella as a wind break, enjoying a frosty day in the deep south. 

Stay warm, stay hydrated.

Who is Frankie G

We left Gulf Shores this morning for Fontainebleau State Park, Louisiana, a 4 hour drive.

Driving on I10 through Mobile there was still some white stuff on the side of the road from the snow they got 3 days earlier. They have nothing to clear snow, no plows, no salters, so it’s there until it melts. And it has to be warm to melt.

The park is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, about an hour’s drive from New Orleans. This is a serious lake at 640 square miles in area. The bridge that spans it is 30 miles long and the in the 8 miles in the middle, you can't see land in any direction.

The last two nights in Gulf Shores have taken their toll from a little too much “bar time”, something we’re not used to any more.

It all started two days ago when Darlene noticed in a local paper that “Frankie G from Tennessee” was playing at a nearby piano bar.  We just had to go. So who is Frankie G you are probably wondering.

Let me tell you about Frankie G. Rewind about 15 years, The Red Piano Lounge, Pelican Resort, St Maarten. A much younger Paul and Darlene staggered back to their room after an absolutely devastating evening at the bar, where a much younger Frankie G had just broken yet another bar record for liquor sales. It’s hard to describe how he gets a crowd going  the way he does, but as for the amount of beverages consumed, he leads by example. 

Anyway, we got talking to Frankie, reminiscing about the good old days at the Red Piano Lounge and how did he managed to keep it all together (with the leading by example and all). He has toned things down a bit he says (doctor’s orders) “but if you want to see the old Frankie, drop by the Flora-Bama bar tomorrow night”.

We arrived early. This is the venue. If you can make out what is hanging from the ceiling, you can be sure some serious partying goes on here.

He played 4 hours straight, no breaks, everything from Jerry Lee Lewis to Billy Joel to Queen. The place was hopping and Frankie was putting them away, maybe not like "back in the day" but he was still in good form. Outstanding music, lots of laughs and plentiful beverages. He lives in the Gulf Shores area now and we’ll be sure to check the local paper the next time we’re through here.

Here’s a YouTube video of Mr. G at the Red Piano in St Maarten.

So, still feeling a bit peaked from the recent festivities, we have been thinking about skipping the Big Easy altogether and just exploring some of the more sane small towns along the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain for the next few days. We've been to New Orleans many times but we have never explored the surrounding area. 

Stay tuned, much like the Southshore, the Northern Shore has some pretty cool stuff going on.

It's all about the food

This was the view from our spot just outside Pensacola, on the "bayou".  

We did a tour of Pensacola's historical section which was quite interesting. The original settlement which eventually became a fort, changed hands many times between the British, French and Spanish. Pensacola is the oldest settlement in the US but it wasn't continuously inhabited, which makes St. Augustine, founded 6 years later in 1565, the oldest continually inhabited settlement.

But enough of history. Let’s talk about the weather…….no, you don’t want to hear about the weather. Let’s just say it’s supposed to warm up in a few days. 

We left the bayou a few days ago and are now in Gulf Shores AL. We found a great little park right on the water,  only a few minutes from town. 

Gulf Shores is a beach destination with its fair share of condos and beach houses.  It also has dozens of great little restaurants. We went to one of them for an afternoon snack yesterday and had the crab claws. Wow! They are small, from the Blue Crab I think, and they are outstanding. Salty, a bit spicy and happiest when dipped in butter.

Speaking of food, Gulf Shores has it in abundance. Seafood that is. We have often found that sharing an appetizer still requires a "take home box" or as we Canadians call it, "a doggie bag". This is what the doggie didn't get last night.

Clockwise from the top, fried coconut shrimp, fried breaded chicken, fried Mozzarella, a hush puppy (there were three, but two didn't make it to the picture), onion rings, fried of course, a cheese quesadillia, french fries and a stuffed crab. "Fried" is the common denominator here and it's all GOOD, (but probably not so healthy).

And I just couldn't let this one go, if we're talking about the local cuisine.

Larry the Cable Guy Cheeseburger flavoured tater chips. The blurb on the back of the bag said something like "they'll take care of your flavour cravin's faster than a cop can kick down a trailer door". Worldwide distribution rights are probably up for grabs.

The next stop is New Orleans, the Big Easy, where you can walk around town with a drink. What is the world coming to! 

Coming out of Hibernation

To all our friends back home who are fed up with the unrelenting wind……

……we feel your pain.

We are leaving the “Forgotten Coast” of Florida  today, on our way to Gulf Shores AL, the “Redneck Riviera”. We have scheduled a 2 day stop near Pensacola to break up the drive a bit.

Although it has generally been cold and windy, the temperatures have finally started to warm up. We really enjoyed our 4 weeks in this area. Here are some of the hi-lights of our stay in St. George Island, Port St. Joe and Apalachicola.

 Oysters!

Really large oysters (yes, I happened to have a tape measure with me)

Paddy's Raw Bar, " the sunny place for shady people". That's what the sign says.

The Beach, even though we didn't spend a lot of time there.

Cappuccino Muffins from the Bakery in town. Unbelievable!

And meeting New Friends.

Tonight we are perched atop a fairly steep bank with a river/bayou/swamp in front of us. Nice view, no bugs (yet).

I'll get some pictures soon.

The bar opens an hour later tonight, we crossed into central time. 

Baby, It's Cold Outside

OK, I don’t mean to sound like a whiner but the weather here is just not right. I know I'm not going to get a lot of sympathy from  those of you back home who are still thawing out after a 48 hour power outage over Christmas, or those in Ontario with their temps on the -30’s, under 3 feet of snow.

One year ago today it was 27C here, today it couldn't even reach the forecast high of 7C. And we have another week before it warms up. The lows for the next few days are below freezing. This morning our water line to the RV was frozen. The park rangers were putting out orange cones in the beach access parking lot where there were several skating rinks. The locals (in toques and parkas) are seriously choked about the weather, and they didn't even spend money to get here.

This will be the true test of our ability to co-exist in a 36 ft tube for several months.  Cosmo is oblivious to the weather, he hasn't left the unit since we left home. It’s warm inside, he has all he can eat and he has the best seat in the house, Darlene’s chair.

We did get to Paddy’s Raw Bar yesterday for a beer and a dozen raw. This was a New Years Eve late lunch. We had popcorn and watched a recorded movie later, so I guess, technically, we had popcorn for our NYE dinner.

The wildlife here is abundant. There is a Bald Eagle in the neighbourhood, no pics (yet). I counted 8 Blue Herons in the small pond near our camp-site today. Here are a couple of them in a tree. They always remind me of a grumpy old curmudgeon in grey tails. The brown pine needles are a result of the controlled fire they had here. Doesn't look great right now but I guess the gain is longer term.

A bit of a controlled fire right now might not be so bad. Possible snow or freezing rain tonight.