Happy Birthday Phil!!

Out for Mexican to celebrate the big event.  Mexican food in Texas is soooo good!

Does Phil look older???

 Of course not.

Now here is a scary thought...Chris attempting to make a birthday cake for Phil.

It took twice as long as it was supposed to but turned out ok. 

Returning to Texas

Is it over??  We are back where we started and they never tell me what is going on.  At least I'm getting caught up with some blogging here and maybe they'll stop nagging me.  They haven't pulled out that little travelling bag yet, so maybe we're staying longer.  Do you think they'll make me share my bag with the 'roo?

Oh, it looks like we're going boating!!!  I haven't been on a boat in months, this looks like it could be a great day.

Here is where we went.  We met some very nice people who invited us to their house down along the Gulf coast of Texas.  They have a fishing shack out on one of the small islands and it is only accessible by shallow draft boat.  Does it get any better than this??

What a great clock.  It is, appropriately, in the fishing shack.

 

Those photos are stuck together.  How does this happen?  One time I was trying to get them un-stuck and I lost the whole post, so today I'll just leave them together.

On the way along the intercoastal waterway there are many barges, and they are often hauling some fairly unfriendly chemicals.  There is a huge Dow Chemical plant close by.

There are also many oil industry related companies here, Phil recognized some of these things more than Chris and I.

There is a railroad bridge that drops down to allow the train to cross the river.

This is a huge guillotine that drops down to close off the harbor during a storm and then the water level will stay the same in the harbor/marina.

This weekend's experience was quite unique and certainly not one that many tourists would have the good fortune to experience.  We are very lucky to have met such lovely people.

New Orleans

Driving through Louisiana is an interesting experience with respect to the roads and all the water.  We've mentioned all the swamp and water before, but once again, we were in the swamp.  Check out all these roads criss-crossing over the water.  Parts of this road (I-10) were severely damaged during Hurricane Katrina and we drove past some of the devastated areas.

New Orleans seems to be about food!

We didn't try this one.

How about an aligator ashtray?

We missed Mardi Gras by about a week so we couldn't really do anything really terrible.  Probably a good thing...the roo and I have been in enough trouble.

Of course, if you are in New Orleans and aren't eating, you are probably drinking.

Bourbon Street is just one bar after another.  The drinks are fairly cheap and plentiful and they all have a specialty where rum is a common ingredient.  The unique thing is being able to stroll down the street with a drink in hand. 

In the evening there is live music in just about every place.  It is really a great, fun atmosphere, although we noticed that the atmosphere deteriorated later at night.  We saw three policemen on horses with a couple of drunk characters sitting on the curb.  Even the horses were giving the drunks the evil eye which was funny to see but probably not a good idea to photograph.

Chris and Phil kept the roo and myself locked up in the RV all the time here.  They just don't trust us anymore.

Baton Rouge

We stopped in Mobile, Alabama for a quick look around and then drove across to Mississippi where we camped and caught up with a friend of Phils.  Camping in Mississippi was also where we cooked up some wild pig ribs and sweet potatos. 

We spent part of a day doing an informal walking tour of Baton Rouge and working off those ribs.  The state capitol is a remarkably large building and it makes Chris nervous to think of all those politicians at work thinking up laws and taxes.  The landscaping was really pretty however, and the overcast conditions present when the photos were taken don't do the gardens justice.

The barges getting pushed up and down the Mississippi river are so long.  It must be quite a skill to keep it all under control and going in a straight line with the currents and wind.

There was a navy ship docked in the river for tours, but this one we missed.

 There are floating casinos on the Mississippi river too.  We went in for a look and it was so disappointing.  It looks great from the outside, but inside it is three levels of smoke filled, cave like rooms and poker machines.  It was a Tuesday mid-day when we visited, and plenty of people were there trying their luck.

We finished our day in Baton Rouge with a tasty seafood meal at Joe's Crab Shack and next day we were on our way to the big easy.

Westard bound and a homesick 'roo

He's back.  After our visit to southern Florida we headed north and our bouncing little mate caught up to us after his unfortunate encounter with Orlando's finest.  Understandably, he seems a little homesick for Australia.

We're on our way west and hope that our little roo perks up with a change of scenery.

The Everglades were really good, not somewhere originally included in our plans, but we're glad we spent some time there.  Of course we loved the balmy Florida weather.  Today we are in Louisiana, and we've been back in jeans and warmer clothes since Alabama.  There is a lot of swamp on the drive here.  Yeah, everyone knows that this is a wet area, but there is really some serious swamp.  It is a relief that it is not mosquito season... sometimes cooler weather can be a good thing.

Although we have missed the huge Mardi Gras celebration, we're all looking forward to trying some of the famous cajun/creole cooking in New Orleans, not that any of us are starving.  The other night Phil and Chris made some delicious wild pig ribs on the weber with Sweet Baby Ray's sauce.  Yum! 

Hmmm...looks like that 'roo wants to box, I've  got to find somewhere to hide again.

Miami Boat Show

Wow, what an enormous boat show.  We spent three days at the show and didn't even get over to the on the water power boat section or big boat area.  The trade display in and around the convention hall is seemingly endless, and of course our main interest was the on the water sail boat display.

The sail section is just full of fun things.  Really fun things.

There were talks by sailing authors too.  We met Jimmy Cornell and went to one of his cruising seminars.  Now we are off to buy our lottery tickets.

Florida, beyond Orlando

We departed Orlando and drove west to Tampa and St Petersburg, stopping along the way to camp at a few quiet parks.  We were able to tour the Catalina Yacht factory one day where they make a large selection of sail boats.  Great tour, it is so interesting to see how well these boats are constructed.

We spent an afternoon hiking at Honeymoon Island where there is a Bald Eagle nest and some armadillos, driftwood and a playground.  They keep trying to encourage the exercise thing with me, and I enjoyed the slides, I think gravity is in my favour.

Once again we admired the prices of alcohol here in the US and wonder why the American's aren't all alcoholics.  Check out the price of the rum!

Sorry, it looked clearer on my screen...the big 1.7 litre bottle is $19.99.

We caught up with Chris's cousin for a few days and one morning we got to go hunting for wild pigs.  The part where Phil and Chris eagerly arm themselves and go running around trying to shoot things always worries me.  Why aren't they content with buying the meat from a butcher or supermarket like other humans?

 Alas, there were no pigs to be seen on the day. Lucky for them.

Next we headed down to the Everglades on the way to the Miami Boat show.  There is water everywhere it seems, but not that you'd care to go for a swim.  There are plenty of aligators lurking around, and while they don't seem as aggressive as a salt water crocodile, none of us cared to test the theory.

 The wildlife isn't limited to gators, but there were more birds than I'd ever seen, plus lots of mosquitos and snakes. We met plenty of the mosquitos, but none of the snakes.

While Phil and Chris ran around chasing after wildlife in the swamp, I had time to do what I do best, contemplate life.