Texas and New Orleans!

Last month, I came to find out that my sister, Teresa, was very ill. They found that she had a tumor on her right frontal lobe the size of a billiard ball and she needed to have surgery to remove it.  My wonderful husband told me that we would go see her as soon as she was out of the hospital and able to have some company. So as soon as that day came, we hooked up the camper and headed for the Houston area of Texas. I had been to Texas a couple of times before but I had never been to Houston. It's a HUGE state, by the way. We drove straight through that first day. 18 hours of driving was really too much, but we made it in after midnight that night and hooked up at the  Texas 6 RV Park in Alvin TX. It was a very nice place to park for a couple of days while we were there.

 It was really nice to see my sister, even though I wish it had been under different circumstances. She looked a lot better than I had expected, we even went shopping the first day! Here we are eating breakfast at Busy Bee Cafe in Alvin TX. It was a great place with really good food.

The next day she was pretty tired so she told us to go do a little sightseeing. She sent us over to Kemah TX.  It was a really nice place. There was a boardwalk on the ocean that was awesome. We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time there but it is definitely a place that I may return to visit at a later date.

After spending a little more time with Teresa and her sweet Grandson, Indy, we decided it was time to go so that she could rest and heal and not have to entertain us. So then my wonderful husband surprised me by telling me that on our way home we were going to spend a couple of days in New Orleans since I had never been there. I was so excited! This little trip was a taste of what is in store for us once we're able to travel full time with our RV! I can't wait!

This bridge was so beautiful!

Then there was this burial vault. Charles said, only in Louisiana! Lol

We arrived in River Ridge and stayed at the KOA Campground there. It was really nice. They had all the usual amenities and was very clean and the people were extremely friendly. If you ever need a place to park your RV in New Orleans, I would recommend it. Their rates were very reasonable as well.

The first night we decided to go to the casino in nearby Kenner. It looked like an old gambling boat. We had dinner at the buffet and played some slots. Charles loves roulette. We had a good time there but broke even. 

So the next morning we took the shuttle down to the French Market to begin our day of sightseeing. The shuttle dropped us off early in the morning and it didn't pick us up until 5:00. We spent the entire day walking the streets of New Orleans. I was pretty tired by the time we were through but I really had an incredible time. The following are some of the pictures that we took but it was very difficult to capture the ambiance of that city. I've been a lot of places but none like this. I definitely plan to go back some day when I had more time.

This is where we ate breakfast before we left. It was an experience to say the least. It's Dots Diner & I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone that gets a chance to eat there.

My daughter, Amanda's husband, Dewayne, is from Louisiana and they recommended some places that we wouldn't want to miss. We went to the French Market first. We went to Cafe Du Monde for their beignets. They were awesome - basically donuts without the holes. But once again it was the atmosphere that made it very special.

.The pigeons enjoyed the leftovers.

Here are a few additional pictures of various places we visited.

There were more but I think that'll do. A beautiful city, colorful people and unique scenery. I highly recommend it if you've never been.

Also, I would like to add here that we are in the process of selling our 2014 Avenger ATI because we need something a little bigger to live in full time. We've kept it in immaculate condition. If you're interested in seeing it, send me a message!

Thanks for visiting!

Love ya'll!

Our Winter Hunt!

On the weekend of January 6th there was a Ladies Only Hunt up at Berry College. I was excited to go with my hunting buddy(Charles) for one more chance to harvest a deer before the end of the season. We usually set up a blind, we have a little butane heater and it's quite cozy. More fun then hanging in a tree stand. Plus tree stands don't really work very well when there are no leaves on the tree.

We got out there and set up camp and went out on the evening hunt. I don't know why I didn't realize how cold it would be.  I took a little bit of adjustment because I work from home so I wasn't really acclimated to the cold weather but it was ok.  What really made this hunt spectacular was the fact that it snowed that day.This was the first time I had ever hunted in the snow. It was awesome being out there with the snow on the ground. We were able to see deer prints all over the place. But there wasn't enough to track them.

When we got back to camp after dark, it was so nice. I had gotten Charles a new generator for Christmas and we had hooked it up. There were only a handful of people camping in the camping area so we were easily able to find a nice remote spot to park in the trees. We were so snug and cozy. Plus Charles' truck is 4 wheel drive so we were easily able to get out and go get food or whatever we wanted to do.

We saw plenty of sign but unfortunately the opportunity to get a deer never presented itself but it's ok because we really had a great time. We always do together. And I can't wait until the next adventure that we take together. It's gonna be a blast!

The End of an Eventful Year!

Well, here we are almost into 2017. I thought I might write one last blog to finish out the year. I'm certain that next year there will a lot more to share with you, since we plan on hitting the road full time, hopefully by spring.

This fall the didn't did not turn out to be as good as we had anticipated. The drought, combined with the wild fires we have experienced due to said drought, caused some pretty slim pickins this year. But I do have a Ladies Only Hunt coming up in January at Berry College so there may be one more chance. I'm looking forward to taking the trailer up there and spending a few days with my honey. We have a new generator that I gave Charles for Christmas so that will make it much more pleasant then in the past. It doesn't look like it's going to be as cold and damp as last year, so that's definitely a blessing.

I had never been to Dollywood before so when my husband asked me if I wanted to go up there during Christmas, I jumped at the chance. So we decided to take the trailer, take our daughter and her husband and children. Our 6 year old grandson's birthday is right before Christmas so we had the brilliant idea of making it a birthday trip for him. Needless to say, he's the apple of our eye so we were excited to do this with them.

We got down there on a Friday afternoon, set up the trailer at http://claboughcampground.com/. It was a really nice campground but we really didn't have time to explore it very much. So much to see and so little time. Then we went to the park to see the lights. They were amazing. I'm so glad that we decided to come down during Christmas, even if it was really cold. It was even more special seeing it through the eyes of my grandchildren, Sebastian & Caroline.  Caroline is only 10 months old and she was very excited by everything she saw for the first time.

 The next morning we got up and got ready and went to Dixie Stampede. It was a lot of fun. They did a spectacular job. It reminds me a lot of Medieval Times but with a western theme, of course. They added the Holiday theme to it and made it exceptional. If I could, I would move up there and work at Dixie Stampede. I would love to get to wear the costumes and I've always enjoyed working with people. Fun! But it would be better if I was younger. Lol!

After that we proceeded to Dollywood and it was amazing. Some of it reminded me of Six Flags and Disney World, but they also had a lot of unique things to see, they did blown glass, stone forging, wood working, all kinds of marvelous things. They had Eagle Mountain Sanctuary, Robert F. Thomas Chapel and Calico Falls Schoolhouse. Then my daughter, Amanda, somehow convinced me to ride on the front row of http://www.dollywood.com/themepark/Rides/Wild-Eagle! OMG, what was I thinking?? I did it and lived to tell about it. I guess I've finally gotten to that age when I'm ready to push the boundaries. Lol! Better late then never, right?

Before heading home the next day, we stopped at Smoky Mountain Knife Works https://www.smkw.com/ and did some shopping. It was incredible. Three levels of all kinds of stuff, not just every conceivable type of knife there is. They have geodes, fossils, stuff from past wars, all kinds of stuff. We had to get home so we weren't able to look at it all. I plan to go back to Pigeon Forge in the near future just to see everything we missed.

There is nothing better than spending time with your family at Christmas and we have been so blessed to have wonderful children and absolutely perfect grandchildren. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for everything you have given me. I know I don't deserve your mercy and grace. I will spend my life praising you with song! I love ya'll!