Surfacing from the deep end of the pool!
Sep. 13th, 2014 10:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamflowerI'm guessing that some of you might have thought I dropped off the edge of the world! But I'm back, and I survived a road trip!
Now, about the vacation: We've been home six days, and this is my first chance to make a post. I will put it behind a cut, for length, since I kept notes of everything, LOL.
As I mentioned in a previous post, there were two parts to our vacation. One was us travelling down South to see our kin and have some fun. Part two was that while we were gone, our son would paint our hallway, living room and dining room, and oversee the people who were putting in our new floor and our new fence. Part one went great, part the
Sunday the 31st we were STILL packing up books to get out of the way of the floor people. We thought we'd be gone by noon. It was close to 5:00 before we were finally able to leave town. We stopped for supper in Stroud, OK, at a place called The Rock Café on Route 66. We had eaten at it a few years ago, when we first moved here, but hadn't had a chance to go back. This little restaurant was one of the inspirations for the Disney movie Cars, and has a really good menu with a few German inspired dishes. We had fried green tomatoes as an appetizer, and I had a "home burger" built to my specifications, while the DH had a bunless buffalo burger with sauerkraut.
We then drove for about another three hours before stopping in Paris, TX, at a Choice Inn. We got up early and hit the road taking the route through Shreveport, LA. (We were following the "voice of the goddess in the car roof" AKA Blue Link Navigator.) All went well until we neared Shreveport, and hit a detour. The Navigator did not like that at all. First she kept saying "Take the first legal U-turn"; after that she told us we were "off route" and that we were not on a road, and that we should turn onto "the nearest available local road". We just kept following the detour signs until we got through Shreveport, but it did put us close to 45 minutes out of our way. We finally turned her off until we had gone some way east beyond Shreveport. We arrived in Bay St. Louis, MS around 6ish, and had supper with my s-i-l.
A couple of hours later we headed to our bed-and-breakfast, which was only a few blocks from M.A.'s new duplex apartment. We stayed at
The Carroll House Bed & Breakfast in the Master Suite. The DH had ordered the "romantic getaway" option, which included a big vase of roses, a box of Lindt chocolates and a bottle of non-alcoholic (on request) bubbly. Our suite was right off a huge screened in porch, and we were greeted by an adorable pug named Tinkerbell and a kitty named Mr. Fuzzy, as well as our host. We went on to bed, and woke the next morning to a lovely leisurely breakfast cooked by our host--an omelet, bacon, sausage, toast with homemade kumquat marmalade and fruit. Then we went to visit with M.A. again for a while. One of the things the DH wanted to do was to give her an early birthday (hers is in Nov.), so after talking to her about what she might need or want, we took her to Lowes and paid off her washing machine and bought her a storm door for her apartment. Then we went out to lunch at a local BBQ place, took her home and then went back to the B&B for a nap. We'd originally planned a nice romantic dinner at a local restaurant, but canceled the reservation in favor of going back to her place, where we dined on pizza, and she introduced us to The Big Bang Theory. I was slightly familiar with it from what all some of my flist had said on LJ, but had never seen a whole episode, and the DH was not at all familiar with it. It was hilarious--so nice to find the series on Netflix, so we can start at the beginning.
We met our hostess at breakfast the next morning, when she made us scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage and fruit. She's also an artist, and we admired some of her paintings, including a lovely one of the B&B's front porch, and a portrait of Tinkerbell. We packed up and loaded the car after breakfast and went back over to M.A.'s place and visited a little more with her before taking her to pick up B., a mutual friend of hers and the DH. Then we went up to Diamondhead, where we had lunch at The Harbor House Steamer, a Yacht club restaurant with spectacular views and terrific food! Afterwards we took both of them and went to their favorite yarn/embroidery shop, where M.A. had worked part-time for a few years. All three of us ladies bought yarn, and I found a wonderful book I had been coveting for half the cover price. Then we took both of them home, and hit the road for Florida around 2PM.
We went part of the way down HWY 98, and then up HWY 49, to see how things were looking. There were not as many changes as we thought, though the scars of Katrina are still evident, especially if you know what was there before. Pass Christian, Long Beach and west Gulfport still look pretty dismal in places. Then we hit I-10 and were on the road to Florida. We had supper at a Subway en route, and arrived at our hotel in Defuniak Springs around a quarter to nine. We were staying in a restored hotel built in 1920, called The Hotel Defuniak in the Romantic Suite. The place is gorgeous, and very comfortable. Our room was furnished with some wonderful antiques!
The next morning after a delicious breakfast of Belgian waffles and bacon, we decided to drive around the town and sight-see. My only regret is that we did not get any pictures of all the beautiful old Victorian homes to be seen everywhere! We picked up some lunch from Arby's and took it back to the hotel and ate in our room while we waited on my cousin Alice to come meet us. She arrived about 3PM, and we spent a few hours catching up. We had a dinner reservation at Bogey's Restaurant and Bar which is right next to the hotel. Originally the DH and I had planned to dress up, but Alice had come straight from work, so we dressed more casually. The restaurant was really nice, with a great retro decor; there was also an art gallery as part of it. We had a fun waitress. I ordered Veal Restauranteur: Sliced veal pounded thin, lightly breaded and sautéed golden. Topped with grilled ham, sliced tomatoes and melted provolone cheese. Finished with a brown demi-glaze. It was aMAZing! I have GOT to get the recipe!
We spent the next morning at a local laundromat, so that we would not have a ton of dirty clothes to haul back home. Then we got ready to drive to Bonifay, where my cousin lives. We grabbed a McDonalds lunch en route and got to her place around one-ish. It's amazing to me how little that area has changed, so that the changes there ARE stick out like a sore thumb. It's always a shock to me to see a huge modern campus where the small school I attended from 5th to 8th grade used to be--the only part of the original school left is a portion of the cafeteria. It's still a K-12 school though, which is kind of unusual nowadays.
Shortly after we arrived at her house, my cousin had a big surprise for me: my sister showed up! She had driven down from Atlanta to be there to see me! It was exciting, because I had known we wouldn't be able to fit in a visit with her on this trip. The four of us drove down to the country church where my parents are buried. It was kind of emotional, of course, not only seeing their resting place but that of most of our paternal relatives, including my cousin, Alice's oldest daughter, who died unexpectedly a little over a month ago. We returned to Alice's house and were soon joined by her two sisters and their husbands. They still live in the area--one lives just down the road from Alice, the other from another nearby small town. So it ended up being kind of a mini-family-reunion. We talked about all sorts of things, including a few relatives I barely remembered from my childhood, and then had supper. My oldest cousin Jo had brought a real banana pudding for dessert. There was more talk afterwards, and some picture taking, though I haven't yet figured out how to download the pics off my iPad or the DH's camera. We headed back to our hotel shortly after dark.
The next morning after a delicious breakfast at the hotel café, we packed out and started the drive home. We had timed it so that we'd be back in Gulfport and could meet a couple of my SCA friends for lunch--but we got a message that one of them had become sick just before they were heading out to meet us, so I did not get to see them after all. So we ate lunch and continued driving. We got as far as Monroe, LA. by suppertime, and had supper at a Cracker Barrel there. Since it was storming and pouring down rain, we decided to stop there and continue the next day. We stayed at a Motel 6 that was right next door to the Cracker Barrel--it wasn't especially a comfortable room or bed, but it was clean and close by. The next morning we went back to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then were on the way once more. We had lunch about 1:30 in Hugo, OK at a local Italian place, and drove in to Cushing by about 6PM.
Part two of our plan had not worked so well. The floor was installed, but not all of the trim work. The fence was not up yet, either, though the poles had been set. And our son had only finished painting the hallway--no work on the living room OR dining room yet.
Monday I went to pick up the dog and cat from the vet after the DH went to work. The fencers finally showed up to finish the fence, and our son showed up in the afternoon to start work on the living room. There were two gaps in the fence the fencers had to come back on Tuesday to fix, and Tuesday afternoon the flooring guys showed up to put in the trim--except some of it was the wrong color, so they had to come back on Wednesday. We're still living in chaos. The DS has been back a few hours each day to work on the painting, and we hope to have it done soon so that we can start putting things back in their proper places.
I had to work Wednesday and Friday, and will work again tomorrow. I don't know what my next week's schedule is, but I hope it's a light one!
Thursday was our 38th anniversary, for which I made a special supper, but this afternoon we are going in to Stillwater for a movie and dinner (not the other way around, since I have to get up early for work tomorrow).
I am gradually getting caught up on my flist and on email! And I DID remember to keep notes for the 12th, so I should get my post up before the end of the weekend.
It's good to be home with our furbabies (who were so glad to see us they have been underfoot and in laps every spare moment--Miss Bella gets downright resistant if I try to stand up), even if it is still kind of chaos!
Now, about the vacation: We've been home six days, and this is my first chance to make a post. I will put it behind a cut, for length, since I kept notes of everything, LOL.
As I mentioned in a previous post, there were two parts to our vacation. One was us travelling down South to see our kin and have some fun. Part two was that while we were gone, our son would paint our hallway, living room and dining room, and oversee the people who were putting in our new floor and our new fence. Part one went great, part the
Sunday the 31st we were STILL packing up books to get out of the way of the floor people. We thought we'd be gone by noon. It was close to 5:00 before we were finally able to leave town. We stopped for supper in Stroud, OK, at a place called The Rock Café on Route 66. We had eaten at it a few years ago, when we first moved here, but hadn't had a chance to go back. This little restaurant was one of the inspirations for the Disney movie Cars, and has a really good menu with a few German inspired dishes. We had fried green tomatoes as an appetizer, and I had a "home burger" built to my specifications, while the DH had a bunless buffalo burger with sauerkraut.
We then drove for about another three hours before stopping in Paris, TX, at a Choice Inn. We got up early and hit the road taking the route through Shreveport, LA. (We were following the "voice of the goddess in the car roof" AKA Blue Link Navigator.) All went well until we neared Shreveport, and hit a detour. The Navigator did not like that at all. First she kept saying "Take the first legal U-turn"; after that she told us we were "off route" and that we were not on a road, and that we should turn onto "the nearest available local road". We just kept following the detour signs until we got through Shreveport, but it did put us close to 45 minutes out of our way. We finally turned her off until we had gone some way east beyond Shreveport. We arrived in Bay St. Louis, MS around 6ish, and had supper with my s-i-l.
A couple of hours later we headed to our bed-and-breakfast, which was only a few blocks from M.A.'s new duplex apartment. We stayed at
The Carroll House Bed & Breakfast in the Master Suite. The DH had ordered the "romantic getaway" option, which included a big vase of roses, a box of Lindt chocolates and a bottle of non-alcoholic (on request) bubbly. Our suite was right off a huge screened in porch, and we were greeted by an adorable pug named Tinkerbell and a kitty named Mr. Fuzzy, as well as our host. We went on to bed, and woke the next morning to a lovely leisurely breakfast cooked by our host--an omelet, bacon, sausage, toast with homemade kumquat marmalade and fruit. Then we went to visit with M.A. again for a while. One of the things the DH wanted to do was to give her an early birthday (hers is in Nov.), so after talking to her about what she might need or want, we took her to Lowes and paid off her washing machine and bought her a storm door for her apartment. Then we went out to lunch at a local BBQ place, took her home and then went back to the B&B for a nap. We'd originally planned a nice romantic dinner at a local restaurant, but canceled the reservation in favor of going back to her place, where we dined on pizza, and she introduced us to The Big Bang Theory. I was slightly familiar with it from what all some of my flist had said on LJ, but had never seen a whole episode, and the DH was not at all familiar with it. It was hilarious--so nice to find the series on Netflix, so we can start at the beginning.
We met our hostess at breakfast the next morning, when she made us scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage and fruit. She's also an artist, and we admired some of her paintings, including a lovely one of the B&B's front porch, and a portrait of Tinkerbell. We packed up and loaded the car after breakfast and went back over to M.A.'s place and visited a little more with her before taking her to pick up B., a mutual friend of hers and the DH. Then we went up to Diamondhead, where we had lunch at The Harbor House Steamer, a Yacht club restaurant with spectacular views and terrific food! Afterwards we took both of them and went to their favorite yarn/embroidery shop, where M.A. had worked part-time for a few years. All three of us ladies bought yarn, and I found a wonderful book I had been coveting for half the cover price. Then we took both of them home, and hit the road for Florida around 2PM.
We went part of the way down HWY 98, and then up HWY 49, to see how things were looking. There were not as many changes as we thought, though the scars of Katrina are still evident, especially if you know what was there before. Pass Christian, Long Beach and west Gulfport still look pretty dismal in places. Then we hit I-10 and were on the road to Florida. We had supper at a Subway en route, and arrived at our hotel in Defuniak Springs around a quarter to nine. We were staying in a restored hotel built in 1920, called The Hotel Defuniak in the Romantic Suite. The place is gorgeous, and very comfortable. Our room was furnished with some wonderful antiques!
The next morning after a delicious breakfast of Belgian waffles and bacon, we decided to drive around the town and sight-see. My only regret is that we did not get any pictures of all the beautiful old Victorian homes to be seen everywhere! We picked up some lunch from Arby's and took it back to the hotel and ate in our room while we waited on my cousin Alice to come meet us. She arrived about 3PM, and we spent a few hours catching up. We had a dinner reservation at Bogey's Restaurant and Bar which is right next to the hotel. Originally the DH and I had planned to dress up, but Alice had come straight from work, so we dressed more casually. The restaurant was really nice, with a great retro decor; there was also an art gallery as part of it. We had a fun waitress. I ordered Veal Restauranteur: Sliced veal pounded thin, lightly breaded and sautéed golden. Topped with grilled ham, sliced tomatoes and melted provolone cheese. Finished with a brown demi-glaze. It was aMAZing! I have GOT to get the recipe!
We spent the next morning at a local laundromat, so that we would not have a ton of dirty clothes to haul back home. Then we got ready to drive to Bonifay, where my cousin lives. We grabbed a McDonalds lunch en route and got to her place around one-ish. It's amazing to me how little that area has changed, so that the changes there ARE stick out like a sore thumb. It's always a shock to me to see a huge modern campus where the small school I attended from 5th to 8th grade used to be--the only part of the original school left is a portion of the cafeteria. It's still a K-12 school though, which is kind of unusual nowadays.
Shortly after we arrived at her house, my cousin had a big surprise for me: my sister showed up! She had driven down from Atlanta to be there to see me! It was exciting, because I had known we wouldn't be able to fit in a visit with her on this trip. The four of us drove down to the country church where my parents are buried. It was kind of emotional, of course, not only seeing their resting place but that of most of our paternal relatives, including my cousin, Alice's oldest daughter, who died unexpectedly a little over a month ago. We returned to Alice's house and were soon joined by her two sisters and their husbands. They still live in the area--one lives just down the road from Alice, the other from another nearby small town. So it ended up being kind of a mini-family-reunion. We talked about all sorts of things, including a few relatives I barely remembered from my childhood, and then had supper. My oldest cousin Jo had brought a real banana pudding for dessert. There was more talk afterwards, and some picture taking, though I haven't yet figured out how to download the pics off my iPad or the DH's camera. We headed back to our hotel shortly after dark.
The next morning after a delicious breakfast at the hotel café, we packed out and started the drive home. We had timed it so that we'd be back in Gulfport and could meet a couple of my SCA friends for lunch--but we got a message that one of them had become sick just before they were heading out to meet us, so I did not get to see them after all. So we ate lunch and continued driving. We got as far as Monroe, LA. by suppertime, and had supper at a Cracker Barrel there. Since it was storming and pouring down rain, we decided to stop there and continue the next day. We stayed at a Motel 6 that was right next door to the Cracker Barrel--it wasn't especially a comfortable room or bed, but it was clean and close by. The next morning we went back to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then were on the way once more. We had lunch about 1:30 in Hugo, OK at a local Italian place, and drove in to Cushing by about 6PM.
Part two of our plan had not worked so well. The floor was installed, but not all of the trim work. The fence was not up yet, either, though the poles had been set. And our son had only finished painting the hallway--no work on the living room OR dining room yet.
Monday I went to pick up the dog and cat from the vet after the DH went to work. The fencers finally showed up to finish the fence, and our son showed up in the afternoon to start work on the living room. There were two gaps in the fence the fencers had to come back on Tuesday to fix, and Tuesday afternoon the flooring guys showed up to put in the trim--except some of it was the wrong color, so they had to come back on Wednesday. We're still living in chaos. The DS has been back a few hours each day to work on the painting, and we hope to have it done soon so that we can start putting things back in their proper places.
I had to work Wednesday and Friday, and will work again tomorrow. I don't know what my next week's schedule is, but I hope it's a light one!
Thursday was our 38th anniversary, for which I made a special supper, but this afternoon we are going in to Stillwater for a movie and dinner (not the other way around, since I have to get up early for work tomorrow).
I am gradually getting caught up on my flist and on email! And I DID remember to keep notes for the 12th, so I should get my post up before the end of the weekend.
It's good to be home with our furbabies (who were so glad to see us they have been underfoot and in laps every spare moment--Miss Bella gets downright resistant if I try to stand up), even if it is still kind of chaos!
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no subject
Date: 2014-09-13 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-14 02:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-13 06:08 pm (UTC)Sorry you're still living in chaos. Shiremom and I are also excavating our way out of her move to my apartment. The cartons are endless!
*hugs hugs*
no subject
Date: 2014-09-14 02:19 am (UTC)Endless Cartons 'R' Us. We have nearly 40 boxes of books in the garage, about 4 of DVDs and CDs, plus about 6 or 7 boxes of knick knacks!
I hope that you and your mom are able to get settled soon, dear!
BTW: Fried green tomatoes are truly a treat! One of the South's greatest inventions.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-13 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-14 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-13 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-14 02:22 am (UTC)I didn't get a chance to take many pics, so I was delighted to be able to include the links. If you ever find yourself in South Mississippi or northwestern Florida, I can rec those places highly!
no subject
Date: 2014-09-14 04:53 am (UTC)Construction is always *interesting* isn't it? It rarely goes as planned.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-14 04:49 pm (UTC)I'm glad you're home safe and sound with furbabies!
no subject
Date: 2014-09-15 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-15 09:32 pm (UTC)