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New Orleans July 2026 – Day 4

Today is July 16, 2026, my final day in New Orleans. Lets get to it then…

It’s time to learn how to cook. I signed up for another cooking class at the Cooking School of New Orleans. There were only 5 of us in this hands on cooking class which is intended to be small even when full. Part of today’s lesson, we were going to learn how to cook Sweet Potato and Tasso Soup, Crabcake with Poached Eggs and Beignets for dessert.

The reason I enjoy this class is because you get to do all the cutting and cooking with guidance from the chef leading the class. Today’s chef was the same person from my last class, Chef Austin with a new assistant Chef Felipe. Now being new doesn’t mean he was young, he was just new to the job of teaching at this cooking school.

Without going into all the details of the soup, I’ll just share some pictures. Now, I can tell you this was some really good soup, even if I cooked it myself. I’ve found a new way to cook sweet potatoes and will be make this soup repeatedly in the future.

The second dish was the crabcakes with poached eggs, covered in a Hollandaise sauce. Now the crabcakes were easy and I didn’t have any worries about cooking the; however, I didn’t have as much confidence in the Hollandaise sauce. Today, was my first day of trying to make this sauce, and it actually came out fine.

Now, the dessert was beignets, and well, for the sake of time we used the box mix from Cafe Du Monde. Which is actually a pretty good mix.

With all this good food cooked and eaten it was time to continue the learning for the day at The Historic New Orleans Collection.

This is a free museum just off Royal Street that gives you the best chance to walking through a historic home that has been converted into a museum. Since this is 250th year of the United States, there was a special 1 room virtual exhibit in the museum. The coolest thing about this exhibit was the use of technology to let you view historical sites from the American Revolution in the 1770s and the same location in 2026. You walked around and used the tablet provide to scan 1 through 19 stations that walk your through reasons leading up to the war and the end of the war. What made this special to me, was in June I walked the streets of Colonial Williamsburg and visited the Yorktown battlefield.

The second floor was a small exhibit of artwork related to the music of New Orleans. As you walked this short hallway they had music playing related to the paintings.

In the next room is an exhibit titled: Vanishing Bounty, all about the vanishing costal environment.

The third floor housed a Aeolian residential player pipe organ, it was what was trending in the 1920’s home theatre. The one in the museum has been full restored, with an interesting modern upgrade. It can play midi files. While yes, you can play the keys or use the original paper rolls for automatic play, it is much easier to just plug in a USB stick and let the music play.

Now, I did record one of the song the organ played, but I’m not posting it hear because it won’t be the same as being present in the room. If you want to hear this 1920s entertainment system, you will need to visit the museum.

With the museum finished I went on my final shopping quest. I wanted a new hat, and even go my old hat reshaped a bit at The Hat Loft, right on Royal Street. I’m telling you, the best parts of the French Quarter are not found on Bourbon Street.

And with that I will be saying goodbye to New Orleans this year.

Published in:

on July 16, 2026 at 9:55 pm Comments Off
Tags: cooking, food, hats, history, museum, New Orleans, recipes, restaurants, travel, vacation

New Orleans July 2026 – Day 3

The threat of rain seems to have gone away on this day, July 15, 2026. This means the heat is returning, not that yesterday was all that cool. Today, I think I will visit the aquarium and insectarium followed by a bit more shopping. I’m still trying to find the store that was selling this via garlic forward hot sauce. I’m starting to get the idea it was one of the regular shops that sells NOLA merchandize since the 2 specialty shops I’ve looked at don’t have it. I guess it is possible that it is no longer being made or they changed up the label.

Breakfast this morning was at Majoria’s Commerce Restaurant, on Camp Street. This is a small dinner open for breakfast and lunch, which the menu says you can get both all day. I swear it’s bar had a better selection of whisky than most of the bars on Bourbon Street, but it’s 9:00 AM and too early for me to be drinking anything stronger than coffee. So, breakfast today was shrimp and grits.

One thing I want to remember for my next visit is the number of places there are to eat in this area. Now most of them are only open for breakfast and lunch and if they server dinner they close by 9 PM, which for me is perfect. There is pizza, old fashion diners, an Indian restaurant oh, and a Mediterranean one called Olive. I had thought about Olive, for dinner one night but for some reason thought it was multiple blocks from hotel, but it’s only a few, just in the opposite direction of the French Quarter.

After a nice breakfast, it was a short walk down to the river and the Aquarium. I bought my ticket last night so I was able to skip the ticket line an go straight up the stairs to the first exhibit.

— Insects —

These exhibits were amazing. If you could have heard the excitement of the children I was having to dodge and wait patiently to clear away, you would have gotten excited too. I don’t think I heard any of them say, “that’s gross”, even if I heard a few adults say it.

— Butterflies —

To enter the butterfly garden you first are ushered into a closed room with a door behind a plastic green chain curtain. Once everyone is in the room, the usher closes the door and a short video plays. Once the “push here” button goes from Red to Green you can enter the exhibit. It was fun having butterflies all around you. I did notice most were near the plants near the windows and direct sunlight.

— Fish —

You maybe wondering how much did it cost? This experience cost me about $50. I’m not sure it was worth the price, but I do realize the upkeep on these exhibits is expensive, so I was willing to pay the fee. For an extra $10 you could also get a ticket to the Audubon Zoo in town, which is located about 40 minutes up the river. The best part was the butterfly garden, followed by walking through the underwater tunnel. Guess you know why those were videos and not pictures.

I had to get a picture of the river boat on the Mississippi River. I did this 75 minute tour the last time I was here in New Orleans, and I recommend doing it at least once.

I continued along the riverwalk, down and past Cafe Du Mont and long the sidewalk leading to the French Market Area. Here you will find many different vendors selling a variety of items along with a variety of food or drink take aways. I wanted to give this place called Meals From the Heart Cafe, which had a complete vegan menu, a try. I selected the vegan gumbo, which had okra, mushrooms and zucchini with rice. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve had better. I felt it lacked the “punch” other gumbos have. Being vegan shouldn’t limit you on the spices.

With some food in my belly it was time to wander off and find some good hot sauce and maybe some tea. My path did happen to take me past Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar. It claims to be the oldest bar in the United States, being built between 1722 and 1732; however, I doubt that claim. I’ll give it that its and old building but it didn’t start out as a bar.

With my drink in hand, I got back on my quest to find tea and hot sauce.

If you wanted, you could sample everyone of the hot sauces, salsa and marinades the Pepper Palace makes. Be prepared for some of them to make you regret that choice. They do offer a flat fee of $5 shipping for mail orders and if you buy 3 your get the 4th bottle free. I’m stocked up now for a good amount of time.

I wanted to get back to my hotel room before 2 PM to watch the England vs Argentina game, but I did want to get something else to eat and why not get another daiquiri. Last time I was here I tried Voodoo Chicken, so this time I went for Willies Chicken. Comparing the two, I do prefer Willies over Voodoo, and I think Willies daiquiri was better, but I didn’t get the same type, Willie Colada this time. It was pretty good, but it is made with 151 rum so it packs a kick.

So, that ends my adventures for today. I took it easy this afternoon, watching the game, and a few movies in my room.

On to tomorrow and my cooking class, followed by another museum – this one is free.

Published in:

on July 15, 2026 at 9:32 pm Comments Off
Tags: adventure, aquarium, cooking, food, hot sauce, insects, New Orleans, travel, vacation, vegan

New Orleans July 2026 – Day 2

As I’m sitting here this morning, drinking some coffee and watching the local news, I thought would give anyone visiting New Orleans an option to prepare most of your meals in your own room so you can maximize at one meal eating out. For me I’m opting to do breakfast, Quaker Oat’s microwave oatmeal in a cup, I could do more since my room here at the Holiday Inn Club Vacation Resort has a full kitchen. As I mentioned I stopped at a Walmart before checking into the hotel; however, I knew check-in can sometimes take a bit of time, so I limited my shopping to items that didn’t need refrigeration.

So what if you don’t have a vehicle because you took a train, bus or airplane to NOLA? Here in the French Quarter you have a few options. One is the chain grocery store, Rouses Market. It is located at the corner of St. Peter and Royal street, just 1 block off of Bourbon street. If you read my previous post, I was thinking of walking to the river last night via St. Peter, that is wait reminded me of this option of grabbing groceries.

Let’s say you don’t want to get eggs, milk, etc. well, you could grab snacks and drinks at either Walgreens or CVS on Canal Street. CVS is located on the corner of the Carondelet and Canal, (Carondelet turns into Bourbon St.) and Walgreens is just one block north at Baronne and Canal.

It’s now 8 AM and I’m waiting until the rain stops. It’s down to drizzles but I really don’t want to get wet, plus none of the shops will be open until 10 AM. I need to restock some hot sauces, and visit a few book stores. My plan to go visit the Irish Channel changed when I realized this is just a residential area portion of the Garden District where Irish immigrants settle in the 1800s. Hence the shopping and I’m considering visiting the aquarium.

I took a walk down to the river and then along its river walk toward Jackson Square. I watched that ship navigate up the Mississippi, in my mind feel they are going down river, but zooming out on Google maps, the river does turn down but it turns back up heading to Baton Rouge. This means the Gulf of Mexico is the other direction.

Finally Cafe Du Monte wasn’t busy and I was able to get a table. Be sure to have cash since table service is cash only. I enjoyed an iced coffee with my benigns.

Next I walked up Royal Street, looking in on shops and art galleries before heading back to the hotel via Bourbon Street. I walked far enough that I was in the residential area. Some of the streets have no cars parked because the street gets cleaned on Tuesday while other streets get cleaned on Thursday.

I’ve been relaxing in my room since I got back. I thought about getting a to-go meal but opted for a bag of popcorn

I’m now watching the French vs Spain World Cup game before heading out to today for an early dinner before my jazz show

Dinner was at Oceana on Conti, just off of Bourbon Street. I had the Po’boy fried fish sandwich but switched out the French fries for jambalaya. The fish was very good, but the sauce is what made the sandwich. Cost $42 for meal, a beer and tip.

When planning this trip a month ago, I bought front row seated tickets to the Tuesday 8:45 PM jazz show at Preservation Hall. It’s located across the street from The Vampire Apothecary, so an easy 15 minute walk. The Preservation Hall has been a jazz music venue since 1961, and one thing they didn’t have in 1961 was cell phones (no pictures or video of the band while performing) They were very entertaining and the venue was very small. With my front row seat I felt like I was in the band. They have different shows during the week, and it seems Tuesday night this is a smaller portion of the band and are a bit more loose in their playing. I tried to find some YouTube videos but it seems they only posted the full band’s Christmas songs recently and then the videos are 3 or more years older. So this is differently and experience worth having because its one of a kind. It was a good evening.

After the show I was tempted to grab more food, but I’m not really hungry. Maybe it was all the second hand pot I inhaled walking down Bourbon Street. I’d risk one of the side streets, but they are dark at night and all the homeless people make me nervous enough with them on Bourbon Street. So I went straight back to my room.

I’m going to read a bit from the book I bought the other day and rest for tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’m getting smarter with my travel and moderating how much I do and see or if I’ve just been here in New Orleans enough that I don’t feel a need “to see it all”.

Until tomorrow

Published in:

on July 14, 2026 at 10:17 pm Comments Off
Tags: adventure, food, history, jazz, New Orleans, travel, vacation, writing

New Orleans July 2026 – Day 1

I’m heading back to NOLA for my final trip of the summer before returning to work in August.

Was expecting sunny, hot weather…

I had been chasing the rain on my drive and it seems it decided to stop so I could catch up. But looks to be moving on without me in a day or so.

Today I will be stopping at the Lake Charles Visitor Center and grabbing lunch in Lafayette at Prejeans. Hoping to visit the State Capitol in Baton Rouge.

In NOLA I have tickets to a jazz show at Preservation Hall and another cooking class at New Orleans Cooking School. In between there will be many bowls of gumbo and I’m going to try out a vegan restaurant in the French Quarter. So I hope you enjoy my stories.

Time to hit the road.

First stop is my visit to the Louisiana visitor center just across the stateline. Sadly the walking trail was closed.

On to Lake Charles…

So it was raining cats, dogs, alligators… You name it and it was falling from the sky. So I skipped the Lake Charles Visitor Center.

So straight on to lunch about 1 hour down the road.

At some point, I don’t remember when, but I saw an alligator that was hit by a car and was dead along the side of the road. This was a first for me, I’m use to deer, but not an alligator.

Speaking of the road, drivers be crazy. I understand the sign says 75 MPH, but it’s raining so hard I can barely see what’s 10 feet in front of my truck… I’m going to drive slower, but not these other drivers, and the worst are the semis throwing their own rain clouds. I’m amazed there weren’t any accidents

I did make it to Lafayette safely and to Prejean’s for some wonderful gumbo and bread pudding. $35 with tip. The best of the gumbos was the duck gumbo. My only experience with duck before is ones that friends of mine shot while hunting. This meal I didn’t have to watch out for shot while eating. This made we wonder, were to they get their duck and with a bit of research I learned that they are farmed like chickens or turkeys, a quick internet search and I found Maple Leaf Farms. I know nothing about this farm other than what they posted on their own website. I’ve just linked as an example of sustained duck farming.

Look at how dark the roux is for that gumbo… I’ve not been brave enough to get my homemade gumbo that dark.

On to the Capital; however, I didn’t stop. Parking proved to be terrible. There was a parking lot but it wasn’t clear if you had to pay or not and all the street parking had QR codes to scan to pay. I decided on a trip to Barnes & Nobles instead

I saw this cool game that tempted me, but I ended up getting a book from an author I like.

The rain did finally stop and left me alone all the way into New Orleans. I stopped by Walmart to grab snacks and fill up on gas then on to my hotel.

I got a room on the 8th floor with windows that look down towards Bourbon Street.

One thing I noticed about this visit was a larger police presence. They even had horses. 🐎

I took some up close pictures of the neon signs on the street.

After getting settled in, unpacking my “fancy” shirts, and relaxing it was time to grab a late dinner, well at least for me.

I checked out a few places off Bourbon Street, but ended up at The Vampire Apythocary, my usual first meal place. You can find it off Bourbon Street on Saint Pete. If you walk down Saint Peter to the river, you will get to the cathedral.

I opted for the baked salmon and a Vampyre Sazerac. $57 with tip.

After paying my bill, I just sat at my table, sipping my drink and catching a few of the special Pikachu.

I’m tempted to walk to the river.

I didn’t. For one thing, the street got dark and 2nd the street was closed for repairs. So I wandered back to my room for a shower, some cookies and time to finish this post, but maybe not in that order.

“The cookies were first”

Until tomorrow. – I may have secret access to a “special” speak easy. Keep that a secret.

Published in:

on July 13, 2026 at 10:46 pm Comments Off
Tags: food, gumbo, life, nature, New Orleans, travel, vacation

Corpus Christi Comic Con 2026 – Day 3

I slept better last night, that doesn’t mean those people sharing the joy, driving their cars stopped, there were at least less of them that woke me up.

I decided not to go to the Con early this morning because I can’t resist the merchandise and I’ve spent too much on things. I will be making one final walk around before leaving today… I need more of these.

Thinking about those snacks has me wondering what to do for breakfast this morning.

Checking the weather there is a good chance of rain later this morning and these clouds are similar to the ones on Friday morning when it went from sunny to rainy in 30 minutes.

Wow, this was a busy weekend for outdoor events. Friday was the Art Festival and a 5k night run, Saturday morning was another running event and this morning there is a bicycle race.

I think I need to venture out for breakfast…

Today, we will be trying a Pfannkuchen, at Artisan Haus Bakery & Bistro. What is a Pfannkuchen? Well it is a German thin pancake very similar to a crepe. I’m here at 8 AM and the place looks closed, but checking the Google timeline thingy I’m here before the crowd, so as I’m leaving this place should be hopping.

Time to hear a drum line.

Corpus Christi Taiko Club

This club is a volunteer club that is about 3 years old. Corpus Christi Onami Taiko Club more information about them can be found here on their Facebook Page.

The next session I visited was presented by @fatecosplay where he introduce to DnD. It was a very well organized presentation with information on where and how to find fellow players. Online tools you can use to help you track your character and manage a game if you are a DM. I did have to leave early because of the unlimited access to Pecos Pete’s Sodas. You buy the mug once and pay $7.00 a day where every Pecos Pete has setup their cart. The diet root beer is top quality. So I think you can figure out why I had to leave.

Puzzle update Day 3

I worked on the puzzle this morning for about 15 minutes and I just came back at 1:30 PM and there is a couple working on it as I type. So I’ll post a picture later.

I went back to the food vendor area to buy another round of macarons but sadly they sold out.. Next year it is.

To tell the truth I’m tired and thinking of leaving early. With my VIP ticket I have discounts to the Art Museum, the Aquarium, the USS Lexington, and the Botanical gardens. I’m leaning towards the Botanical gardens, they close at 6 PM so there is still plenty of time.

I couldn’t leave without finishing the puzzle so I started working on it and a kid asked if he could join. He completed the Eevee in the middle and the upper right corner before he had to leave.

If anyone that helped complete the puzzle sees this blog, thanks and great teamwork. Next year if I return, I should bring a notepad and ask people to sign the notebook and post pictures to a public site. Let’s see if I remember…

As I left C4 for the last time this year I smelled pizza. I was reminded of a pizza place recommended by a few people so I think I will get pizza and assess if I want to do any more walking. Besides I need to do some minor editing on the video from the drum line. You should have already watched it, but at the time of my typing it is just raw footage. Non linear time lines are fun.

Well, scrap pizza, Marty McPie is closed on Sunday. There are a few others that serve pizza but now I just want to go back to my room.

Just to close out this blog and answer all question, I ended up ordering the flat bread pizza appetizer from the hotel restaurant. That’s dinner sorted. And now that I’ve edited the drumline video, uploaded and linked it; its time to close out this 3 day blog.

I should be back next year. I like this Con because it isn’t too big, yes, the “stars” are not the top tier actors, but I’ve been to the Con in McAllen with “bigger named stars” and that one is just too crowded and VIP ticket holders get less for their money, or maybe C4 just gives us more. I’ve never been to another Con so maybe the McAllen one is typical and C4 is special. I guess I need to venture out to a different one sometime soon to compare.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the prose. I’ve tried to provide links so if you visit Corpus Christi you will have a starting point of a few things to do. Maybe you will even want to attend C4 next year. I’m signing off for now. Next adventure is in a few weeks and I will be going somewhere on the east coast. Subscribe if you want to read about that adventure. Be blessed.

Published in:

on June 7, 2026 at 5:29 pm Comments Off
Tags: comic con, food, life, travel

New Orleans the Summer Tour – Day 2 – Day

Rain, and some more rain… I knew when I headed this way that rain was forecasted for the New Orlean’s area and stupidly I thought it would help with the heat… Well yes it did drop the temperature a few degrees but it jacked up the humidity so my walk 2 mile walk along the river and down the city streets had me covered in sweat as if I had just run a 5K.

I’ve only been in New Orleans when the Christmas trip was up. The plaza looks unnatural without it.

The Christmas Tree should fill this picture.

Ignoring the sweat, it was a nice peaceful walk. Even got to see some of the street cleaners in action, probably the only time Bourbon street smells nice.

I continued my walk, almost timing the start of my cooking classes; however, I had to spend about 20 minutes relaxing in a coffee shop since I was early. Such a terrible situation (hehe)

Now the cooking class…

I recommend taking the cooking class if you are every in New Orleans. Don’t do the demonstration followed by a meal class, pay for the you cook and eat what you cook class. Why? The class is smaller and you get to practice what the chef is telling you. You will wish you had the help with the clean up. There was an assistant the kept clearing away the empty bowls and cups. Also, the class I signed up for had all the ingredient pre-cut so if you want to learn how to cut vegetables you will have to select a different class. Now on to the cooking…

The first dish we prepared was a gumbo. I started lard melting into a pan, yes I said lard don’t question the method, which I then mixed in flour and stirred slowly until the flour cooked and became the color a milk chocolate.

While this is going on I had pot heating up some sausage, stirring only occasionally because you want the brown bits to get stuck to the bottom of the pot to improve the flavor of the gumbo.

I’m not going to give you the whole recipe here, because you need to take the class. But here is the pot of gumbo after the rue, sausage and chicken are combined together with chicken stock and a spice blend. This will continue to simmer on low while you prepare the rice and fish.

This was the first time I’ve had rice turn out correctly with out using a rice cooker. I started with melted butter and onions. Cooking the onions until the are soft but before they start to brown and caramelize. This was pecan rice so that this point I added in the pecans and stirred to coat them with the buttery onions. Keep heating on lowish setting until the pecans start to release their oils. Mix in the rice, pour in chicken stock, bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer place a lid on the rice and don’t touch it until its finished.

It’s now time to start the main dish of red fish. Again melt a good amount of butter in a pan, season the fish and the flour you will be coating the fish. Once the butter is hot add the fish being sure to lay the fillet in the pan away from you so if the hot butter splashes it will be away from you. (Nice tip I normally just plop my meat into the middle of the hot liquid. I do it slowly, but now I’ll add that extra step.

Cook the fish until it is about 75% of the way and then flip it over. Don’t burn the butter, it will be used in a moment to create an almond sauce. Remove and plate the fish fillet and continue with that almond sauce. Again you will need to take the class to get the full recipe. Yes, I’m evil, sorry not sorry.

And here is my lunch cooked by my own hands at the directions of Chef Austin. Sorry not going to try to spell his last name, it started with an F and is very New Orleans. I may have put too much sauce on my fish, but I didn’t want it to go to waste.

All of it was very good, if I do say so myself. The cook did an amazing job.

After finishing lunch it was time for Banana Foster. Chef Austin told the story of where this dish originated.

From Wikipedia: “In 1951, Ella Brennan and the restaurant’s chef Paul Blangé worked together to modify a dish made by Ella’s mother in the Brennan family home. At this time, New Orleans was a major hub for the import of bananas from South America. It was named for Richard Foster, the chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission and a friend of restaurant owner Owen Brennan.”

You can learn a bit more with this article from NPR, The Sweet Success of Banana Foster …

Now let’s see the dish in action. The sparks in the flame are from magic powder, ok it’s only cinnamon, but thinking it’s magical adds to the fun.

I am very full after all that food and it’s getting ready to rain again so I’m heading back to the hotel to write up this portion of today’s blog and try to digest my lunch. Again, if you are ever in New Orleans be sure to take a class at the New Orleans School of Cooking or book a class here on their website. They have 10 AM classes and 6 PM classes with different menus on different days and times. But the Banana Foster is almost in every class. Who doesn’t like a open flame in the middle of the dinner table.

I was going to wait until later tonight to post this update, but I’m going to do it now and just make another post for tonight’s river boat tour.

Published in:

on June 24, 2025 at 2:41 pm Comments Off
Tags: cooking, dinner, food, New Orleans, vacation

New Orleans the Summer Tour 2025 – Day 1

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the picture first… It’s freaking hot here compared to my visit in December.

Now that’s out of the way on to this trip…

The drive here was pleasant nothing to talk about; however, the stop at the Louisiana Tourist building and trail is worth mentioning.

I tried to record some video so you could hear the insects, but the video is not stable for some reason so, but here is a video of a swamp with insects buzzing. Thank God there weren’t any mosquitos.

I made good time on I-10 and arrived in New Orleans with time to visit a Barnes & Nobels. I found a paperback copy of Terry Pratchett’s Wee Little Men. If you want a nice summary of Pratchett’s work check out this YouTube video. With time wasted enough and a free tote bag collected from my Barnes & Nobel membership it was time to head to the hotel.

Check in was quick and the valet took my truck off to the magical parking lot that vehicles play in while their owns are on vacation.

After unpacking it was time to grab a drink at the bar before heading off down Bourbon street.

I wanted to visit an “Irish” pub so I went to Erin Rose just off Bourbon Street. The Guinness was poured correctly and the bartender could give some good “craic” the prices were good too, a pint followed by a Jameson on the rocks was only $12.

By now its 7 PM and way past my dinner time so I went to try out The Court of Two Sisters. If you want another take on this restaurant check out Shaun’s Visit. I came in the back door, found the hostess and looked over the dinner menu and decided for the Chef’s Three Course Meal. I started with Turtle Soup, my main was blackened chicken with brussels sprouts and mash potatoes ending with bread pudding in a whiskey sauce.

My only complaint is/was the soup was too salty, but that is a common issue I have after 4+ years of not adding extra salt to anything. I would recommend this meal to friends that were coming to NOLA and need someplace to eat.

Now unlike Las Vegas, my body knew it was 8:30 PM and the adult beverages were starting to hit so I headed back to my hotel and started/completed this blog post.

Published in:

on June 23, 2025 at 9:34 pm Comments Off
Tags: food, hiking, life, New Orleans, travel, vacation

Spring Break – Day 3.14

Happy π day!

If you need ideas for how to celebrate pi day, click this link to the site I’m using this image. Or just go eat a piece of pie. This may prove harder to do than you think. I was looking at the online menus here in Canyon Lake, Texas and couldn’t find a single pie on a menu. The Wildflour Bakery I had lunch at yesterday, only said they have pies on occasion, mostly in November or December. Today’s trip took me into Wimberly, Texas and there I was able to find at least 2 restaurants with pies on the menu, Wimberly Cafe and Chill’s On the Creek. More about my pie quest for π day later.

I know I mentioned going to a history museum, but I decided not to go. Looking at their information online, and they didn’t open until 12 PM. I didn’t want to wait around that long so I decided to go to Wimberly, Texas.

This town puts Gruene, Texas to shame. Or maybe, Gruene needs to learn a thing or two from Wimberly. They had nice public bathrooms, easy to find and access near the public parking.

There was both a city QR code linking to the official city website with things to do. and a QR code linking to the app store to download a Wimberly Shopping app having most of the stores listed and the ability to create a plan to visit each using a map on your phone.

One recommendation if you plan to visit Wimberly, Texas and you want to see all the shops, you need to go on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. There are a handful of shops that are closed for the rest of the week. I also suggest getting breakfast at one of the restaurants, because the shops that are open, don’t open until 10:00 or 10:30.

Speaking of breakfast, I decided to have a regular breakfast, 2 eggs, hashbrowns, sausage and an English muffin at Wimberly Cafe. I’m glad I decided to get something to eat, because the place was filling up quick. It was here that I first noted that pie as on the dessert menu. If I failed at finding pie anyplace else, I knew I could return here for a slice with lunch.

After breakfast, it was time for some Pokemon Go, (yes, I’ve been trying to catch’em all during my trip) and shopping. I’ve been looking for a bracelet and ring for my index finger. I’m size 15 so it’s been very hard, and by the end of the day, I was only able to find a bracelet, which is actually and ankle bracelet. If I was smaller framed, I could have easily found dozens of rings, bracelets or necklaces. The shops just don’t cater to my style, if I was inclined to wear dresses, I could have spent so much more money than I did. Enough talk about my shopping spree, I have some new socks, T-shirts, candles, and gourmet popcorn.

This town has some interesting objects and murals to look at while walking around. For example, this train car is next to the public bathrooms and public parking.

I believe this mural is on the side of the Chill’s on the Creek. Oh, and that rock leaning up against the wall, has a warning about the door being active and in use so pay attention. How did I notice? I saw one of the servers exit from that door as I crossed the street.

Cypress Creek runs through the city. A section has a small dam along the park side (right picture) and its a normal flowing creek on the side leading away from town. (right picture)

This tree provides shade to the Creekhouse Kitchen & Bar outdoor dining area. The plaque on this tree shows the date of 1400 AD.

This vine, with yellow and orange flowers is growing on the trellis outside of the Creekhouse.

I know, you’ve been wondering what about the pie for π day. Listen, I couldn’t have just finished breakfast and went straight to lunch. I spent some time exploring and I’ve been sharing what I found and skipping over all the shopping. So here you go, it’s now lunch time…

Chill’s on the Creek, drink special was $2 off their signature cocktails, so I had to try the Texas Tornado. It was a rum based pineapple, orange juice drink. I do recommend it, especially if you like pineapple. For my main course, I had the Mahi Tacos and green beans. Concluding the meal was the frozen lemon pie. And that was very delicious. Reminded me of a lemonade cream frozen popsicle.

Oh, the suit of armor is just there because I found it interesting. It guards the exit of the restaurant, so maybe it comes to life if you try to skip out on your check.

Thus ended my day in Wimberly. Tomorrow I must return home and face reality and the return to work on Monday.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my rambling.

Published in:

on March 14, 2024 at 5:15 pm Comments Off
Tags: dining, food, pi day, restaurants, spring break, travel, wimberly

Christmas Adventures 2023 Day 2 – Dec 26, 2023

NOTE: I’m posting a day behind.

Today is the second leg of the drive to New Orleans. Since check in isn’t until 3 PM, I’m in no rush.

Had a nice breakfast at the Holiday Inn, but the person that set up the buffet paired the sausage and the hashbrowns in one section with the eggs and bacon in the other. I feel that the sausage and bacon should be together. I’m probably just being silly.

Nothing exciting happened along the drive, unless you count the Audible book I was listening to while driving. It was Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus: Legends by Lydia Sherrer It is book 4 in the series.

So I’ve crossed the state line from Texas to Louisiana and had to stop at the welcome center.

There was even a short board walk labeled a walking trail and after a few hours of driving who can’t resist a good leg stretch?

And now back to the road and my book. Just more driving, until I get to the bridge that crosses the Mississippi River…

I don’t take pictures while driving, but technically I was parked. Whatever the accident was, it wasn’t a quick clear and eventually all 3 lanes stopped moving. Google actually provided an alternate route and once getting over the bridge I took the first exit, drove through a residential area, and then reconnected with I 10 and was on my way again to New Orleans.

Learning my lesson from my stay yesterday on Christmas Day, I didn’t go straight to the hotel, but looked for a grocery store to get the basics for making a sandwhich. I checked out Rouses Market. Being from Texas and having access to HEB, I am very spoiled. My choices for lunch meat was just the named brands, ie higher costs so if I’ve got to pay more for deli meat, I’m off to the deli to get fresh cut smoked turkey and muenster cheese. Strangely, I found Rouses branded deli meats there, but not prepacked. Another difference, there was a liquor store in the grocery store. You had to buy liquor at the “special” register. Liquor laws fascinate me in their absurdity. Not going to say anything more here, other than the laws are stupid because they is no consistence with them. Ok, I’ll move on…

I found my hotel easy enough on the west edge of the French Quarter. No place special just a 2 star Holiday Inn. The breakfast here is free, but you have to pay for parking. That brings up another thing of stupidity that would be nice if the corporation could have consistence between locations. This is one of those “If I was King..” moments..

A disadvantage of traveling during the winter is how quickly the sunsets. It’s only 6 PM and getting dark, so most of my pictures this evening are not the best, however; the Christmas decorations standout.

I skipped lunch today. I say that to explain my next quest, dinner. I googled like most of us do and picked a restaurant. The food was good, but the prices were touristy. The only costs that were on par were the drink prices, but $35 for grilled red fish and sautéed green beans. You’ve got to be kidding me.

I was still hungry and wasn’t going to get dessert at the restaurant. I went in search of beignets.

My plan was to eat at Cafe Du Mont, because my sister had sent me their mix to make beignets at home and I wanted to try the real thing. I’m going to blame the bright lights and the jazz music, but I went to the Cafe Beignet: French Quarter.

This may have been the “wrong” place, but the beignets were great and later I learned from a local, they prefer Cafe Beignet over Cafe Du Mont. I will have to make a comparison.

Anyone ready for ghost stories? How about a vampire story? Well I suggest to leave now, because that is how I ended my Tuesday, the 2nd day of Christmas. Pictures first.. short summary after.

My summary of the tour will be very short, because I don’t want to ruin it, very limited spoilers ahead.

The tour started at 8 PM, Witches Brew Tours has a variety of tours. All of the basic ones were already full so I was forced to take the 21+ tour. In the description the only difference, this included stories about murders and crimes. We also had a pitstop halfway through the tour at a “haunted” bar.

My ghost guide, Mia, is a professed witch and Catholic. Wrap your head around that. She is also full of “Dad jokes”, and bad puns. I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt for some of the stories she told, since she is from New Orleans, but some of the info about Voodoo didn’t line up with a recent podcast I listened to on a history podcast I follow. Check it out here at American History Hit. Overall I enjoyed my time and feel the tour was worth the money and with all the walking I didn’t have any trouble falling asleep. Staying asleep was another issue, but I blame the stupid “night light” by the sink in my hotel room that doesn’t have an off switch. Tonight I’m going to put a towel in front of it.

This concludes, Christmas Day 2.

Published in:

on December 27, 2023 at 7:23 am Comments Off
Tags: Christmas, food, Ghost Tours, louisiana, New Orleans, nola, travel

Carl's Blog

My attempt at a presence on the web.

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Happy π day!

Christmas Adventures 2023 Day 2 – Dec 26, 2023

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