Being with the Millers was definitely like being home. Another taste of home we got (while being physically over 1,300 miles away from our sticks and bricks home) after a 4 hour drive we were able to see our niece Sidney! This is her first year in college and we’re so happy we got to see her and tour her campus. It’s a beautiful campus! The dorm rooms are super small, so I’m glad she likes her roommate. I think her room is the size of singles where I went to college.
Author: Steph
A little taste of home!
I can’t find the words to explain how great this day was! It was peaceful and exciting and fun and relaxing and just filled me up!!
I was so excited to see Bill and Karen Miller. They are friends from church who had just moved full time down to Mobile, AL. As much as I love traveling and seeing new places, I also realized a couple of weeks ago that the familiar is super nice! I was looking forward to hanging out with them. They had offered a few ideas of things to go do and see. We had a lot of big days of site seeing just before that in New Orleans, so I decided a day on the boat would be fun and then just hanging out with them would be great. Some down time was needed and a boat ride would be new and different for the kids.
They live right on the water and I LOVE the water! Their house is so lovely with a wonderful, peaceful view of the water that borders two sides of the house. Oh and they have 3 dogs – one for each of our kids to love on! 🙂 I can totally see why they live here!
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The boat ride was even better than I expected! And the kids each said the same thing. We had such a blast! It was fun watching the kids enjoy it. Everything from the wild bumps to laying down, almost napping during the calm. I had no idea how far we were going or how long we would be on the boat. I was happy with whatever Bill and Karen had planned. We started down the Dog River and they said we would go out on Mobile Bay as they often saw dolphin there. I thought to myself “pleeeeease let us see a dolphin!” And a good look would be really great too!” I still had no idea how big the Bay was. Right when we entered the Bay – and I mean right when we entered – a dolphin appeared right next to the boat! And then it surfaced again even closer! I barely missed recording it both times on my phone – darn. But it was soooo cool! It really was a fabulous welcome to the Bay.
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Another Surprise!
We tried to have a “down day” to get some traditional school work done. I do have a list of what the kids’ classmates are studying, so I’m trying to make sure they learn those things as well as all of the other stuff we do and see along our trip.
Dacen, Brielle, and I headed to the local library to try to take advantage of free wi-fi. Until this trip, I didn’t realize I was so in love with library decor. This one had cute benches/seats in the kids’ area.
WWII Museum
Huck heard the WWII museum was phenomenal and it was! A very nice old man summoned us as we entered the parking lot next to the museum. He had only been at the museum for a few minutes and he wanted us to use his parking space, thus saving us $10 in parking! What a sweet man! [Huck here…yeah, that right there made my day. Its only $10. But when you are as tight as I am and you are bleeding money like we are this is reason to celebrate]
Valentine’s Day in the Big Easy
The lady at the Visitor’s Center told me if we wanted to do something truly unique to New Orleans we should Google Second Lines and try to attend one. I had read a little about it, so knowing HOW to find one excited me! I found out there was one scheduled for Sunday, so off we went. We had a loose idea of what might happen, but we still didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t know if it would be best to be at the beginning or at a stop along the route. Like everything else so far we do a little lose planning or research and then kind of wing it or go with the flow. Basically we follow the saying “hold your plans loosely.”
Saturday in New Orleans!
I was excited to get into New Orleans to have Huck and the kids see and experience the town. We had a list of suggestions of where to go, what foods to eat, where to park. It was still a little overwhelming figuring out what to do. 🙂
We walked straight to Jackson Square to people watch and enjoy the sites and sounds.
Of course we had to ask about public bathrooms. I swear we had way too many trips to this indoor mall. BUT we met 2 really nice gentlemen who were Veteran’s helping Veterans. One called over our kids and insisted on giving them mints. (In hind sight, really?? Don’t you know we teach the kids not to take candy from strangers? Oy! I could tell the man was so nice, but it does confuse the kids a bit.) We asked for a lunch suggestion as the other recommendations we had been given had a 1-2 hour wait. They were such genuine, nice, happy guys and commented on our nice family. They suggested a great place across the street to eat lunch. The neat thing was at the end of the day we passed the candy guy as we were walking down a street headed back to the car. It was obviously a nice surprise for both of us! I thanked him for his service, but he was genuinely happy to have served and to be serving. What a great heart he has!
Baton Rouge
I’m in such a hurry and I tried turning the pics, but they are not cooperating, so I’ll have to deal with that later. I just wanted to get a post up there since we are so far behind!
Leaving Galveston we got to ride a ferry, but this time we had Ava, the 5th wheel with us! I’m so glad Huck was driving and not me! He makes it look easy. The kids and I decided to walk up to the next level to get a better look around. The kids thought it was so cool we could see the top of the 5th wheel. Up to now only Huck had seen the roof.
Corpus Christi & Mustang Island
Brielle and I dropped the boys off at the USS Lexington. We stopped at the visitor’s center to get information. From there we kind of kept striking out. A couple of things like the Art Museum were closed since it was Monday.
We headed over to the Heritage Center where there were 12 historic houses. The first one we walked into told us they were now all just used as offices and not really open to the public. So we walked around outside, read some of the signs and took a few pictures. After that we found a spot on the beach, parked and did some school work while we waited.
Next we drove to Mustang Island. The kids had so much fun in the water, even though it was windy and a little chilly. I had hoped to see some more of the wildlife that has been so touted in all the literature. But the good news was: on a windy Monday you get the beach all to yourself! (see Huck’s post for more pics)
The ferry ride from Mustang Island at Port Anansas back to the Mainland was very fun and a new experience for all of us!
On the way home we decided to drive by the Old Tree we had heard about. Amazing!!! The Goose Island Big Oak is over 1,000 years old! It is a coastal live oak measuring at 11 feet in diameter, 35 feet circumference, 44 feet high and 89 feet across the crown. It has withstood countless hurricanes and many people climbing it I’m sure. Now it is surrounded by a fence and they ask you to take photos in the other trees nearby (which of course we did!).
Rockport/Goose Island State Park/Super Bowl 50!
Rockport/Goose Island State Park
Again, so much to see, so little time!
Sunday, Huck found a Baptist Church in Rockport. It was nice. Small to medium sized, they have/are raising money for expansion and updating. The first thing that grabs your attention in the sanctuary is the baptismal pool. So gorgeous! And that was how church was started – 2 baptisms right at the beginning! The music was a little more traditional than what we’re used to, but there were still drums and electric guitars and a lovely baby grand piano. 🙂 People of all ages and dressed from casual to dressy. The sermon was nice and the Pastor admitted the verses he was covering were kind of heavy. He tried to interject humor when he could!
I was struck by how different the view on the way to church was today. Usually we enjoy and love a wonderful view of the mountains on our 15 minute drive. Today the view was gorgeous, but oh so different!
We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the Pier. Then headed over to a free aquarium. It was small, but the volunteer was so nice and full of information. He showed us a fish that loves to interact with people. If you walk back and forth, he’ll follow you! The kids each had to take a turn of course!
Next we wandered to the beach where the kids had such a fun time playing in the water. Never mind all had ignored my suggestions to bring a 2nd pair of clothes. 🙂 Why not take a dip in the Gulf in your church clothes?
We still had time before the game, so to the laundry mat, where Huck also changed the headlight on the truck.
The Super Bowl!!! Of course we had to find a place to watch the big game – The Broncos are in the Super Bowl!! I was worried as Dacen and I had a hard time finding a place to watch the last playoff game. We scored a table with a great view. The only downside (and it was a big downside) was we had to endure hours of smoke. Oh well, we saw the game, we saw the Broncos win and we saw Peyton play what is rumored to be his last game.
Oh and here’s a cute photo from the day before! Brielle is playing her ukele sitting on the back of the tailgate with Papa! So sweet – I Love it!
One more view – the tree right outside our dining room window! Yes it is VERY close. It had me quite nervous as I helped Huck back up the 5er! But we’ve enjoyed it immensely 🙂
San Antonio – God answers prayers
San Antonio – The River Walk
To Walk or to Ride, that is the question. We chose the bus! It never ceases to amaze me how nice people are and how willing they are to offer help getting from one place to the next.
We got off the bus and headed along the River Walk. Dacen insisted on looking at the Courthouse since our tour guide in Austin told us the one in San Antonio is taller. It was ok, but nothing too great. The Cathedral across the street was gorgeous though! There was an area in the front that was very ornate. In the back of the cathedral it had the remains of the heroes of the Alamo. After the Cathedral we asked some bicycle police their opinion of little known places to go, etc. They mentioned we should check out the market which has Tiendas/a Mexican Market. It was interesting to walk around. There was also an Art Museum at one end that we explored. The Trees of Life was one of the exhibits. There were both sculptures and paintings, and a display showing how they make/assemble the sculptures. They even showed the tools they use and how they grind various plants and flowers to make the paint. I can see Mr. Gage having the kids do something like this 🙂
A little lunch back on the River Walk and we continued on. I LOVED ALL the fountains and waterfalls! I was actually a little surprised to see so many. There is after all a river/waterway there, so why the need to add more to it? I’m not complaining – you can never have too many fountains! It was really neat to see so many and so many different ones. I love fountains!!
The Alamo
I’m so glad they have recreated the Alamo. It was interesting to learn the history and the people’s tenacity. Interesting to learn that Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie (as in the Bowie knife) were there at the Alamo! It’s also interesting that my kids love to pose at podiums! I do hope they continue to develop their public speaking abilities.
Back at the RV Park Huck worked, the kids played shuffle board, pool, and played in the pool. I was able to enjoy a very short work out and do lots of laundry.
There is always more we wish we could see and do, but we have a long ways to go still! The next day was the parade and I wish we could have visited more of the Missions around there, but it was time for us to move on!
Post note: The next day as we started on the highway Huck prayed for safety as always. A motorcycle group passed us (we go slightly below the speed limit pulling the rig.) A few minutes, maybe 5 min later we came upon one of the motorcycle riders lying on the highway. We were so thankful they were not right in front of us as it takes a little longer to stop with the rig. It looked like a couple scraps of carpet flew out of a pick up. We don’t know if they hit the motorcyclist directly, or if he was trying to dodge them. He was moving, thankfully, but I’m sure he was quite injured. People had stopped to help and he had about 8 riders he was with. We kept going since we didn’t see what happened and there wasn’t anything we could do to help at that point. We didn’t want to be in the way of the emergency vehicles, but we did pray that he wasn’t too badly injured. Days later, I still wonder if he’s ok.
Later down the road – just off to the side – we passed a bunch of fire trucks and noticed they were battling, or had just finished battling a mobile home that was nestled in the trees. It was a total loss. Again, so sad for the person affected, so thankful for the fire fighters, and so grateful for our safety.