NEW CANEY, TX

Monday, May 31 – Can't believe it's the last day of May. Where did May go??? Today was a travel day for us. Headed to Forest Retreat RV Park in New Caney, TX....about 10 miles north of Houston. Paul has an upcoming 3-month post surgery check-up. We will also visit our two daughters again, before heading for Ohio for the month of July.

We traveled towards St Charles, LA on LA-14. One of the reasons we chose this route is the poor condition of I-10. It's pump, pump, pump the entire way across Louisiana. We will use US-90 from Beaumont, TX to New Caney, TX which is a few miles north of Houston.

Arrived at Forest Retreat RV Park with no problems.....man is it HOT! And, one of our air conditioners is not working.......YIKES! Have to get this fixed real fast, it's suppose to be in the 90's all week.

The campground is real nice. Large concrete pads, full hook-ups, nice pool, beautiful activity center, shuffle board courts, shelter house, very clean bathrooms, and wonderful location. We were surprised how crowded it is in the Houston heat. Though everyone high tailed it out of here in the summer.

Office Building

 

Our site

Restrooms and laundry

Pool

Street View

Pavilion with shuffle board and horseshoes

You have to check out the extended bus that is here. It's a revamped inter-city bus that bends in the middle.

We just relaxed after arriving in the campground. Marsha took Bella (our cat) on several walks. She's been cooped up for about a week. She really enjoyed it. We also had an unexpected guest…a blue heron. WOW!

Thanks for stopping by. See y’all again soon.

LAISSEZ LES BONS TEMPS ROULER

Sunday, May 30 – Can you read French? No. The title of the blog is the motto for Abbeville…Let the good times roll!

Formerly called La Chapelle, the land that was to become Abbeville was purchased by founding father Père Antoine Désiré Mégret (Père is French for 'Father'), Capuchin missionary, on July 25, 1843 for $900. Father Megret modeled his original plan for the village after a French Provincial village.

Visited downtown Abbeville this morning to see some of the historical buildings some dating back to 1903.

This building is the site of the local bank.

Being Sunday, EVERYTHING was closed! It is center of government for the Parish of Vermilion. Founded in 1850, they have a proud Cajun heritage of living close to our coastal environment.

This is an unusual small town in that it has two city centers. One is the courthouse square with a surrounding traffic circle

and the other is Magdalen Square, which is a beautiful town square accented by huge oak trees, a fountain, and gazebo. Today, a statue stands in Magdalen Square in memorial to Father Megret.

There is also a beautiful huge Catholic Church called St. Mary Magdalen Church‎.

The Church also has an above ground cemetery that is customary in Louisiana.

In case you would rather read it in French.

The town is also know for the Steen’s Cane Syrup. This typical setting of a small syrup mill is much like the one C. S. Steen started with in 1910. This mule drawn mill could produce a couple barrels of syrup a day. Steen’s has a famous recipe called STEEN'S Cane Cured Pheasant. Briefly it is a tender young breast in Pure Cane Syrup, Balsamic Vinegar, Madeira Wine, Rosemary, and Thyme over Andouille Potato Pancakes with Shiitake Mushroom Au Jus. If you visit the website, they have the recipe ingredients listed.

We stopped at the local grocery store – Robie's. Marsha loved shopping for local grocery items. Things like spicy chicken salad, egg salad, Cajun spices and Cajun spicy green beans.

We relaxed most of the afternoon. We planned our next stop in Houston. We watched the college softball playoffs on TV and the Indy 500.

We got a couple heavy rain showers this afternoon. Lucky all our sightseeing adventures have been completed.

We went to happy hour at 4:30. Betty grilled some Cajun sausage, another RVer made ribs and green beans, and Marsha made some delicious rice. We had a really nice picnic.

We visited many other attractions that we will tell you about in future posts.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon.

GOOD BYE NEW ORLEANS…HELLO ABBEVILLE

Wednesday, May 26 - Got diesel fuel for $2.57/gal.....that equals are lowest price so far in our travels.   What I've been hearing on TV seems to project FALLING fuel prices. WOW, that would be wonderful for a change!

Marsha got her hair done today, and we did some grocery shopping. One of those “normal” days around the house. We're getting ready to move on down the road tomorrow. For dinner we got carry-out at two recommended restaurants. Gumbo at Estralita's, 1022 Westbank Expy, Westwego, LA 70094, and a Muffaletta from Mo's. Both were very good. By the way, those unfamiliar with a Muffaletta, it is a flat-bread sandwich with ham, Genoa Salami, Mortadella, Cheese, Olive Salad and Olive Oil sauce....yummy!

It was a really nice evening. We sat outside for quite awhile and then took a walk. You should see the number of huge rabbits in this park. Evidently, even though there are suppose to be fox, coyote, and bob cats in the park, these rabbits are not bothered by predators. There are hundreds of them!

Thursday, May 27- Travel Day. We headed for Betty's RV Park



in the heart of Cajun Country, Vermillion Parish in Abbeville, LA. Betty’s place is more like a Bed and Breakfast than a campground…with just 17 sites, and with her back porch and patio as the daily gathering area. We arrived after a short three hour drive and are one of two MHs in the place. Surprise! Betty says it's because it's summer and has been unusually hot. We went over to the porch for Happy Hour at 4:30.

Wow....stayed almost four hours at happy hour....LOL. Betty hooked us up with a fellow that brings cypress wood out of the swamps...nice carving wood! We're going to stop there tomorrow afternoon. We have all kinds of plans for the next four days here in Cajun Country.
Our campsite



The famous….Betty



Covered Pavilion area for gatherings and Happy Hours, including picnic tables, swings, barbeque pit, and equipped with water and electricity.


Thanks for stopping by. Y’all come back again.

GARDEN DISTRICT OF NEW ORLEANS

Tuesday, May 25 – We went to the Garden District this morning. This area is the location of many of the historical homes. New Orleans Garden District was settled in the 1850’s by successful entrepreneurs — the “nouveau riche” of that time. They built large, elegant mansions exemplifying many architectural styles, including Greek Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne Victorians.

This is the former house of Archie manning and childhood home of Peyton Manning.

Victorian style home are typical of those popular in Uptown New Orleans at the end of the 19th century.

This house belong to Colonel Short during the Civil war.

We walked and walked and then walked some more. Marsha took so many pictures that she will do a special blog once we get back to Ohio.

We did stop in a neighborhood shop, Magazine Po-Boy Shop, for a soda but ended up eating breakfast. The menu is written on a giant blackboard and seems to offer any variety of po-boy one could possibly want. They had two floors with tables. It was a very nice place.

Then we walked and walked and then we walked some more. We saw 3841 houses....all of them historic.....Marsha loves these old houses! We also stopped at another of the historic grave yard, Lafayette Cemetery #1, and looked around.

We actually saw our first Lutheran Church, Zion Lutheran Church, since leaving Texas. They are few and far between. Marsha had to jump out of the car an take pictures.

After returning to the car we drove over to the 9^th Ward. This is the location of the most severe flooding from Katrina. There remains an unbelievable amount of damage. Many of these homes will have to be torn down.

There are numerous homes that have been cleaned up and have people living in them.

It kept going through my mind....these people had a pretty tough life prior to Katrina and had very little.....after Katrina they had nothing! I (Paul) assume not having insurance, the city will eventually step in and tear what remains down.

Contrast of a house fixed up next to a house that hasn’t had anything done to it.

We returned to our campsite and Marsha did some laundry....the machines are free! I relaxed. We had another brief thunderstorm that chased Paul into the MH.

We also saw they have drive-in daiquiri stands along the road. You just drive up, order your drink, and go on down the road drinking it. We've been told it's legal because they don't have “open container” laws. Not sure about the accuracy of that but we had to try one. Paul got a Strawberry Daiquiri and Marsha got Mardi Gras Mash. Ummmm...pretty good! Marsha's tasted the best!

We thought this was funny to see a daiquiri sign next to a Wendy’s and Subway.

Thanks for stopping by. See y’all soon.

JACKSON SQUARE AND THE FRENCH QUARTER

Monday, May 24 – We had another full and busy day of sightseeing. This time it's downtown New Orleans

and the French Quarter.

The French Quarter runs alone the Mississippi River.

It is about a mile wide and a mile long. It covers about 78 blocks and is the approximate city originally founded by the French. We drove over and parked (for $15....YIKES!) at the River Walk. Our first stop was the Cafe' du Monde for the famous beignets.

Beignets are French doughnuts made from fried dough buried in powdered sugar....don't wear black....LOL.

We then walked around Jackson Square.

We also enjoyed the local artists and street performers.

This guy was a great singer.

Jackson Square is named after Andrew Jackson who defended the city against the British in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. The statue of Andrew Jackson is in the center of the square.

Also, on the edge of the square is the Saint Louis Cathedral. A beautiful Catholic Church.

We then walked through the French Market. This area seems to be “up-scaled” since Katrina. The shops appear to be more tourist friendly and probably more expensive. I'm sure the new construction costs the retailer more to rent. Very few fresh fruits and vegetables. More jewelry, leather shops, and clothing.

We enjoyed the architecture.

From there, we took a long and HOT hike back the entire length of the Riverwalk crescent shaped sidewalk along the River to Canal Street to ride the street car.

We rode it north past Interstate 10 where we exited the car and caught the next train back toward the French Quarter. We were surprised to catch a car filled with high school kids. What the heck are they doing out of school at noon???? Just the street car two retired teachers wanted to ride. These kids were so nice that they allowed us to stand and hang on to several ceiling straps...ha ha! It wasn't the relaxing time we hoped for, to say the least!

We eventually exited at Bourbon Street, the sight of all the night life debauchery! What a difference daylight makes. All was quite in anticipation of the night to come. We did stop in Pat O’Brien’s for a couple of drinks. Marsha ordered their famous Hurricane, and Paul got the Cyclone. Both drinks were fruity alcohol drinks that hit the spot on a hot day.

We continued to walk down Bourbon Street to Canal Street and back to the Riverwalk and Jackson Square where we shared a “Lucky.” A Lucky is a famous Coney sold from one of the many street vendors. We then walked to the car and returned to the campground.

After a rain shower and a nap for Paul, we headed out for a “Sno-ball.” These seem to be a big deal around here, but we found they are the same as the snow cones we have up north. We also see they have drive-in daiquri stands along the road. We've been told it's legal because they don't have “open container” laws. Not sure about the accuracy of that!

Before we got back to the MH, Marsha wanted to see the pool. There is a long bridge we walked over before we got to the pool. The bridge was over the swamp land in the campground.

We did see our fist armadillo this evening walking along the tree line. Glad Bella (our cat) was in the MH! We also experienced our first ant invasion. We won! Seems the brief shower we had here in the park brought out the flying ants. The lights in the MH attracted them, and they crawled inside around the kitchen slide-out. Bella, our cat, alerted us by chasing them. We got out the spray and drove them back!

Thanks for stopping by. See y’all soon.