Traveling again..... This past week we moved my stepson Robert and his girlfriend Michelle to New Orleans.... So I will be posting about our trip...
Tuesday ... May 31, So far we are behind on our schedule! First on the agenda we took all three dogs to Almost Home to board and get groomed. We tried to convince the dogs we were taking them to a spa for a vacation! Not sure they bought it Dude usually has his feet firmly planted at the door of the boarding place like he is not going to go on in! Pretty funny! We are caravanning (is that a word) down the interstate or we will be soon as we had a couple of detours we had to make dropping off my car at Jala's.
Later in the day.....
We stopped at Lambert's in Sikeston, Mo for supper! Home of the thrown roll! If you have never been to Lambert's it is an experience but you best be really hungry if you go there! There are three locations Sikeston, Missouri.... Ozark, Missouri.... And Foley, Alabama! Now back on the road headed for Horn Lake, MS.
We stayed in Horn Lake, Mississippi just outside of Memphis on Tuesday night. The next morning we got on the road shortly after 8:00 am. Thankfully we have had good traveling weather! We stopped outside of Jackson, Mississippi at Five Guys Burgers and Fries for lunch... Might we just say we could here arteries clogging as we approached the building!
June 1,
Traveling down the highway we saw quite of bit of flooding.... later in the afternoon we drove across the longest bridge crossing swampland Lake Ponchetran... when arriving in New Orleans the heat was ...ummmm stifling especially for the guys hauling stuff up to the second floor apartment. Their apartment complex is awesome, gated, gym, swim pool and spa, they have their own "Subway" and "P.J.'s coffee" it is like their very own community.
By Thursday we had everything unloaded and started the day off at P.J.'s for coffee and breakfast.. then we walked a number of blocks to the trolley and went to visit Tulane University where Michelle will be a student in the architecture program. Then walked back to the Trolley and rode to the French Quarters and found a place for lunch.. The humidity and heat was pretty much stifling... we were not really impressed with the FQ it seemed dirty and sleazy! We then walked all over creation and I did find a knitting shop to stop in to visit. I found some yarn I like but opted not to buy it ... rather pricey $95 a skein! YIKES!!!!
After showering and relaxing a bit after sweating our socks off.. oh wait I didn't have socks on, not sure what I sweated off, I seem to have everything! hahaha ... The highlight of our day was dining at Emeril's on Thursday evening! Nice atmosphere, good food, nice experience. It is rather expensive but we don't do that everyday!
While in New Orleans we stayed at a guest apartment in the apartment complex, very nice! We will stay there again!
June 3, Friday morning we went with Robert and Michelle to Target as they were getting a few essentials they needed. We then headed to the Amtrak station! Mark and I had decided to take Amtrak home for a unique experience! We boarded the New Orleans Special at 1:30pm ... because we had a deluxe sleeper car we felt like we were treated like royalty! They send you to the front of the line. We had our own "hostess" Dorothy.... she took care of anything we needed! The sleeper car itself while small was quite efficient we had our own bathroom complete with a shower (although I think you had to sit on the toilet to shower)... :)
We had dinner reservations at 6:30 and had a wonderful meal... when we returned to our room the air conditioning had gone out and it was HOT... so they moved our entire side of the car to another section where we almost froze to death! We really did enjoy the train other than the "new" room was teeny tiny and we couldn't really sleep, because of freezing. I know it sounds like I am complaining but we are planning to try it again. It was fun!
We arrived in Champaign, Illinois our destination at 6:04am and we knew we had a several hour wait for my daughter Amber to arrive with her kids in tow on the way to my granddaughter's birthday party! The worst part of that was that most Amtrak stations are also bus depots and oh my you really see some strange characters there!
It was a crazy bittersweet week as another child leaves home. Robert had already moved into an apartment over a year ago, but was close by. He and Michelle came out for frequent visits! We will really miss both of them to say the least! This will be an adventure for Robert with lots more opportunity in his field of work in the film industry and for Michelle at Tulane University!
Edited to say that Amtrak ROCKS!!! They are sending us a voucher for $365. Which is how much extra it costs to have a deluxe sleeper room... so now we will try it again sometime in the next year!
Here are some pictures of our highlights of the week!
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| Mark in our room... |
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| checking out the flooded Lake Ponchetran |
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| Looking at the endless bridge from Amtrak |
Hope you have an awesome week!
Nancy
