Today was a full day of driving! Last night we stayed at our second home, our usual medical center hotel. We didn’t see any of our regulars while checking in or out though. We planned to hit the beach in the evening so I was going to wear shorts but opted for something a little warmer. Good thing I did because I was digging our jackets out as soon as we got to the car!
We’ve been trying to get a picture with a painted heart on an intersection not far from the hotel for a while but seem to always forget. We made it this morning and we’re up early to get it done but neglected to think about when the sun was coming up. We had a little time to kill before it was gong to be light enough to get the pic. I’d seen some pictures from a heartiversary photo shoot and wanted to duplicate some with Amanda but needed props and figured we’d get it done when we get home but Amanda wanted to do progressive photos as we go. Noting was open when we left this morning but we plan to get them tomorrow, so look for those pics tomorrow. All the route was new for Amanda east of Houston and east of Baton Rouge for me. We tried to grab lunch some place good but couldn’t find anything we really wanted but we packed a pretty heavyweight set of road trip snack and munched on those.
After lunch we headed for New Orleans, we could have saved time and bypassed it going north but decided to go through town since we’d never been there. Bad traffic ended up routing us from the north down skirting the side of Lake Pontchartrain all the way down. It was pretty on the long bridge, I think I’ve only seen one other lake I couldn’t see land on the opposite side and that was Lake Erie when we were going to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. As we were going along there were train tracks with nothing more that the tracks and ballast that slopes straight in to the water. Being a conductor I sometimes have to walk back to repair things when we breakdown. We have some pretty inhospitable walking conditions on my usual run to Alpine but none include large bodies water which include alligators, no thank you!
We couldn’t go through New Orleans without getting beignets from Cafe Du Monte. Pairing them with some chicory coffee, which I enjoyed, but Amanda wasn’t a fan of her cafe au lait. We should have shared an order but I was insistent on my own. I scarfed my 3 down but was regretting it an hour later! Amanda even ate 2 but it was too much sugar for our usual diet style which includes no sugar with only minimal honey and maple syrup.
After that it was a mad dash for the Alabama beach which was dragging out. We’d planned to make the sunset but that didn’t work, seeing it going down as we left Mobile. We grabbed dinner on the way, which was ok but we’re ready for a meal from our own repertoire. We just feel better eating our normal diet, not necessarily our own cooking just whole plant foods with little oil. It’s hard traveling out of our regular area where we know all the spots that are compliant. Let’s just say there’s lots of research in checking online menus. I usually do the search but that’s a little hard while driving. So Amanda was filling in but her Google fu isn’t very strong, even with guidance!
We’re tired and hitting the sack early, Amanda is already passed out. We’ll be up early to go to the beach for a bit, get corny photos at the Florida state line, and grab our photo props then on the road. We plan on meeting a friend in northern Alabama in the afternoon. I’d like to make it to our condo early evening so we can get settled, make a grocery run, cook dinner, and get ready for our first day of hiking on Tuesday.