{"id":184,"date":"2014-10-25T01:07:14","date_gmt":"2014-10-25T01:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swirleyeyedsister.com\/site\/?p=184"},"modified":"2023-11-07T22:40:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T22:40:26","slug":"on-the-road-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"Day 13: On the Road Again"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Best<\/a>
Best buds, Linda and Sue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My friend, Linda, and her hubby, Rick, joined us for our last day in NOLA yesterday. I’ve known Linda longer than any other friend (any other person, at this point). Her mother and mine were childhood friends, and we first met when I was a few weeks old. She is the older one, born six weeks before me. Since Linda has not lived in Maine since she was 20, we have made special arrangements through the years to keep in touch. For many years now, we get together every October for a “girls’ weekend” somewhere. This year, Linda is traveling with me from New Orleans to Austin, where her daughter used to live. She’s going to show me the town\u2014or at least the city’s famous Gourdough’s, featuring the world’s funkiest doughnuts. Can’t wait!<\/p>\n

Many of our jaunts have also included one hubby or both delivering us somewhere or joining us for the fun. Making connections have not always been easy. The worst case of missed signals with Rick and Linda occurred back when Sam was attending Mary Washington College in the late 1990s. We had made arrangements with Rick and Linda to meet them for dinner at a pub in Fredericksburg, where MWC is located and which was at least a couple hours (in heavy traffic) from their house in Herndon in northern Virginia. We had also offered to give Sam’s classmate a ride to her home, which we thought (from Sam’s limited info) was near Fredericksburg. As we neared DC, Sam’s friend announced that she lived in northern Virginia, which required us to travel on the Beltway (think giant gridlock) instead of going along Rt. 81, which we usually traveled to Fredericksburg.<\/p>\n

We rerouted, but by the time we got to Virginia, it was the height of rush hour. When we finally made it to the friend’s house, about 5 miles from Rick and Linda’s home, we were already an hour late for our rendezvous in Fredericksburg. These were the days before cell phones (at least for us). We eventually connected with them via the phone at the pub. Linda took the call. I could hear her trying to explain the situation to Rick, who had to be at work early the next morning. We had set the meeting time early in the evening, so that he could be back home at a decent hour.<\/p>\n

We heard Rick’s befuddled question: “If they are there, why are we here?” The question of the century. Needless to say, we postponed our meeting till a time when we were both in the same time zone. Disappointed, we headed out for the two-hour trip to Fredericksburg, while they headed for home two hours away. We probably crossed paths halfway there.<\/p>\n

In New Orleans, however, we managed to connect. Yay! We had a late lunch at the Blind Pelican (noted for its 25\u00a2 oysters during happy hour) and a nice visit before Rick left for home (now in Gulfport, Mississippi), and Linda joined us for a “wine tasting” at the hotel. I use air quotes because the hotel’s idea of a wine tasting is to put out a limited amount of wine and cheese and crackers in the garden area, let the hordes grab and guzzle until the wine bottles were emptied and the cheese platters scraped clean, and then close up shop. We arrived for the advertised 4-5 pm event at 4:40. Not a cracker or drop of wine or chunk of cheese in sight\u2014only crumbs on an empty platter. Other late comers were grumbling that “it just wasn’t fair.”<\/p>\n

Not to be deprived, we got our own bottle of wine and cheese, some luscious salami, and apple slices, and had our own private happy hour in the lovely garden room. Another guest, passing by with his own wine, gave us a big thumb’s up.<\/p>\n

To top off our last evening in NOLA, we visited another nearby restaurant for dessert. With a nod to our friend Bob H., I feasted on bread pudding again, this time with a Frangelico sauce. Very yummy!<\/p>\n

This morning, back on reality time, John headed for the airport and home. Linda and I gratefully accepted his proposal to take the shuttle at 6:30 am, saving us from having to arise in the middle of the night (or at least in my estimation) in order to pack all our stuff and deliver him to the airport by 7:30. When John printed out his ticket the night before, Delta did not issue him a seat number (a bad sign). In addition the airport issued a call for volunteers to go on a later flight (an even worse sign). After waiting (not patiently) until the very last call, John finally got the next to last seat on the plane.<\/p>\n

Just got a text that he was home! I really surprised John and texted him back (a first for me, being the troglodyte that I am). The first text I sent didn’t go through since I texted the home phone (land line). But then I got with the program and texted John’s cell phone. He was appropriately impressed.<\/p>\n

\"Beaumont<\/a>
The backdrop (not exactly natural, but pretty anyway) to our alfresco dining experience in Beaumont: delicious Texas BBQ ribs and a melt-in-your-mouth pot roast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Linda and I headed out for Beaumont, Texas, our first stop before Austin at a much more reasonable hour (10 am). Without an eight-foot-chicken. For all John’s cheerleaders: There is NO ROOM in my tiny Scion XD for a month’s luggage, my friend’s luggage, John’s cast-off luggage, my friend, gifts, food, AND an eight-foot piece of poultry. Sorry, John.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow: Austin.<\/p>\n

\"Relaxing<\/a>
Relaxing in the hot tub in Beaumont, Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend, Linda, and her hubby, Rick, joined us for our last day in NOLA yesterday. I’ve known Linda longer than any other friend (any other person, at this point). Her mother and mine were childhood friends, and we first Continue reading Day 13: On the Road Again<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vista-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}