April Louisiana Road Trip.....Day 6 & 7.....a Quick One

Saturday of our trip to Louisiana started off with a trip to the grocery store, since we were supplying breakfast for Daughter, her BF and ourselves at BF's parent's house.

               I don't think we are in PA anymore.....

Once inside the grocery store I saw many freestanding shelving units like this.....

Filled with Louisiana sauces and mixes and crawfish boil concoctions and hot pickles and peppers, etc.
"Slap Yo Mama" brand seems to be a popular one down here....lolz

Daughter fixed breakfast and then Hubs, Daughter, her BF and I were off to see that new foreclosure listing with Realtor #1.

And the kids fell head over heels for it.
We did go to the property that Hubs and I had picked out, out of all the ones we had seen so far afterwards, but Daughter had made up her mind and the new foreclosure was to be "the one" to buy.

So we got all the information about how to submit the offer and Daughter made plans to go to the real estate office on Monday to "do the deed".

Then we four went off to the brewery in Shreveport......

Great Raft Brewing
They opened last October and it's the first brewery in Shreveport since Prohibition.

They named their brewery for a natural phenomenon, a huge logjam or "raft" that occurred in Louisiana on the Red and Atchafalaya Rivers.

 By the 1830's it extended 160 miles and impeded travel, business as well as settlement west of the city that became known as Shreveport.

Henry Mille Shreve, a steamboat builder and river boat captain, made it his job to start clearing the raft and by 1838 the Red River was navigable in large part due to his efforts.  The town of Shreveport was named after him in thanks.

See?  I bet you didn't know you'd actually learn something reading this blog! 8-)

 Daughter and Hubs having a pint.  I had a small glass of the "Reasonably Corrupt".

 

Daughter and her BF

 

 

If you are ever in the Shreveport area stop by this place on a Weekend for a glass, a free tour, or a growler fill.

After some adult beverages it was time for a late lunch.  Daughter took us to a Shreveport landmark--Strawn's Eat Shop.
They've been around since 1944 and are known far and wide for their "ice box pies".

Of course, I neglected to get a picture of a pie...lolz.....but I did take a shot of my lunch.....

 A Spinach, Feta Cheese and fresh Strawberry Salad.
Mmmmmmm!

 Here's Hubs double cheeseburger and "fries".  Looks more like large hash brownie-type potatoes to me.

And a shot of Daughter stuffing her face.  Oh, she'll love me for posting this one....lolz

Of course I had pie too.  I had to settle for a piece of Butterscotch with real homemade whipped cream since they were out of  the Strawberry, which they are known for.  It was mighty good even if it wasn't Strawberry.


On Sunday we all assembled at the BF's parent's house and the Daughter cooked Easter dinner with a little assistance from her mom, me.  ;-)

She invited some people from her work who otherwise would have been alone that day and it was a jolly good time.
After the work friends left we sat down and went over financial stuff and how this buying the house deal was going to work.
Ah numbers and personal finances.....I was in my element. lolz

We got back to the motel late into the evening and packed up.
Monday morning we were heading back home to Pennsylvania, by way of Alabama first.

Sluggy
 

April Louisiana Road Trip.....Day Four

We spent the night at a Choice branded hotel in Tuscaloosa. How do I know it was in Tuscaloosa? Because these guys were hanging out by the front door.....

This places was pricey for us(over $100 a night).
This freestylin'/not having reservations thing works but only if you are willing to go in with set criteria and stick to it.

My criteria on this trip was.....

A--either a king sized bed or 2 queens
B--free breakfast
C--free wifi
D--less than $60 a night

Good criteria, right?
Except that once Hubs stopped at a hotel/motel, if it cost more than $60 a night, he took the room anyway.
So much for keeping our lodging costs low......lolz

The breakfast fortunately was very good here....not sure if it was worth an extra $40 but still.
#2 on our breakfast hit parade this trip.
Excellent yogurt, such that I took two(one for later).

We were out of there by 10ish.
I had googled and found that a Hancock Fabric Store was nearby, so we hit that before getting back on the interstate.

I got this great kitchy fabric on the clearance table......

It's a rayon so drapes wonderfully and it was .50¢ a yard!!

This will make a great fun shirt!


An hour or so after the fabric store stop, we were in a new state......

And we took a potty & leg stretching break......

Me doing my "Why I do declare, we ain't in 'Bama no more!" impression.

 

Not sure why the Mississippi Welcome Center had a carousel horse in it but it made a nice photo op.

 

Some lady offered to take our photo together....

 

We got back on the road quickly and were off heading west again.

We stopped in Meridian Mississippi at this place HERE , The Brickhouse Bar & Grill because we had seen a brochure/flyer in the Welcome Center.
It was a nice find.

They claim to have the largest selection of craft beers on tap in the state I think.
They had many LA, MS, AL and AR regional beers.
Hubs could have stayed here a week trying them all but had to make do with 2 choices.

 

They also have a list of "BEERTAILS".....cocktails they made using beer and various other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Though I was tempted to try the Crazy Bitch(shaddup!)and the 69...hehehe......I went for the Mudbug Mimosa....

It had hard cider, blood orange, Sprite and one of the local IPAs in it(I can't remember which).
I deemed it pretty good for someone who doesn't really like beer(except the porters and stouts).....but it was no Cosmo! lol

We had food too.  That was pretty good, not great, but what do you expect from a bar?
It was pricey though....

We'll have to make this a regular stop on our route to LA in the future.

And here is my gratuitous photo of the art in the ladies' room at the Brickhouse.....confirming that old saying that you don't buy beer, you merely rent it.....hehehe

Not long after getting back on the road we hit Vicksburg and the Mississippi River.....

Here's a shot from the interstate as we left the shoreline of Mississippi.  That's a riverboat casino past the railroad trestle bridge there.

And here is the next welcome sign.......albeit a bit blurry.....

It's funny that this part of the Mississippi crossing the land was so different, one side from the other.
The MS side was high with cliffs(during the War of Northern Aggression when the Yankees invaded Vicksburg, the local citizenry had to hide in caves along the cliffs to escape the shelling), but as soon as you crossed the river into Louisiana the ground level was quite a bit lower.  You had to drive a good 10 to 15 miles inland from the river to not be surrounded by boggy and swampy areas.

About an hour and a half into LA, we arrived in West Monroe.

Me with the boys inside the store.....

the world's largest duck call and Uncle Si.....

I picked up some shirts and tchotchkes.
I "heart" Uncle Si.....

Uncle Si Replica Tupperware Tea Glasses and miniature tea glass keychains....

It was BOGO that day so I got spares. lolz

Fans of the show will recognize "The Loading Dock".
Yes, it's a real loading dock.

Hubs and I got to the Duck Commander HQ right before the store closed....we were the last ones out of the building before they locked up for the day.

They had this big trailer out by the loading dock and people were milling around long after the store was closed and taking photos.

This woman came up to me and enthusiastically offered to take Hubs and my photo together if we'd return the favor and take her and her family's photo.
No problem.....

She asked me if I had been inside, when she saw my shopping bag, and about swooned when I said yes.

Okay......

Her whole family(a DH and 3 little kids, including a baby)were dressed in matching Duck Commander shirts.

Here they are over by the loading dock.
She seemed just a bit too excited to be there....lolz

Heck, I should have given her this self-guided tour brochure I picked up somewhere....

She could have gone all around Monroe and West Monroe and seen all the places seen on their show.

Hey Jack!  The sign....

Me and the sign....

and before things got any weirder we gone!

We had about another 1.5 hours of driving.

I must confess to Sonya Ann that THIS is about as close as I got to a casino.......

A Casino billboard.
I hang my head in shame.....

We got into Bossier City LA, to our motel, right before dark.
We settled in, called the Daughter to let her know we had arrived(she was working)and then we went HERE for dinner since it was practically across the street.


I was too tired to take a picture of our meal but I did get a photo of this ENORMOUS bottle of Tabasco Sauce on the table.....

I have never seen one this size but then again, I haven't been in Louisiana(if you don't count that time back in about 1968 when we took a family camping trip and were down near NOLA).

The daughter came over to our motel room after work and we talked for a few hours before hitting the hay.
Thursday morning was coming bright and early and we had things to do and places to go.

Sluggy