If you want to catch up on this Road Trip Series use these links--
Part 1 PA to WV
Part 2 WV to KY
Part 3 KY to TN
Part 4 TN to AR
Part 5 AK to LA
Part 6 LA Sights
On Monday, Day 9 of our trip, we headed over to the Daughter's house for a Memorial Day Picnic.
We sat out on the back porch with drinks and chatted with Daughter's Boyfriend's parents and watched the granddog wander around the backyard....
After awhile the barbecued brisket was done and it was time to eat. I was good and didn't eat a bunch of crap, choosing the meat, salad and veggies(with a bit of hummus dip)......
Can you believe we even forgot to crack open that overpriced Watermelon I bought at the flea market the day before? lolz
I took a picture of Daughter and Boyfriend before we left that afternoon.
The weather was fine all day but was starting to turn cloudy and dark by the time we got back to the hotel.
Hubs and I took a nap back at the hotel and we may have run over to the nearby Chinese take-out place for a small dinner.
A little after 8 pm that night the tv show I was watching was interrupted by the local news channel's weather team. Some violent weather was zooming due east from Texas into Louisiana toward us including straight line winds, driving rain and tornadoes....eek!
About 15 minutes later we heard a knock on our hotel room door. The front desk clerk was asking us to go to the downstairs hallway to gather with all the other hotel guests in the building.
We were already on the first floor so we just walked down halfway our hallway to the group.
The clerk was instructed to put us into the conference room to wait out the tornado heading our way. The only problem with that plan was that this room had WINDOWS! Bad plan....
So as the clerk and some of the guests were freaking out a local policeman came into the building to help out to keep us all safe since the hotel clerk had never been through something like this and got little direction from her higher ups. The policeman suggested we huddle together halfway down the hallway, kneel down and link arms. So we did a close facsimile of this plan.
I guess I am pretty calm in a crisis but folks around me were an emotional mess. One woman was rocking and saying, "Oh Lord.", over and over again. Two others were praying. This hotel is right across the street from a Shriner's/LSU Hospital so we had a couple and their severely disabled non-mobile child in our group. The child seemed to be having a grand time laying on the floor laughing and interacting with some of the guests. ;-)
A few folks just kept scrolling on their phones watching the weather in real time, creep toward us.
You could look down the hallway through a glass side door and see outside. The heavy rain by this time was blowing absolutely sideways!
About the time I looked out that door the tornado siren at the hospital across the street whent off.
This ramped up the prayers and anxiety in the hallway. We lost power briefly and it got very loud outside and then it was over.
Not our tornado.
We all returned to our rooms a short time later and I looked out our room window to make sure the car was still there and in one piece.....lol
I put the Weather Channel on and they still had a tornado watch out for our area......
You can see the local weather team's radar just after the eye of the storm passed us.......
Now wasn't that an exciting hour? ;-O
I've been through many hurricanes growing up in Virginia Beach but this was only my second tornado experience(the first being Dec. 1st of 2006 when an F2 left a 26 mile long path of destruction through our teeny tine town-the first recorded tornado to happen in December in PA).
I called my Daughter after the danger had passed to make sure they were aok and they were and there was no damage to her house either. Just some large branches down in her yard.
And then she said, "I guess y'all are rethinking that plan to retire around here, huh?" ;-)
* The next day we found out that the tornado had passed across a road we had been on near the flea market the day before on Sunday which was only down the road from Daughter's house.
I could do without excitement like this on trips, ya know? ;-)
After a couple of drinks we slept well that night and hoped for better weather on Tuesday.
Tuesday was nice and sunny. Hubs and I headed out after a nice breakfast to check out a newish place called "Brewniverse"- A local beer supply and craft beer store.
Just a few of the interesting brews they had........
Viking Blod. Hmmm....
State Penn Porter.....as opposed to Penn State Porter. lolz I bought a bottle of this.
I love some of the funny names.....Kilt Lifter....hehehehe
Before Noon Java Stout. "Not for Use With Donuts."
Now THAT'S a different take on your morning coffee!
Good old Orkney Brewery. I'd love to visit the Orkneys.
I wonder how many you have to have of Skull Splitter beer before yours feels split?
Yeah, I know Ben Franklin didn't say this but it's a great sentiment.
Brewniverse had a nice eclectic collection of brews plus some hard cider and meads and the prices were decent.
We'll be sure to visit again when we are in town there.
We met Daughter for dinner that night at Shane's, a local chain of seafood/Louisiana style restaurant.
We got a basket of assorted fried appetizers to share. My favorite were the fried green tomatoes.
I know I will have to turn in my Southerner membership card but this was my first time EVER having fried green tomatoes!
At the ripe old age of 56. Man, I have been missing a real taste treat.......
Then I had a fried gator plate with broccoli, Cole slaw and a piece of cornbread with unsweetened iced tea.
Hubs at 2 different spicy Cajun something or other sausages.
I saw a riff on the arcade crane game in Shane's as we were leaving..... The Maine Lobster Game. There were live lobsters in the tank and you could put coins in and try to get the crane to grab you a lobster. If you got one, the restaurant would cook it up for you.
Of course with the price of lobsters I am sure actually winning one in this machine was practically impossible but it was a novelty to see.
After going back to Daughter's house for abit to visit we drove back to the hotel but made a stop here along the way for dessert........
Southern Maid Donuts is a local donut shop chain. Daughter said I had to try the cream cheese filled donut they sell.
So I did, but just one.
I accompanied it with a bottle of blackberry cider I bought at Brewniverse earlier that day.
Good stuff and a nice way to finish my day.
Sluggy
Part 1 PA to WV
Part 2 WV to KY
Part 3 KY to TN
Part 4 TN to AR
Part 5 AK to LA
Part 6 LA Sights
On Monday, Day 9 of our trip, we headed over to the Daughter's house for a Memorial Day Picnic.
We sat out on the back porch with drinks and chatted with Daughter's Boyfriend's parents and watched the granddog wander around the backyard....
After awhile the barbecued brisket was done and it was time to eat. I was good and didn't eat a bunch of crap, choosing the meat, salad and veggies(with a bit of hummus dip)......
Can you believe we even forgot to crack open that overpriced Watermelon I bought at the flea market the day before? lolz
I took a picture of Daughter and Boyfriend before we left that afternoon.
The weather was fine all day but was starting to turn cloudy and dark by the time we got back to the hotel.
Hubs and I took a nap back at the hotel and we may have run over to the nearby Chinese take-out place for a small dinner.
A little after 8 pm that night the tv show I was watching was interrupted by the local news channel's weather team. Some violent weather was zooming due east from Texas into Louisiana toward us including straight line winds, driving rain and tornadoes....eek!
About 15 minutes later we heard a knock on our hotel room door. The front desk clerk was asking us to go to the downstairs hallway to gather with all the other hotel guests in the building.
We were already on the first floor so we just walked down halfway our hallway to the group.
The clerk was instructed to put us into the conference room to wait out the tornado heading our way. The only problem with that plan was that this room had WINDOWS! Bad plan....
So as the clerk and some of the guests were freaking out a local policeman came into the building to help out to keep us all safe since the hotel clerk had never been through something like this and got little direction from her higher ups. The policeman suggested we huddle together halfway down the hallway, kneel down and link arms. So we did a close facsimile of this plan.
A few folks just kept scrolling on their phones watching the weather in real time, creep toward us.
You could look down the hallway through a glass side door and see outside. The heavy rain by this time was blowing absolutely sideways!
About the time I looked out that door the tornado siren at the hospital across the street whent off.
This ramped up the prayers and anxiety in the hallway. We lost power briefly and it got very loud outside and then it was over.
We all returned to our rooms a short time later and I looked out our room window to make sure the car was still there and in one piece.....lol
I put the Weather Channel on and they still had a tornado watch out for our area......
You can see the local weather team's radar just after the eye of the storm passed us.......
Now wasn't that an exciting hour? ;-O
I've been through many hurricanes growing up in Virginia Beach but this was only my second tornado experience(the first being Dec. 1st of 2006 when an F2 left a 26 mile long path of destruction through our teeny tine town-the first recorded tornado to happen in December in PA).
I called my Daughter after the danger had passed to make sure they were aok and they were and there was no damage to her house either. Just some large branches down in her yard.
And then she said, "I guess y'all are rethinking that plan to retire around here, huh?" ;-)
* The next day we found out that the tornado had passed across a road we had been on near the flea market the day before on Sunday which was only down the road from Daughter's house.
I could do without excitement like this on trips, ya know? ;-)
After a couple of drinks we slept well that night and hoped for better weather on Tuesday.
Tuesday was nice and sunny. Hubs and I headed out after a nice breakfast to check out a newish place called "Brewniverse"- A local beer supply and craft beer store.
Just a few of the interesting brews they had........
State Penn Porter.....as opposed to Penn State Porter. lolz I bought a bottle of this.
I love some of the funny names.....Kilt Lifter....hehehehe
Before Noon Java Stout. "Not for Use With Donuts."
Now THAT'S a different take on your morning coffee!
Good old Orkney Brewery. I'd love to visit the Orkneys.
I wonder how many you have to have of Skull Splitter beer before yours feels split?
Yeah, I know Ben Franklin didn't say this but it's a great sentiment.
Brewniverse had a nice eclectic collection of brews plus some hard cider and meads and the prices were decent.
We'll be sure to visit again when we are in town there.
We met Daughter for dinner that night at Shane's, a local chain of seafood/Louisiana style restaurant.
We got a basket of assorted fried appetizers to share. My favorite were the fried green tomatoes.
I know I will have to turn in my Southerner membership card but this was my first time EVER having fried green tomatoes!
At the ripe old age of 56. Man, I have been missing a real taste treat.......
Then I had a fried gator plate with broccoli, Cole slaw and a piece of cornbread with unsweetened iced tea.
Hubs at 2 different spicy Cajun something or other sausages.
I saw a riff on the arcade crane game in Shane's as we were leaving..... The Maine Lobster Game. There were live lobsters in the tank and you could put coins in and try to get the crane to grab you a lobster. If you got one, the restaurant would cook it up for you.
Of course with the price of lobsters I am sure actually winning one in this machine was practically impossible but it was a novelty to see.
After going back to Daughter's house for abit to visit we drove back to the hotel but made a stop here along the way for dessert........
Southern Maid Donuts is a local donut shop chain. Daughter said I had to try the cream cheese filled donut they sell.
So I did, but just one.
I accompanied it with a bottle of blackberry cider I bought at Brewniverse earlier that day.
Good stuff and a nice way to finish my day.
Sluggy
