Sun Nov 9th - Duck adventure / Fun in the city

Sun Nov 9th - Duck adventure / Fun in the city

2014-from Safaris to  Duckboats!!! All FUN!!

Duck beaks - Ready to terrorize Asutin

Texas State Capital Austin

And IN WE GO!!

UHHH.... HELP!We're stuck out here!!!

On our way finally!

So the rich and famous live here!! But no privacy!!

Some are living the high life on Lake Austin!!

This paddle trimaran looks fun!!

Top of Tom Miller Dam, Lake Austin

What a great day. We booked to go on a Duck adventure tour with Lisa and Mike.. but the day ended up to be so much more. We all packed into the truck and drove into the city, with plan A and plan B all set for a lunch spot before our tour at 2pm... but Plan A restaurant was closed and Plan B restaurant was lined up out of the door, so we opted for the non-existent plan C and ended up at 'Champion Sports bar". Great spot for a quick bite before boarding the 'duck boat', which is an amphibious bus (drives on roads and navigates the water). Upon boarding we were all issued a yellow duck-bill shaped duck-call whistle which we (well Janice anyway) blew with the great delight reserved for 5 year-olds, at all and sundry people on the streets.
The tour around the city before entering the water was interesting and informative, then we proceeded to the ramp and floated away into the lake, after about 5 Looooong minutes our driver / captain finally managed to engage the propeller. Up to that point we thought we were in for a real adventure… you know ……bus load of tourists rescued from lake by helicopter or something like that!!!! It was a great trip with some lovely lakeside properties.

Back on dry Land

Mini do-nut fans

Shipping container bar

After the tour Lisa and Mike guided us to Rainey St area of Austin which is the 'in' place for eclectic bars/restaurants etc all housed in tiny old houses / food trucks or in one case a bar made from shipping containers all welded together in various positions... very funky! We started our walk through by getting freshly made cinnamon mini-donuts from Lucy's tiny donut truck... addicitive!!! One bar had a fabulous 9 member Ska group called NightOwls... excellent. 

Inside container bar.. containers are lounges etc

NightOwl ska band - great

Good times, good friends!

Beautiful View from Mt Bonnell

On our way back 'home' we went up Mount Bonnell road to see a fabulous vista of the Colorado River and the gorgeous homes on the banks. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Bonnell). We were all getting a bit hungry so we got back to the RV resort, parked the truck, and hopped on Lisa and Mike's fun 'golf cart' to go to the local Mexican retsuarant by the resort (Los Pinos)... the complimentary tortilla chips and homemade Salsa are delicious (but spicy)... Chicken Nachos are a definite 'sharezee' plate. 
What a great day full of laughs, giggles, and good memories.  thx Lisa and Mike!!

Fri-Sat Nov 7/8 - Karaoke & hanging out

Fri-Sat  Nov 7/8 - Karaoke & hanging out

Well the weather improved dramatically…mid 70’s and sunny. Spent much of the day sorting, laundry and blogging. Back at Karaoke. Derek actually got up and did a couple of songs... Janice was pretty impressed with his bravery and his singing!!! After Karaoke we went late night cruisin’with Lisa and Mike on their funky, flashin multi colour under lit raised golf cart - great fun. 

The clinic finally got back to us with a lower price for Janice's back injection and while we have made an appointment for the injection for November 20^th, we have contacted our doctor in Canada to see if we can get the injection done in Burlington early December and save the cost. Will know more next Monday

Saturday, Janice got her nails done and we spent the evening watching HNIC on Grants TV via skype. Go Leafs go, they beat the Rangers 5 – 4 in a great game. Leivo (left winger) who we saw with the Marlies on Wednesday night was brought up go play for the Leafs in tonight’s game…we felt like real fans!! 

No Photos !! 

Thurs Nov 6th - Birthday boy

^{Thurs Nov 6th - Birthday Boy}

Derek's birthday started off with full English breakfast. We then went to Lakeline Mall to buy him a gift.. He got two great Jackets. He was also treated to two front row balcony seats to see  Heart perform at Austin City Limits Live (Moody Theatre) on Nov 16th. (Janice is hoping he will take her!!!!!) Back to the rig for a steak dinner (Fantastically well BBQ’d by D) and then Lisa and Mike came over and gave him a variety of beers (including Canadian). 
Numerous Facebook messages and calls added to making this a wonderful birthday. Forgot to take any photos ... BAD!!

Sat Nov 1 - Hanging out / Back Specialist / hockey game

^{Sat Nov 1 - Wed Nov 5th - Hanging out / Back Specialist / hockey game}

Well the weather turned colder and rainy. In fact we had 48 hours of continuous rain and drizzle. But not before Derek got a couple of 15km bike rides in.  Used the opportunity to update the blog. Also Janice went in to see a back specialist on Tuesday, they took Xrays and she had a better examination and the diagnosis is that the pain is emanating from her SI joint and they recommended an injection for both therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. We had some difficulty making arrangements with clinic for an appointment to get the injection, and are still waiting.

On Wednesday late afternoon we were looking at a coupon we had got from HEB grocery store and realized it was for a hockey game that evening, we checked it out and found that it was to see the Texas Stars…they were playing a Toronto team!!! Well it blew us away the Toronto Marlies were in town and playing in 3 hours! We got game tickets and sat 4 rows behind the Toronto bench! Unfortunately they lost but it was a very good game and we had a blast.

Friday Oct 31- Halloween Karaoke

Friday Oct 31^th  - Internet, Halloween Karaoke

We went down into Austin and got the router / modem from Time Warner. It took a lot longer to set it up this time for some reason so that was a few hours on the phone. But finally we have lightening speed internet. It is such a huge treat and a whole 4 weeks to enjoy it.

Just love  that boy!!! (and his Mum)

The winner - Gene Simmons

 Weather  is beautiful and the day just flew by. We got down to HEB for groceries and supplies make some goodies for tonight's 'pot-luck' Halloween bash and Karaoke. I made some regular and some blackbean hummus. We joined Mike
and Lisa, their lovely daughter Jehan, and their absolutely adorable grandson Brody and Mikes sister Becky for a fun night. Several people dressed up and the top three costumes were suitably awarded prizes, followed by the usual Friday night Karaoke.

Good friends, good times!!!

Wed /Thur Oct 29 - 30 New Orleans to Austin

 Oct 29 - 30 New Orleans to Austin

Back again!!

I guess he bought the display model!

We were up and off quite early, threading our way through the morning highway just north of the main city routes. Made the location at Pontchartrain very worthwhile. A good RV park, especially with the shuttle downtown, just very dry and dusty while we were there. A pretty uneventful drive, through Baton Rouge and on through to Houston. We stayed the night at the Trader Village RV. It is GIANT flea market with a huge section for RV’s. Probably geared toward the flea market traders. Very tight quarters, but clean, economical overnight stop.

Wonder what the origin of this road name is!!!

Thursday : We got up and took off right at 9.30 as planned. (we hadn’t hooked up services) and had an easy drive through mid-Texas, arriving at La Hacienda at 1.00pm. As we drove down 620 toward Hudson Bend (a road we know quite well) we began to get quite excited. We have been a long way since we were here last and our parking skills are much better. (puttin up christmas trees and backing in to RV spots are a prime landscape for divorce). We backed in first time! Lisa was over to see us within an hour after we arrived, we are next to Dave and Ruth (Dave is the blues singer), Travis reacted as if we’d been to the moon and back (love that guy). 
We really felt as if we had arrived 'home'.  We soon set up and settled in.  Lisa and Mike came over after dinner and we sat outside and caught up on the events of the summer. Looking forward to being set for a few weeks and basically vegging.

Tuesday Oct 28th - Beignets-Bus tour-Po-boys

Tuesday Oct 28th - Beignets-Bus tour-Po-boys

Finally - Cafe Du Monde Beignets

Cafe Du Monde covered patio

It seems we have been going at a bit of a blistering pace since we left Fifty Point in Ontario. Today we were torn between exploring New Orleans once more alone, or taking an organized tour. As the weather is once again in the high 80’s F we decided to be kind to ourselves and take a 21/2 tour around the city in an air conditioned bus. We hopped the 10am shuttle into the city and then hightailed it to Grayline booth to pick up our tickets, then a race to Café du Monde for their ‘world famous’ café-au-lait and beignets. Well, compared to the ones we had on Sunday… these were remarkably better. And the coffee is deservedly described as excellent … memories of Europe but with a distinctly New Orleans flair!!  The beignets were so hot we had to let them cool before devouring an order each (3 beignets to an order) … with the large scoop of powdered icing sugar dolloped on top…. I am talking mounded on top. We called Derek’s cousin Gill in the UK from the café to make her jealous and it worked :-))  … (she recommended we go!!). 

After our diet snack we headed to Jackson Square across the road for a photo op, then wandered slowly to the tour bus, admiring the architecture and a bit of window shopping along the way.

The Natchez Steamboat leaving

The tour was great and took us to all the basic highlights of the city. The Cemetery, the Town Park (50% larger than New York's central Park) we had a quick glance at Halle Berry who happened to be filming in the park that day … and MORE beignets at the Morning Glory Café in the park.  The final result of our survey is that, for Beignets, the Morning Glory Cafe was better, for coffee the Café Du Monde was better and for both the Café Beignets was dead last!!

Your Carriage is waiting (bus instead)

Halle Berry (double?)

Beignets at The Morning Call!!

Above ground cemetery

We drove through the city and our guide pointed out all the areas of the city that were under water during the hurricane (about 80% of the city). He described the evacuation and how they got people out who had no means to leave and the plight of those who stayed. He also pointed out that the population of New Orleans is now only approximately 50% of the pre-Katrina levels, so unemployment here is low, but persuading people and business to return has been a long hard struggle.  Because much of New Orleans is below sea level it is unique that the roads go UP to the river and not down as with most cities on rivers. The cemetery was interesting as it is above ground, set out in rows (streets) of family vaults some looking like small houses. After a specific amount of time (about 2 years), what remains of a body is taken from the casket and put in a burlap bag and pushed to the end of the vault (often down into the ‘basement') and the space is cleared for the next new casket … He also described the history of the term ‘saved by the bell’ and ‘dead ringer’…. Look it up… yukkk!!! The above ground vaults are necessary as the conventional graves used to give up the dead during floods and 'Aunt Mable' would be floating buy for a visit long after she was dead!!

We drove past the famous Superdome stadium that housed thousands after Katrina.  All in all, it was a great ‘taster tour’ of the city on a hot day.

Decorated for Halloween

We had Oyster and Shrimp

Alligator heads for sale (real!!) YUK!!!

After the tour we tottered over to Johnny’s Po-boys joint for a shrimp and oyster po-boy…. Finally discovering what a po-boy is and why they call it that.   (feeding poor boys sandwiches during a transit strike in the late 1920’s). After our delicious po-boy we wandered around for a last look at the French Quarter and then hopped the 4pm shuttle back to the ‘condo’ to get it ready for a long journey to Texas.. The RV site is very dusty and the rig has become rather dirty during our trip down here. We are leaving early tomorrow morning.  What a great city this is… a ‘must do’  city  - if you are even thinking about going … GO! There is something for everyone, party-goers, history buffs, architecture enthusiasts, cultural tourist, sun worshippers, eco-tour lovers etc etc. Sad to leave but happy to be on our way as well .....

Texas .. here we come y'all !!!!!