One Tank Trips...

  Recently, Jason and I took a few one-tank jaunts across south Louisiana for some culture and history.   Since both of us share an affinity for our state's colorful past and vibrant culture, we made day trips to Avery Island, the Louisiana Rural Life Museum, and the National World War II Museum.  We enjoyed each stop and highly recommend all three to anyone thinking of taking a road trip for the day; although, may we suggest waiting until the temperatures cool off a tad.   Here are a few snapshots from our field trips. 

Avery Island: home of TABASCO

Bottling operations

Jungle Gardens

This speaks for itself... 

This is what awaited him on the other side...

The National World War II Museum

This was Jason's first time to the museum and he came away with an even greater admiration for the soldiers, who courageously fought the battles of WWII.

Avery Fine Perfumery recently opened up shop in the Warehouse District, so I made a quick trip in before touring the WWII Museum.

Louisiana Rural Life Museum

Oh how I just adore Acadian-style architecture!

The Germain Bergeron cottage just so happened to be donated by the Wise family from Thibodaux, who live down the street from my parents

Jason thought this particular layout of the Dog-Trot House (c. 1863) would be neat for a hunting camp one day.

Jason standing in the wooden Oak Ridge Jail, believed to be the only pre-Civil War jail structure still preserved in Louisiana



Hanging Out in Houston

Can you say HOT???






Arriving in Houston late Wednesday afternoon, it didn't take us long to remember two things we didn't miss about the city: the snail's pace traffic and the blistering heat.

With Ensco now allowing their employees to work flex-Fridays, we had a little play time on Friday afternoon. We visited some of my favorite antique and fabric stores, which I would frequent when we lived here before moving to Singapore. Then we took in an Astros/Brewers game in the nightcap. It was nice to see some former UL and Tulane players make it up to the big leagues. Even though the home team lost, it was a fun date night as neither of us had been to an Astros game since the new Minute Maid Park was built.

I promised Jason I would accompany him to the Hunter's Extravaganza at the Reliant Center today since he was a good sport about tagging along with me on Friday; and, quite frankly, I enjoy hunting myself.

Hopefully, we should know something more on the status of our Brazil assignment next week--keeping our fingers crossed anyways!

Have a good weekend!

Location:Houston

Grand Isle: No Place I'd Rather Be!

  This past weekend our college roommates and close friends, Josh and Wendi made the 4-hour trek south from central Louisiana to join us for a few relaxing days of fishing and crabbing on Grand Isle.  This weekend also marked the return of the Tarpon Rodeo after a one year hiatus because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off of the Louisiana coast last April.  We couldn't have asked for a better weekend...the crabs were running, the fish were biting, and we were in the company of good friends!

Grand Isle!!

Friday night we went to the tent to check out the fish brought in by the anglers.

While the guys would have preferred to fish,  you can tell the surf was pretty rough Saturday morning. So we crabbed instead...

Catch of the day!

Wendi enjoyed her crabs, but Josh on the other hand, thought it was too much work...ha!

Nothing like watching the sun rise on an early Sunday morning fishing trip

As you can tell, Jason wasn't too happy with his camera happy wife...lol!

This was Wendi's first time back on the Island since our college days in 1999!!

Thanks to Captain Marty LaCoste for another fun and successful trip!

I would say he was one tired fisherman!

A very special thanks for Mr. and Mrs. Bob White for use of their camp!

Brazil Update:  While Jason and I never imagined we would still be state-side by August 1, we are anxiously waiting for the processing of our Brazilian visas and Jason's official assignment letter to be issued before we can head south to Brazil for a house-hunting trip.  In the meantime, Jason has been working in Broussard and he is scheduled to work a few days in Houston this week and next.  So our gypsy lifestyle carries on...