We're HOME!

So we got home December 13th at around 4:30 in the afternoon.

Here is a quick summary of the trip mileage n' stuff....

11,399 miles

$978.03 spent in gas (we had budgeted $1500, but with gas prices and better mileage we saved some $$$)

404.6 Gallons of Gas

Average cost per gallon of gas $2.42

Average Mileage : 28.2 MPG

Days gone: 73

Las Vegas, Baby!

We arrived in Las Vegas, New Mexico (not Nevada, silly!) in time to go up to Tony’s second cousin Alma Gregory’s place. Alma has a cute little cabin outside of Sapello, NM (which itself is nearly a crossroads), and arranged for us to stay at the grand Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas. The Hotel is a grand old-style hotel, doubtlessly dating from the 1800’s. Very elegantly appointed, it was odd staying is such luxury! We checked in and got our stuff upstairs, and had enough time to drive out to Alma’s and visit with her for a few hours.

Alma’s place is quite a few miles outside of Las Vegas, and 5 miles up a dirt road from Sapello. We navigated it easily since it was dry, with only the last half mile or so questionably wet, muddy, and some snow in the shadows. Definitely not the place to just pop out and pick up a few groceries. Trips to town have to be planned for! We brought a pizza to bake and some salad, and Alma opened a huge bottle of wine that we drank down to the last drop! Conversation came easy, and we really enjoyed hearing some of Alma’s stories about family, friends, and history.

We made some tentative plans for sightseeing the next day, but that was highly weather dependent, as the forecast for that night was snow!

It was a good thing that we made our plans tentative, for the next morning, we awoke to several inches of snow on the ground, and more coming down by the minute. After touching base with Alma and calling off the sightseeing (driving, even 4 wheel drive on Alma’s road would NOT have been fun!), we had breakfast and watched the snow come down.

When the snow let up, we took a little tour around the historic downtown plaza, trying not to slip on ice or get too wet. We visited a cute large gift shop (Art & Stone) on the plaza that is filled with many artisan’s works, from pottery to painting, and Adam fell in love with a wind-chime (it’s now his Xmas present). We looked around for quite a while, and then walked down the historic Bridge Street district and did more window shopping before returning to the hotel to read for a bit. The wood smoke from all the fireplaces in town started bothering Adam, so he lay down for a bit as well. We went out again for lunch at Plaza Burger- very good home style burgers, but the owner will talk your ear off. We got to hear about all the movies that get made in Las Vegas (No Country for Old Men, etc.) while we enjoyed our ribbon fries (a style of french frys that is almost a potato chip!)

We went into a hardware store in search of replacement parts for Alma’s bathroom fan, and found something that looked like it would work. We got absorbed in a movie and on the computer that evening, and the snow started to melt.

The next day was chilly, but the roads had shaped up enough for Alma to drive out with her 4 wheel drive. We toured around Las Vegas and got an excellent history driving tour. We got to see various sites like the Montezuma Castle and hot springs, an old lodging hotel from the 1800’s (rebuilt several times), the place where the founder of the Santa Fe trail met a huge force of Spanish/Mexican soldiers, hot springs, early rancheros, and much more than fit in my brain!

We drove out around Sapello to some of the little towns like Ledoux and Rociata, and to a little town north of Sapello called Mora (berry in Spanish). There we had lunch at Crystal’s café, offering authentic New Mexican style Mexican food. Adam and I both had the combo plate- he ordered his was verde and mine “Christmas” (verde & rojo, green and red). The chile rellanos were crunchy and awesome! And the enchilada and tamales were good too! We never got to the tacos, which got left in Alma’s fridge (hope they were good!). They also served us with sopapilla, kinda like an Indian fry bread, and it was delicious! We ate as much as we could, with honey, and just stuffed ourselves silly! Definitely highly recommended!

A little more driving tour of the local little towns, and we headed back to Alma’s to take care of that troublesome bathroom fan (which works nicely now), and we headed over to Alma’s neighbor’s house for wine and finger food. Martha and John made some awesome foods, which was saying something since we were still stuffed from lunch. Half a jalapeño, stuffed with cream cheese and apricot spread or peanut butter and baked, deviled eggs, excellent homemade guacamole, shrimp with Cuban ketchup, grapes, and other tasty snacks accompanied the wine. Their house is a beautiful passive solar design, with wood and hand plastered accents. Martha and John are great to talk with, and we enjoyed hearing about their lives and how they and Alma have such history!

[Note: pictures coming later, when Alma doesn't have to download them over her little-itty-bitty dialup modem]

Does this state ever end??

Hot Rolls and Cobbler, somewhere in Texas.

The next leg of the trip is a long one, driving between Austin and essentially Las Vegas (near Sante Fe) New Mexico. The half way point was Lubbock, so we shot for there for an overnight stay to break up the drive. NOTE: LUBBOCK IS A DRY COUNTY (no alcohol sales) DO NOT STAY IN LUBBOCK!

We had planned on having a light meal that evening in the hotel of wine, cheese and crackers, as we had eaten plenty in the past few days. We went to the market in search of wine, only to find out that Lubbock is in a dry county, so there was no alcohol to be bought! Horror! Cataclysm! You can go to a bar to get a drink, but the general atmosphere and our mood discouraged such activities. (even though we were blocks from the only gay bar in northern Texas) We made do with what we had, and called it a night. For tomorrow there was an even longer drive to New Mexico!

A sad, sad meal. only one bottle of wine!

Yay! Gas prices cooperate!

Hollywood, Austin Style!

We drove from Louisiana to Austin in one day. Pretty uneventful, unless you count Texas’ lack of rest-stops and nearly ruptured bladders as eventful.

Caught up in Texas!

We arrived in Austin about 6:30 or so on a Friday, after dark. There was a little bit of backed-up up traffic on the roads, but nothing terrible. We had directions to our friend Bryan’s place that he had provided, so there were no worries. It had been a couple of years (4 I think) since we had seen Bryan. We last visited him in San Diego, where he was living at the time. Bryan is a photographer and videographer, and has made his living for the past few years as a producer of on-demand video on the internet. When we visited him in San Diego, he was just turning his garage into an in-home studio, so he could shoot more of his videos in house.

Do you think we know these guys?

We were totally unprepared for what we found when we arrived. First off, we drove right by the entrance gates to his property the first time, they were so lit up and grand, we thought it was some fancy ranch. It turns out it is His fancy ranch! Turns out a couple of years ago, Bry rented this 10 acre lot, and turned an abandoned church building into a residence and film studio. There is an elegant entry, with nicely redone bathrooms and kitchen. Everything is elegantly furnished and clean, which I guess you have to expect if you are shooting film in it! One room is set up as his computer room, with 3 or 4 different workstations, where Bryan and his friend/assistant Bill process all the video and digitize it for online viewing. He partitioned the rest of the open space in the building into at least 6 different studio spaces, each of them set up differently for the various films he does. It turns out that one of them was set up as a bedroom, and that was where we got to sleep while we were staying with him! It was kinda nifty, and kinda odd, sleeping in this essentially fake room, surrounded by video cameras, lighting, microphone booms, and computer stuff.

Reception area.
Lights!

Camera!

Sleeping in the existing studio.

And get this, his business is booming so much, that he is relinquishing this space next year, because he has bought a nearby 10 acre parcel of land, and is refurbishing the pre-existing house, and adding a much larger brand new studio there!

The new studio, under construction.

BryBry is a busy, busy boy, always working, always thinking about ways to improve business and profits. We were happy to socialize with him, discuss business, and how all his many projects were progressing. We went out for dinner with him and Bill to a (nearby isn’t exactly the right word when you are out in the country!) Hawaiian themed burger joint and had some good laughs.

Saturday morning, Bill made us some awesome french toast (sorry about having to buy it twice, Bill!) for breakkie. Then we went out and toured the new house and studio construction. It was awesome seeing the scale of the project. The construction guys were just sanding the drywall in the studio, and almost all of the stone façade in front was done. The location and setup of what Bry’s got going on struck a cord with us. To own a couple of acres a little ways outside of a cool town, and construct (or remodel) a house to your liking… If it were on the west coast, we’d be in heaven to have that arrangement, and even in Texas it is mighty appealing! We are sure Bry will do an excellent job putting it all together, based on his previous projects.

Saturday afternoon Bry and Bill had to work on a video project, so we took off to entertain ourselves for the afternoon. Unfortunately Tony had a blood sugar crash and wasn’t good for much of anything the next two hours until he got fed. (hint: don’t wait till the last minute to eat and get stuck at Whataburger). After a meal, and finding a restroom, things got back on an even keel. We found our way down to the river that is dammed and runs through downtown Austin. There we found a great little dock on the water, where we sat and enjoyed the warm sunshine and setting sun for a couple hours, napping & calling relatives. We were visited by three very noisy geese, and one very elegant swan, and watched the turtles sun and dive off rocks.

We took a walk along the river just after sunset. Sadly the bats had migrated south for the winter, so none of the infamous bat takeoffs, but it was very pretty nonetheless.

Friendly geese and a swan!

Lamar Street Bridge (Rt 343) in Austin, TX.

State Capitol!

We connected back up with Bry and and Bill that evening and went out to Chipotle for dinner, and we visited for a bit before bed. Bill and Bry got some of Adam’s infamous back rubs, (too much time at the computer, boys!) and we called it a night. We choose a different studio for that night (why not?) which also happened to be set up as a bedroom. We would have loved to have stayed a lot longer in Austin, but we had more people to see, and we suspect Bry had more pressing matters to attend to!

The Holbrook Family of Greenwell Springs, LA

We got back from New Orleans in time for the family dinner my Uncle Tim was putting on. Devon had gotten everything started as we were a bit late getting back, go figure, it’s a miracle we got back at all! Devon cooked up a storm while everyone visited, and the meal was great! Ribeyes, Deer sausage (the night before he made an excellent seared tuna steak), Devon has got quite the culinary prowess.

Adam had not seen many of his relatives from LA in over quite a few years. So there was lots of visiting to take care of! The last time he saw his Aunt Sharlee or cousin Liz was when he was about 8 or 9 and he had never met Nicholas! So it was great to visit with them and catch up.

Aunt Sharlee and Adam

Kitchen Madness

Jodi, Tony, Kim and Samantha

Jodi, Tony, Nicholas, Sam, Adam and Tim

Sam and Jodi... and Tim

Tim

Before we knew it, the night was over, and we headed for bed (another squishy night on the inflatable mattress!)

Murphy and Brown

Our second day in Louisiana we hooked up with a professional colleague of Tony’s who had contacted us out of the blue several weeks before. Michael was his name, and he is one of the few others in this world that also enjoys combining botany with computer databases. Michael comes at it from a computer sciences background, but his brother was a botany student at Louisiana State University who got him interested in “biodiversity informatics”.

We met up for lunch at a local café with Michael and Tim Jones, a PhD Student who specializes in Carex/Cyperaceae and interactive identification keys. We talked shop and geek speak (and traveling and food too) for most of the rest of the afternoon. After lunch, we headed onto the adjacent LSU campus to the Herbarium for some introductions and a little show and tell. We were introduced to Lowell Urbatsen, the Herbarium Director & a LSU Professor; and Diane Ferguson, the LSU Herbarium Collections Manager.

After a bit, Michael showed us some of the things he’s been working on. He has done some amazing work with several institutions, most notably Herbarium. He has designed some really great interfaces for the herbarium data, worked with photographic images of plants, designed a high speed image and data capture process for herbarium specimens, some nifty mapping and distribution tools, and great user query interfaces and data displays.

It was really invigorating for Tony to see someone else’s work on similar problems, especially Michaels with such an excellent and professional background in computer programming. We really didn’t get a chance to show Michael what Tony’s worked on over the years, but most of it is so dated at this point (what you can do with computers has evolved so quickly) that it really wasn’t all that important. It was great to make new friends in LA and in biodiversity informatics, and we look forward to keeping in touch with them.

Devon and Adam

Tim, Tony and Devon at the Computer.

Murphy!

The next morning, Uncle Tim made us a huge and great breakfast before we packed the car and got ready for another day of driving. He made sure that we knew how to get to our next stop, which was just up the road! Adam’s parents have been bringing a special Louisiana tradition back to California, and we just had to pick some of this specialty up ourselves. It is a sausage called Boudain (“boo-dan”) and it can only really be found in a few areas of Louisiana. We were told by more than one source that the very best place to pick it up is a shop called Jerry Lee’s, which happened to be just a few miles from Uncle Tim’s house.

The sausage is made up primarily of cooked rice, pork meat, and pork liver, seasoned to perfection and just a hint of spiciness, all stuffed into a natural casing (yes, pig intestines). It is kinda like dirty rice, and kinda like a spicy pork sausage, and it is entirely good to eat!

We debated how much to get, since we didn’t know how well it would keep in our cooler all the way back to California. In the end we looked at the contents of our wallet, and told them to give us as much as our money would buy (reserving a few bucks for two freshly cooked boudain, of course!). And we just gambled that we could keep them cold/frozen till we can get home! (they made it!)

The Big Easy... in 2 hours our less!

We didn’t have a lot of time in Louisiana but my Uncle Tim was determined to take us to New Orleans! We helped him take care of some computer things he needed help with and hit the road.

The drive there is really different. The road is raised about 20 feet or so above the swamp, but it continues for what seems like 50 miles with almost no off ramps or anything. On the side there was a town built on the swamp. Some of the places were totally wiped out by the hurricanes.

When we got into New Orleans we took a quick walk around the French Quarter and had a bit to eat at Café Desire. It was incredible! Uncle Tim ordered Oyster’s Desire and Barbecued Oysters as appetizers while we ordered a catfish poorboy. The oyster’s were incredible! The Desire oysters were cooked with Parmesan cheese and were really crunchy. The barbecued ones were battered in this great sweet and tangy batter and served with a blue cheese sauce, so scrumptious! Of course we also had a half dozen on the half shell!

Want another, Rob?

After another short walk down Bourbon Street, we headed into Pat O’Briens. They were celebrating their 75th anniversary later that night and were getting all geared up for the festivities. My uncle Tim told of how he used to come to this place when he was in the service and how much fun (and trouble) he and his buddies used to get into. There are two or three parts to this place. There is a piano bar, an outside bar and I think a restaurant, although we didn’t make it into the restaurant part.

Uncle Tim bought us each a Hurricane – some sweet rum drink that is designed for one purpose and after we have stopped drinking them we will tell you what it might be…but we think we need to go back and spend some more time there first!

Bourbon Street

A toast!

On our way out of town we saw lots of fun things that we need to examine more, but didn’t have time for, so we took some parting shots.

We have a couple of really great friends that are from New Orleans, one of them has a NOLA as a screen name so this was a must:

The Presbytere Church on Jackson Square

Lots of neat and strange signs all around – one of my favorites, a place to pick up your voodoo dolls and they have children’s books, too!!

More signs and stuff and a neat painting that made us think of Rory.

The golf photo, Tony’s grandmother has a copy in her bathroom.
A mug shot of frank Sinatra is just cool (convicted of "Seduction" in NJ)
and a sign about drinking being bad for the pregnant women was in the men’s bathroom!

A few more parting shots as we drove out.

Another treat, floating dead people!

Back to Greenwell Srpings with us! We would dearly love to return to New Orleans with a hotel room and lots of expendable cash!