East to West

St. Patricks Day started out trip West.  We left Naples and drove 9 hours to Destin FL.  On the way we decided to stop and buy a cargo carrier off Craigslist so Chloë wouldn't be so squished.  That took a lot longer than expected so our trip ended up being more like 11 hours the first day.  We stopped at a Taco Bell Drive-Thru and got the cheeriest employee ever.  She was so nice and called Gerrit "Honey" and I noticed she put 1 green sauce in the bag with the rest of the red sauce we asked for.  Then I noticed a little treat on the back.  What a nice person.  I love things like that.  We stayed in a nasty Motel 6 and then spent the morning at the beach.  It was really a beautiful place.  It was a little stormy that day so the water was a little choppy, but it was a good last time to enjoy the beach before we moved to the dessert.

When we were done playing in the sand we packed up and headed to Louisiana for the night.  Our "Microtel" was way nice and we stopped in at an Italian Restaurant that had a play area in the back.  3$ for an hour of bounce house!  Yes please.  The kids had the time of their life and we got to relax.  In the morning we headed out the door to New Orleans to look around.  It was a really cool place.  We could have spent much more time there, but didn't have any so we tried to fit it all in.  We walked the Mississippi and to Jackson Square.  Jackson Square used to be called Place d' Armes but changed to Jackson Square after the Battle of New Orleans after Andrew Jackson.  The French quarter is Centered around it.  Then we walked to Cafe du Monde for a world famous Beignet.  The girls were so excited to eat what Tiana makes in The Princess and the Frog.  They were like a tasty scone with powdered sugar.  Some dude was napping outside the Cafe.  I guess he wasn't impressed.  We walked the French Quarter looking at architecture and feeling the history of the 1700's.  The day we were in New Orleans was the day the new Pope was Inaugurated.  Lots of churches were decorated and had food in his honor.  St. Mary's Italian Church was open and we stopped in to see the beauty of the cathedral and gardens.  This church was the old Ursuline Convent in the early 1700's.  Across the street was The Historic Beauregard-Keyes House.  Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant lived in this house when he ordered the first shots of the Civil War.  I was dying to go inside, but not enough time!  We stopped by the oldest continually occupied bar in the United States.  The Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop.  It was built around 1772.

This sign reminded me of Jarond.  He says Touché a lot

I took this picture for Brennan.  He said he had been there! So funny.

Beads left behind on a rooftop on Bourbon 

The Gumbo Shop for lunch.  We dined on French Bread, Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, Shrimp Creole, Jambalaya and Pecans and Pralines sundae.  Chloë only liked the bread.  Hahaha

Stopping in the streets for some entertainment.

Then we hit the road Austin TX bound.  We drove that evening and arrived at Dana and Casey's house late at night.  It felt so good to hang at Dana's house.  Felt so much more comfortable than a hotel.  The kids woke up and to their surprise they had other kids to play with!  They had a ball on the trampoline together.  We went into Austin City that day, but the kids just wanted to be at Dana's so it wasn't a great trip.  We stopped at Round Rock Doughnuts which were amazing and ate at Torchy's Tacos.  It was so good!  Then we took a walk around the State Capital and the Governor's Mansion.  We headed back to Dana's for more play time, and we made pizza for dinner.  Then Dana took me to the site of their new home.  They broke ground a few days after we left.  Can't wait to see it all finished!  Thanks for the fun Willards!

The star at the top is 8 feet wide!

That's when the nightmare drive began.  Basically from Austin to Gilbert was the ugliest drive I've been  on.  We kept driving and driving in the dry desert and about ran out of gas.  Luckily Gerrit filled up a gas can and had it strapped to the roof.  We pulled over into dust land and filled up.  Then we drove 30 minutes out of the way to get gas in Iraan TX.  Man I'm glad I don't live there.  We finally made it to Carlsbad.  We went to Chilis for dinner and then checked into the hotel.  In the morning we packed up and headed to the Carlsbad NM Caverns.  They were really mind blowing!  You can hike down 750 feet or just take the elevator.  We chose the elevator with the kids.  It took about an hour to walk around underground.  It was pretty impressive down there.  The kids were pretty exhausted so it was a little tricky.  Plus they told us to be quiet down there and Alice wouldn't stop screaming.  It was a little tense.    She finally fell asleep on Gerrit and we hustled out of there.  All in all I enjoyed it and would totally stop there again. Next stop Gilbert AZ!

 

The last 9 hours of the drive was pretty dry.  We drove through some parts of the US that we haven't seen in a while.  It's tricky to get used to the desert when you are moving from FL.  We drove so close to the Mexican border.  Mexico to the left Texas to the right.  We seemed to weave in and out of Texas a few times.  The girls have fun doing night time activities in the car.  We were so excited to get to the Smith's house.

Saturday and Sunday we were exhausted.  Chloë and Ellie got right down to matching clothes business.  Sunday they were practically twins.  After church we went on a walk to see some of the animals by the canal.  This man is so nice and comes out to talk to everyone who stop by to see the new baby donkey.  Patrick was born on St. Patrick's Day and is seriously so cute!  Plus he has goats, pigs, tortoises, dogs, ducks and plenty of other things roaming around.  The kids were in heaven.  It's good to be here with our family and eating our favorite foods.  AKA In n Out and Del Taco.