There is a lot to this City, besides Mardi Gras which is a few days away. We have been here almost a week with today being are last full day, as we are leaving tomorrow. So let’s start at the beginning, when we arrived.

We are staying at the French Quarter New Orleans RV Park, which is a 5 min walk to the French Quarter. The location from that perspective is brilliant, however we are right beside HWY 10 overpass, so it is loud. Sirens are blasting all night long with multiple types of emergency vehicles passing overhead on the highway as well as through the local streets. The park itself is super clean, with a nice pool, hot tub, great laundry facilities, modern office and the people working and staying here are all wonderful. The RV park is gated with high walls covered in spikes and barbed wire. We asked about the area and were told it is okay during the day to walk the dog and to go to town but not to go off the proven path and most definitely no to go out after dark. Overall, an interesting stay. Would we stay here again, probably.

Hop on Hop off, the best way to see the sights for a reasonable amount of money. In New Orleans, they have by far the best deal we have come across. A three day pass that included 2 walking tours, one of the Garden district & the other of the French Quarter. All for under $60. We took advantage of it all, as well as it included discounts to other places like the WWII museum, which we also took advantage of. Here are some pics of the City from the bus.

One of the things you must do when in New Orleans is to try the food. They are known for King Cakes (Mardi Gras related), Moon Cakes (Mardi Gras related), and Beignet’s which New Orleans is known for and are proud of, and for good reason.

I am going to push this post to publish now, as we are taking too long to put our thoughts together for New Orleans, and now we are in Houston! We will get back to this one as soon as we can!

Do the American’s celebrate any differently than us Canadians? Not really, still tail gate parties, chili cook offs, potluck get togethers. What IS different, which we were all aware of, is the commercials. OMG, dare we say again OMG!!

First commercial was for Dunkin Donuts. Who is working the drive thru?? Ben Afleck. Who comes through the drivethru? Jen of course, wanting to know why he was still working and if he could bring a glazed home.

Then we have every other movie/rap/singing star on the planet in all sorts of commercials. Workday (HR company) had all the rock stars in their commercial. What does all this cost???? 6-7 million PER 30 seconds and we can guarantee you, these commercials were more than 30 seconds. What we can also guarantee is that they were only played ONCE. So you had to pay more attention to the commercials than the game itself. NO replays here folks!!

And the half time show, MIKE DROP, WE LOVED IT!! We were expecting something big with Apple and they sure didn’t disappoint us!

Didn’t you just love to spell this one out as a kid?? Miss, iss, ippi

Not a huge sign, somewhat subtle compared to other welcome signs we have seen. We arrived at our RV destination after getting our stairs fixed at an approved Jayco dealer. YUP, third times the charm! First fix, change the circuit board. Second fix, hook up the red wire better by bypassing the connector. Third fix, take another look at the red power wire and instead of doing what #2 did, which was splicing, hard wire it outside the connector. The folks at B&R were wonderful, and the bill was sent directly to Jayco. We have learned to go through them first so we don’t have to pay out of pocket, only downside is you have to wait to get the OK before any work can start. Yesterday we had the time, we don’t always have that luxury. So once the repairs were complete, off we went straight to the gas station, and…………..stairs go out, and don’t go in. SO Lori calls B&R back and tells them someone has to come and look at this (we were only just down the street at the gas station). While we are there waiting, Lori gets the stairs back working by flipping a switch. Now we are totally embarrassed, but they are already on their way.

They arrive and start testing the stairs, and they are working perfectly. What was new to us was that when the stair switch is in the off position, the stairs work by the ignition. IE: Turn off RV, open door and stairs go out and stay out. Turn on RV, stairs go in. We didn’t know the RV had this feature and have been using the wall switch this whole time to get the stairs to either stay out, or go out and in when the door opens and closes. This probably doesn’t make much sense to our readers, but to us it was a revelation and new learnings 8 months in. We think we are good to go now!!

We are staying at Biloxi Bay RV Resort and Marina. It’s fairly new (or at least recently acquired) as there is construction everywhere. The clubhouse is large and rustic and seems like a fun time. They have a bar and small eatery. They are prepping for tomorrow’s Super Bowl party. Just found out it’s a chili potluck and bake-off for the residents and guests. Sounds fun as the weather is cool and RAINY! Not sure how much rain they have gotten of late, but there are huge puddles everywhere. Thank God for Winston’s rubber booties and Lori’s Vessies (waterproof runners for those wondering)! There is a beautiful walk in pool and hot tub at the lakeside outside the clubhouse. Very impressive.

Day 1, being a shitty day, we decided to do our grocery shopping. Booked an Uber and went to a local store called Rouses Market. It was like a Fortinos, or any other high end grocery store. What we liked the most???? We could buy the already cooked ingredients for our own seafood boil, a traditional meal around here. So we did and then had it for lunch!

The following day was much nicer and we spent the day in Ocean Springs, instead of Biloxi which is known for their casinos. Biloxi it seems is the Reno/Las Vegas of the south. There are 7 casinos here and 4 more being built. So as we are not gambling folk, we hung out in a quaint little city/town just outside our RV Park. Ocean Springs had lots of restaurants, bars and shops to see. We first went to a great BBQ place for lunch. We ordered smoked wings, Buffalo & sweet BBQ, as well as a rack of ribs with collard greens and potato salad. All of it was delish! We took a pic of the food as well as the smoker before we got kicked out of the cooking area……

There are also things down south that are specific to Mardis Gras:

King cakes are in the traditional Mardis Gras colours. They are all filled differently so you can choose what you like the most, apple, cream cheese, cherry etc. The moon pie is also a tradition and is most often seen being thrown off of Mardi Gras floats. Lori’s going to try both as we are headed to New Orleans next!

Some shots of Ocean Springs and our new ride….. one can only wish.

Imagine a campground called All About Relaxing! And, it really is living up to its name. It has a pool, dog washing bathtub outside, two gazebos, multiple and we mean multiple swings, adirondock chairs and a HUGE club house. The clubhouse has pickle ball, shuffleboard, corn hole and has a lounge area with leather couches and chairs around a large T.V. It has a bar area, lots of tables, and high tops for socializing. The campground owners boast that they have the nicest washrooms of any RV park in North America. Yes, they were pretty nice! The place is pristine and incredibly secure with locked gates. Would recommend to anyone travelling to park your unit here.

The people are very welcoming here. This is how we were initially greeted when we got to our site. How cool is that!

Well mark your calendars! Barb & Lori learned how to play pickle ball this morning. It is different than tennis but played on a court kind of like it. Paddles are large and the balls are plastic with holes and really don’t bounce well.

We “may” go into a tournament tonight, given we are now seasoned pro’s…….we’ll see.

To be clear, we are undefeated a this point and time.

We had no idea that Mobile was the birthplace of America’s original Mardi Gras, which began in 1703. It was kind of interesting visiting the Mardis Gras museum as we had no idea that there were so many mystique societies. These societies are formed for enjoyment and the competition of the King and Queen of Mardi Gras. You have to have money to be chosen as dresses run into the 1000s of dollars and your family has to be able to afford them. We didn’t take the time to learn the minute details, but suffice it to say the King and Queen, who are chosen, open up Mardi Gras and host multiple events throughout the celebrations.

It is also interesting that there are still balls where the “ladies” come out into society (didn’t think that went on anymore, and if so would be in S Carolina or Georgia). This is a BIG deal and again the dresses are expensive and the fathers present their daughters. Very Downton Abby/The Gilded Age.

Here are some pics from the Museum

We then went to lunch in downtown Mobile. The street was New Orleans “like”, just not as crowded. Lunch was good. We each had a bowl of seafood gumbo and shared a Debris Po Boy, with a bag of voodoo chips from a New Orleans Company. All excellent. Of course we had to have another bag of chips to try another flavour. Crawtators, not as good as voodoo, which tasted like a sweet BBQ.

We leave tomorrow for Biloxi !

We LOVE food trucks. All kinds. They are brilliant and a great way to taste your way through the culinary world. They aren’t cheap but usually have some great food.

Yesterday we have a wing food truck here at the resort. 1. We LOVE WINGS 2. We already said how much we love a food truck.

Our neighbours John and Karen from Maryland actually told us about the food truck coming in. We didn’t know what kind of food, but they had us at food truck. Shortly after 5pm (when the truck arrived) we headed out! We had at that time found out from John and Karen that it was a wing truck as they had already placed their order of Buffalo and Salt & Vinegar wings with fries. S&V?!?! Another favourite obsession of ours, in the form of potato chips. So off we went and ordered 10 each of S&V, dry jerk, and lemon pepper with an order of fries. Now that sounds like a lot, and it is, but wings are great cold and also great for a snack! So one can never have too many.

The food truck owner was a little frazzled it seemed, and to be fair there was a heck of a line up behind us. Seems we are not the only one with a wing obsession. Wanting an insulated grocery bag to bring the food back to the R.V, Lori left to go get it, as our order was going to take around 15 min.

15 min later Lori marched back to the food truck, only to find out that people were seriously miffed as he had run out of wings, one order behind us apparently. Everyone was upset and talking about how people were ordering lots of wings which wiped him out 30 minutes into his shift. The only thing he had left was a chicken sandwich and fries. So here Lori is, holding a huge insulated bag, knowing that we had ordered 30 wings and an order of fries…..when everyone standing around would have been happy to have just 10. It was a tad uncomfortable to say the least and when our order came up and Lori was stuffing the bag with food, she turned around and stated, “don’t shoot me”. Lori felt certain that she was OK to state that as Florida is not a gun carrying state, unless you have a special permit, but nonetheless as Lori said herself “it wasn’t her brightest moment”.

Now while we felt maybe a little guilty we only ate 5 wings each for dinner (they were huge), it is NOT our fault a food truck serving wings with approximately 20 different flavours, ran out! Seriously poor planning!

We did bump into a few of the folks this morning who didn’t get wings, they are still smiling and talking to us, so all is well and we have wings for the next two days!

Isn’t this the age old question. When Sharon and Lori were in Croatia they saw huge sail boats. They questioned whether the size of the mast mattered on a sail boat, and were quickly told yes by an old sailor sitting on a bench. Of course this is obvious given the bigger the mast, the bigger the sail, the bigger the sail, the more wind it can capture.

When you look at RVs/Camper trailers/5th wheels/toy haulers, we both agree size does indeed matter. How many slides do you have, how much storage do you have, how big is your shower (that’s a game changer), what is your floor footprint (another game changer). But what about what you tow behind your trailer/Class A/B/C. We have seen motorcycles on the front of a truck. We have seen, couldn’t believe it but we did, a golf cart on the front of a truck. We have seen a lot of storage units that house cars/motorcycles/golf carts, even one long enough for a race car and all the tools/tires in it. But never have we seen a double decker storage unit behind a huge Class A. It houses a car/golf cart/bikes/motorcycle/canoes and a full mechanical section. We had to take a pic, because it is the talk of the resort.

Given all the chatter amongst the men, size does indeed matter. In fact it also includes a lot of head shaking and awe apparently.

We were both very excited to go to a restaurant that came highly recommended, Columbia. This is a Spanish restaurant so we were excited to have some Paella. Now the BEST part of a Paella is the crispy rice, is it not? Getting the crunchy bits in a mouthful of rice and seafood, like really, what is better?!

Well here we go with our experience. The restaurant is huge with 3 levels and nicely decorated. Lots of wait staff and they were all very friendly.

We started with cocktails for a change. We always have wine, so why not have something a little different. Lori had a martini with tequila and Barb had tequila with grapefruit fever tree. Below is a pic of the martini. We also had a 1/2 loaf of bread and butter to start the meal. Bread was right out of the oven, better than the Keg!

Next we decided on the Blue Crab cakes and the table side salad called the “1905”. Below are the pics along with a little bit of trivia on the name iceberg lettuce.

Entrees were grilled Grouper, which Lori really loves, and the Paella which was ordered right away as it was going to take an hour. Of course it does, that is how you get the crispy bits!

Unfortunately the grouper was a little dry. The paella did not have any crispy bits and in fact was more like risotto than paella. The chicken in the paella was dry, the seafood however was good. Not sure what they were doing for an hour…..

Overall, we were disappointed. We took home leftovers and will crisp up our own paella for our next dinner. The bread and salad were the highlight frankly, with the crab cakes coming in third. We won’t talk about the rest again, as you get the point.

What is potentially next on the docket?? Pizza Time, yes you heard this right. In Canada, we have Pizza Time and it is not great. Apparently here, the Pizza Time is #2 in the U.S.A for best pizza. It is cash only, and has pizza’s like lasagne and ravioli to name a couple. We went in and looked at the slices on display, they all looked incredible. We have 2 more days here, so we’ll see.

After 2 months in Savannah, we head off to Florida. It’s just over 3 hour drive, what could possibly go wrong. Well all was fine and dandy, roads relatively smooth and 3 lanes so easy driving. Gas prices have increased, however still cheaper than Canada. $3.39 a gallon! We stopped at a Flying J, HUGE truck stop. We filled up and were happy to get back on the road…………and our electric stairs won’t go in.

We call the mechanic from Triple C Mobile repair, out of Jackson Florida, who we had pre-booked for a furnace issue. His answer for our stairs, “drive with them out”, and he will fix them when he meets us at our RV park in St. Augustine. He then added “just don’t hit anything”. AHHH OK…….

Barb called Jayco, then the stair company Lippert. We were told to remove the pin and tie up the stairs until we could get them fixed. Easier said than done. SOOO, off to look for a trucker to help us (there are advantages to stopping at truck stops). Found one without a load, so not on the clock, and he was kind enough to take out his toolbox, pull the pin and tie up the stairs nice and tight. So off we went 1 1/2 hours later. It was extremely hot out, we were not dressed light enough for the heat, not a great stop.

Landed in St Augustine at the XXXX park and hit the pool! YAY

Next day we went into town and did the Hop on Hop off tour. Nice little town, historic, architecture really cool.

Here are some photos of the area, including the ocean front.

There were some beautiful churches as well. We have not gone in yet, but hear they are really nice inside.

Henry Flagler was the founder of the most expensive hotel in the U.S, which is now Flagler College. The hotel had restaurants, a casino, bowling alley, and the first indoor pool. He also brought the railroad down from New York so the rich could come and stay at his hotel, for a measly $10,000. We are unclear if the $10,000 was for a month? Or a week? Regardless, that amount back in 1888 was A LOT. At the time Flagler was the second richest man in the U.S. Not sure who was #1. The hotel/college is huge and apparently quite spectacular. The hotel had lighting before the Whitehouse. There are three Tiffany Bay Windows which apparently are priceless at the front which is the dining room. Each classroom now has a huge fireplace, which of course used to be hotel rooms. We are going to see if we can get a tour, but there is a lot of construction going on at the moment.

Lastly we had lunch at the Fish Camp. Menu was confusing, or maybe it was our waitress who disclosed to us that she had been put on warning due to her lack of attention to guests…….. We forgot to take a picture of our main course, which was blackened Mahi Mahi, shrimp and scallops with potatoes and zucchini. The starters we did take pictures of as you can see below.

It was a hot day so ended back at the pool!! Friday night we are off to Columbia Restaurant which serves Spanish cuisine! Can’t wait!