Week 2: I don't have a beignet problem

Week 2, May 11-17.

One more week on the road! Roughly 2000 miles driven so far! 

Sunday May 11, day 7

I don’t have a beignet problem, I can quit any time I want. 

Started off the day with an amazing breakfast and a slow Sunday-paced morning.

Mid-day we walked around the French Quarter, as you’re contractually obligated to do the first time you visit New Orleans.

Nah, I asked to go there, hoping to get some good photos.

While walking in the French Quarter I stopped to take a photo of a bold green classic Cadillac. A woman popped out and asked me to take her photo with the car. For a 3 minute impromptu photoshoot, the pics came out damn good!*

All around it was a chill day with lots of walking and great food. Even listened to some good jazz mid-day while eating beignets in the French quarter.

(* Update to add that immediately after I sent her the photos she unfollowed me on Insta. Not a big deal, but it did make me feel a little used.)

Daily Listen: a heavy metal band cover of Billie Eilish’s ‘Bad Guy’ by The Interrupters.

Promptly added to my “covers“ playlist.

Good: Going to cheat with a blanket statement of “the food”! 

The friends I was staying with made a blueberry French toast bake. Made with an entire (4 ft!) po’boy loaf picked up at lunch the day before. This was a real treat for breakfast! She also made a vegetable curry dish for dinner that was equally exceptional. In the French Quarter I had beignets and some delicious apps at a tiki bar!

To say I ate well in NOLA is an understatement. 

Bad: “One beignet” is actually an order of three beignets! With enough powdered sugar to kill Tony Montana. Ordering “one” each for me and my friend is actually six beignets. I got as far as 2 and had to call it quits.

See, I said I could quit any time I want. 

Unexpected: The friends I stayed with are a couple that I met on a cruise last year. 

I mentioned wanting to go through New Orleans on my van trip and they said “we live in New Orleans, you should come stay with us!“ 

This is a very literal “unexpected” in that I had no idea what to expect from a visit with new friends! The visit far exceeded any expectations I possibly could have. They were so much fun to spend the weekend with. Kind and wonderful hosts, and just a joy to spend a few days with. I truly am fortunate to have so many have amazing people in my life, old and new. 

Monday May 12, day 8

Howdy Houston

NOLA to Houston 

Most of the morning consisted of driving west on I-10. A good portion of the highway was raised above the swamp. The engineer in me appreciated the engineering marvel of it, the outdoorsman in me cringed at the intrusion to the environment. 

A silver-lining at least was the lack of injury lawyer billboards along the road.

Stopped along the way for an impromptu photo excursion.

Got to catch up in the evening with an old friend.

Good: Met up with a bunch of friends for dinner in Houston and caught up with them over Tex-Mex. Also, successfully parallel parked the van on a city street! Years of parking in Philly has paid off! 

Bad: Waffle House. I wrote at the time "It’s only 10am and I hope nothing worse happens all day than this breakfast." 

Waffle House used to be a treat to myself, but now it was terrible! The waffle was thinner than most pancakes, but the real affront were the grits - they were aggressively bad. Grits, in Louisiana, were inedible.

WH, you should be ashamed of yourself! 

On the plus side, this has cured me of any desire to eat at WH again for the rest of the trip.

Which will henceforth be known as awful house.

Unexpected: Even more Urbex! 

Explored an abandoned waterpark that I spotted from the highway. Made a quick decision to exit and go find it.

Totally worth the detour! 

Tuesday May 13, day 9

Where we’re going, we don’t need highways

Houston -> San Antonio 

Short 3 hr drive. Took the back roads and drove through some beautiful Texas countryside. Passed a bunch of small towns with big courthouses (and seemingly large police budgets).

Stopped at a small town bakery and got a bacon & cheese croissant and a ‘dewberry’ pastry. Dewberries are in the blackberry family; today I learned.

Passed a non-abandoned water park on this drive.

All around didn't take many photos this day.

Daily Listen: Portishead ‘Dummy’ 20 year anniversary re-issue (now, 10 years old itself.) I’ve loved this album since I bought it on CD in the 90’s and expect to still love it another 30 years from now.

Good: Took the back roads and got to see some of rural Texas, which was very pretty.

Bad: Apple Maps does not like ‘no highways’ selection. It wanted to put me on an access road parallel to the highway. To get the real back-roads route I wanted I picked a bunch of random towns on the map and made those waypoints. 

Unexpected: 2 lane surface streets with 75 mph speed limit!

Wednesday May 14, day 10

Summer is Coming

Visiting sunny San Antonio 

All day I was hearing Robin Williams from ‘Good Morning, Vietnam!’ in my head;

“It’s hot, damn hot!”

We braved the heat to visit a couple of the Spanish missions that define a lot of San Antonio’s history and origin. They were interesting to see, though maybe a bit underwhelming. More interesting though was the cringeworthy whitewashing on all the historical descriptions. Eg; The natives weren’t indoctrinated, they were “integrated.” Check out the photo below for an example of one of the revisionist descriptions.

On the way back from the Missions I got to see “the world’s largest cowboy boots”! Which I was excited to see because it would be my first “world’s largest [thing] on the trip!” I tried to record my daily update video* in front of the giant boots, but it was so hot that my phone kept shutting down! I realized that any longer in that heat and I’d start shutting down too. 

Daily Listen: San Antonio’s 80’s “classic rock” radio station, featuring the best of my youth with Van Halen, AC/DC, Mötley Crüe, Warrant, Whitesnake and more trips down memory lane!

Good: You’re much more likely to get something if you ask for it!

My van is in for service and the price tag is $$$$. But I asked if there is any leeway on the maintenance cost and they “knocked a few hundred off.” Totally worth asking. 

Bad: 103°

Unexpected: My phone kept shutting off in the middle of trying to record my daily video blog.* Ruining a perfectly good backdrop of giant cowboy boots!

* If you’re not in the loop, I am posting ‘Reels’ on Instagram every day or so with a short video recap of the day and the GBU. 

Thursday May 15, Day 11

There’s something I’m supposed to remember

Right! I visited the Alamo… Drafthouse theater, to see the movie Sinners. It was a welcome break to the mid-day heat when it’s 100º out.

Afterwards we went by the actual Alamo. I felt like I couldn’t come to San Antonio and not at least see the Alamo. The area around it is being built up into much more of a public park and square than it used to be. For a long time it was an historical building on the side of the road, just kinda in the middle of downtown.

Also, last year when I was passing through SA to see the eclipse, everyone kept telling me to visit the riverwalk. I didn’t have time then, but this visit I finally got to check it out. It was nice, but unremarkable. The most interesting thing was we stayed to watch the bats come out at dusk. That was neat.

Daily Listen Watch: Sinners. Go see it in the theater. 

Good: Cooler than yesterday! It is merely awfully hot, instead of damnation hot. 

Bad: Had to drop my van off at a dealership after a check engine light came on. 

$3500 later it’s all taken care of. Ugh. 

Unexpected: I was not expecting to like the movie Sinners as much as I did. I thought it’d be good, instead it was amazing. Worth seeing in the theater for the juke jazz scene alone. 

Friday May 16, Day 12

Pinball, Netflix, and Chill

Picked up my van first thing in the morning. Was happy to have it back and healthy.

When I was (briefly) in San Antonio last year for the eclipse I stumbled across What's Brewing, a Pinball Cafe & Coffee House. I had found the place 5 minutes before closing and only had time to poke my head in. The memory of the place came back to me suddenly as we were driving through that same neighborhood and we stopped in. This time it was early enough for coffee and some pinball. In looking up the place so I could share the name (What's Brewing) I learned it's San Antonio's oldest coffee roaster, and home to one of the biggest pinball machine collections in Texas. Not surprising as they had maybe 50 machines, ranging from simple 60's classics to brand new machines with all the bells and whistles (literally.)

After some pinball wizardry it was a lazy afternoon inside watching a movie. Then in the evening we went out to see live jazz at dusk at the Japanese tea garden pavilion.

Daily listen: live jazz hosted by jazz 91.3 

Good: Pinball & Coffee!

Bad: Lots of mosquito bites!

Unexpected: The Japanese tea garden is huge and beautiful. It’s in an old quarry and feels separated from the rest of the world. There were a lot of walking paths, beautiful gardens, and reflecting ponds. Very serene. 

Saturday May 17, Day 13

If I didn't take any pictures, does the day even count?

Last day in San Antonio

In the morning had brunch at a New York style diner. I was being jokingly judgy about the authenticity, but the place was legit.

Once again it was too hot to do much of anything outside, so I cajoled my friend into watching Ted Lasso.

In the evening we went to a sushi restaurant. My friend and I met in Japan last year, so it felt fitting to have sushi again as a farewell meal. It was good, but not Japan-good.

The day must have gone by in a blur, because I didn't take any pictures all day.

Daily listen watch: Ted Lasso. The hype is real and you should watch this show. I’ve watched it all the way through a few times and could keep watching it many times over. It's not just funny, heartwarming, and well written - I genuinely think I'm a better person after watching it. I made a conscious effort to take to heart some of the lessons from the show: Forgiveness in all things. Patience with people who are challenging to me. Assume positive intent. And above all, be kind.

Good: brunch at a NY Deli/Diner in San Antonio. Got challah French toast and a giant black and white cookie. They get credit for a pretty good NY diner. Only thing they didn’t get right was the attitude, much too friendly. 

Bad: Swapped out an electronics component in the van, but needed a ratchet driver. I have wrenches, but not a ratchet. Have 3 sets at home and didn’t bring it! Had to got buy one at Home Depot. The good news, though is that now I own four ratchet sets.

Unexpected: Laying in bed at night and getting emotional thinking about how fortunate I am to have such wonderful people in my life. 

That's a wrap on week 2! Thanks for visiting and check back for more. Only 31 more weeks to go!