Day Three: Seaside Trick or Treat

 One of the many, many things I love about our road trips is that we rarely have days of "just driving". Today was a case study in how a "driving" day typically goes for us.

First of all, I can't drive anywhere without hanging out the van window snapping photos. The Chef says he is worried for the safety of my phone.

But really, when we pass BATTLESHIPS....what else am I supposed to do?

We spent I don't know how long in the Florida Visitor Center. Too long. Even though we left the *room* on time this morning, after we had checked out, secured things in the van, stopped for gas, etc, etc. This extra unscheduled stop put us at least an hour, likely more, behind schedule.

But we were finally IN FLORIDA! and there were palm trees EVERYWHERE and free orange juice!

 And astronauts!

And I took off my gym shoes and put on sandals!

'

We made a small detour for Sweetling to meet an online friend (no pics to preserve the other's privacy) and then we headed to Ft Walton beach to eat lunch with the Jedi's long time friend (who had given us a tour of the Pentagon when we were in DC a few years ago). Pics above text. do not ask me why. I surely am not in control of what the computer does.



Our next stop was Seaside, where The Truman Show was filmed. This is one of Sweetling's favorite movies, so she was  super excited we were driving past it.

A little research revealed that Seaside hosts a Trick or Treating night on Halloween.

Now, if I had seen this on a tv show, cute little town were whole families are dressed up walking around together trick or treating, including teenagers in costumes being civilized and social and stores giving out things like full sized candybars and individually decorated cupcakes, I would never have believed it. That sort of stuff doesn't happen in real life anywhere, right? WRONG. It happens in Seaside!!!

So, when we find a winning lottery ticket just laying on the ground somewhere waiting for us. This is where I'm moving. Look how quaint the streets are.

But, I'm so excited about Seaside Trick or Treating and Seaside in general, that I've jumped ahead of myself. Before we participated in the awesomeness that was Seaside, we had to go down to the beach and touch the ocean.

And after Trick or Treating, we grabbed the best grilled sandwiches ever from a local food truck and went to a beach pavilion to watch the sunset. (Also, I love the panorama camera feature on my new phone, but not sure how well those photos will translate here.)

After some delicious gelato (can you say NUTELLA GELATO? I can, and did, and ordered it, and ate it!) We drove to St George Island where we will be staying at the beach front Buccaneer Inn in this amazingly large room with a beach front view.

And that, friends, is how a "driving day" is DONE.

Also, all the snuggle friends that came for the trip got special Halloween ribbons to wear.

Day Two: BBQ, Bugs, and Ghosts, Oh My!

We crossed into Mississippi, our second new state of the trip, around 11 this morning. I really like how each of the welcome centers have reflected the character of the state. Mississippi's carausel horses weren't as awe inspiring as Alabama's full scale Saturn 1B rocket, but they were sweet and full of southern charm.

Lunch was at Leath's BBQ in Hattiesville MS.

Oh my goodness. Long family style dining tables, secret recipe slaw, sweet potato fries, sauce warmed in a crockery pitcher, big ol washcloths for napkins, and some good Q!

Y'all notice how suddenly all my text is centered? Yeah, I'm noticing it too. Typing in a moving van, trying to get my little tablet to cooperate, can barely see the screen for the sun glare, so we're all just going to ignore the sudden shift in text formatting.

Moving on.

Sweetling's pic of things to do in New Orleans was the Audubon Insectarium.

We got there about an hour before they closed, but could have easily spent three hours in the place.

It was really well done and interesting. The main hall had many displays of living creatures along with the standard what is an insect, what is an arthropod, what is a bug, what is a spider sort of information presented in really bright, engaging formats.

The side rooms each had a theme. One was "Underground" (no pics because it was dark). It allowed you to walk under the leaf litter through the soil on a scale as if you were insect sized. Then a room on termites and the damage  a new breed is causing in New Orleans. A room on insects and fishing, on insects of the swamp lands, on bees, etc. etc.

My favorite room was the Hall of Fame gallery. I have never seen insects displayed in such a stunningly beautiful manner. The photos I was able to eek out of my phone camera do not do these works of art justice.

And finally (look, the text justification fixed itself), finally, the capstone of the Insectarium was the Japanese Butterfly Garden. Since it was the last room, we were able to slow down and fully enjoy it.

Dinner was at Pierre Maspero's in the French Quarter. Ed and I split a blackened chicken jambalaya and Sweetling had blackened redfish. It was all very good. 

Following dinner, we walked over to the Mississippi River and then walked around the French Quarter for a while.

We were also irresponsible in The Fudgery. We bought 4 and a half pounds of fudge, plus extras.

We went to Cafe du Monde because, you know, its Cafe du Monde, but none of us were all that impressed with their beignets. Maybe its something that has to be enjoyed with a cup of coffee to be appreciated. I did find the streamlining of their kitchen line to be pretty interesting.

By far the highlight of the French Quarter was the Ghost Tour by Voodoo Bones Lady. Our tour guide was amazing. He was so animated and he told such good stories. He began the tour by saying that he had grown up in New Orleans, and he was going to share with us the stories that he grew up hearing told. His love for his city and his passion for its stories really came through.

It was great. It made all our lists of favorite things from the day. Two hour walking tour and we had an amazing time the WHOLE time!