Granddaddy is a Rock Star

Wednesday, December 21 - I need to post about all the places we've been in the last two weeks, but I'm going to skip ahead and tell you about yesterday.  A few days ago, Dad saw that there was going to be a full size model of an F-35 downtown and Dad thought that Granddaddy (Dad's Dad) would like to go see it.  It's been pretty cold, but yesterday it was warmer, so we went and got Granddaddy.

I thought the plane was the star and we were just going to look at it, but when we got there, Granddaddy was the star!  Everyone wanted to talk to him and the paparazzi snapped lots of photos.

What I found out is Granddaddy isn't just special to me.  He's special to everyone.  He is 91 now, so he was a young man at the time of World War II.  He enlisted in the Navy and went to radio school on Navy Pier.  (That's communication type radios so that soldiers in one place can talk to soldiers in another place.  They are different than the radio you have in your car.)  He was always really good with radios and electronics, so after the war he got a job with a company called General Dynamics.  He worked there for 35 years in the Avionics Division designing air to ground communication on the B-58, the F-111, and the F-16.  General Dynamics has since been acquired by Lockheed Martin and Lockheed builds the F-35, so there were lots of Lockheed people around the plane. They were so excited to meet Granddaddy.

First, the Head Test Pilot wanted to meet Granddaddy

Granddaddy let the Head Test Pilot have an official photo with him, Dad, and Mom.

Then Granddaddy got into the cockpit to check out the plane.

And the paparazzi got a photo of Mom and Dad with Granddaddy...

Afterwards, the Head of the Fort Worth Division of Lockheed wanted to show all the features of this new plane to Granddaddy and get his thoughts on it.  He presented Granddaddy with an official F-35 pin.  

It was so cool being with a star.  I have to say Thank You to Angel who is the Lockheed photographer who sent me all these pictures.  Sometimes the paparazzi are really nice.

A VERY Special Day

December 8, 2016

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday, Dear Doolin,

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is a very special day.  It’s MY 10th Birthday.  I’m so excited!  Hope you will indulge me a little while I reminisce.

Some of you may not know, but Mom and Dad haven’t always been my parents.  They adopted me when I was three months old.  This is Mom and Me the day after I came to live with them.   That was such a great day.

Pretty soon I was settling in.  Now I have a bed next to Mom’s desk, but back then, I used to really like to sleep under Mom’s desk while she worked.

I’ve been traveling, almost since I came to live with Mom and Dad.  This is my first trip with them.  We went to Cannon Beach, Oregon, about a month after I was adopted.

This is me riding in the van on the way home from that trip.  I sat by Mom's feet.  We still have this van and when we are home in Washington, Mom drives it and I love to go in it.

When I was five (that seems SO long ago), we went on our first BIG adventure.  That is when I became a blogger.  This is Dad and me working on one of my early blog posts.  I found it exhausting learning all this computer stuff.

Pretty soon, I got the hang of it and enjoyed telling you about all the places we are going.   We had so much fun at the Grand Canyon.

And in Colorado, visiting Cousin Matt.

And then my first visit to Texas where I met Aunt Mary and Cousins Izzie and Dakota.

Now I've been to 26 states, but no matter where we go, the best part of my life is being with Mom and Dad.

Thanks for letting me reminisce.  Next time I write, I’ll catch you up on our current travels, but right now, I’ve got an important birthday party to go to – MINE!

Love, Doolin!  

New Orleans, Louisiana to Corpus Christi, Texas

Tuesday, November 29 - Dad wanted to drive around Port Fourchon, Louisiana and look at the off shore oil refinery support equipment and ships.  From Wikipedia “Port Fourchon is Louisiana’s southernmost port, located on the southern tip of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, on the Gulf of Mexico, and is significant to petroleum industry traffic from offshore Gulf oil platforms and drilling rigs as well as the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port pipeline. Fourchon's primary service markets are domestic deepwater oil and gas exploration, drilling, and production in the Gulf of Mexico. Port Fourchon currently services over 90% of the Gulf of Mexico's deepwater oil production. There are over 600 oil platforms within a 40-mile radius of Port Fourchon. This area furnishes 16 to 18 percent of the US oil supply.^[1]”

It was boring for me so I just slept in the back seat of the Jeep. Below are some of what Mom and Dad thought were the highlights.

This is an Aerial View of the port, thank you Internet,

and some of the ships that we saw.

Wednesday, November 30 - When we left New Orleans, we drove to New Iberia.  Along the way we saw sugar cane fields and harvesting.  This adds to my farming knowledge.  Corn and Soybeans in Illinois, Tobacco and Cotton in Tennessee and now sugar cane in Louisiana.  This is Sugar Cane harvest.

Thursday, December 1 - The main reason we stopped in New Iberia was for dad to see where his favorite condiment, Tabasco, is made.  Mom and Dad enjoyed the tour and tasting, but I had to stay in the car.  They age pepper mash for 3 years in these used wooden whisky and wine barrels.  Mom thinks my food smells bad, at least it does not rot for 3 years in old barrels.  Avery Island is interesting since it is a salt dome and all the salt on top of the barrels and in the sauce is mined on the island.  Tabasco sauce was first produced in 1868 by Edmund McIlhenny and is still a family run business after 6 generations.  This is the barrel storage area.

Dad picked out a couple bottles to take home.

There were beautiful Oak trees all over Louisiana.  Here are a couple at Avery Island.

When we left New Iberia, Dad wanted to take the scenic route through the marshes and along the coast.    We saw more refineries and liquid natural gas plants.  I’m not sure why dad thinks refineries and petroleum manufacturing plants are “scenic”, but I humor him. It must be something from him growing up in Texas and seeing pump jacks in the pastures.  We finally stopped in Sabine Pass TX for the night right along the Sabine river and across from another LNG plant.  It was pretty at night, kind of like Christmas.  Many big ships went right past us, kind of like home except these are full of petroleum instead of logs.  Lots of nice views from the campground.

Not everyone in costal Louisiana lives in an RV park.  Some find homes other places.  

We looked at some used oil field equipment, but decided not to buy it.

Friday, December 2 - Mom and Dad abandoned the coast road when we left Sabine Pass, since there were storms blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico.  We detoured to Tomball near were Mom and Dad lived, way before me.   Mom and Dad had a nice Italian dinner at Via Emilia in the Woodlands.  I was stuck having kibble in the coach afterward.  The wind blew and it rained hard all night.  We got 2.6” rain overnight, while in Galveston they got 4.8”.  It was a good thing we abandoned the coast for a while.  

Saturday, December 3 - The weather forecast looked better in Corpus Christy, so we decided to go there.   Along the way we saw very large, very flat sorghum fields freshly harvested.   Of course everything is flat along the Texas gulf coast.  When we got to Corpus Christy, guess what?  We saw more oil refineries along the bay along with windmills that were spinning in the stormy winds.  

Sunday, December 4 - Mom's cousin Mason plays for the Corpus Christy Icerays hockey team.  Mom and Dad went to one of his games to see him play.  Then they went out to dinner after the game with Mason.  This is a picture of Mom and Mason after the game.  

Here is an updated map of the places we've been recently.

Nashville to New Orleans

Friday, November 25 and Saturday, November 26 - We spent a total of three days on the Natchez Trace Parkway, driving from Nashville to Jackson, MS.  We will leave the last +/- 100 miles of the Natchez Trace (Jackson to Natchez) for another trip.

It was a wonderful drive full of beautiful scenery and interesting history.   We saw where Tobacco grows and Tobacco drying in a barn.

We saw Meriwether Lewis's (Lewis & Clark) grave.

We saw Elvis Presley's birth place in Tupelo, Mississippi.  We spent a night in Tupelo.

Sunday, November 27 - Today we drove from Jackson, MS to New Orleans.   We are staying on the "West Bank" of the Mississippi River, across from New Orleans at Bayou Signette State Park.  For those of you with RV's, make note of this park.  It's a lovely place and you can drive a few miles down the road and catch the Algiers Passenger Fairy, which takes you to the foot of Canal Street in New Orleans.  The French Quarter with no parking and no traffic hassles!   We went into New Orleans this afternoon and Mom and Dad went to a show at Preservation Hall.

They said the music was awesome.  The Ferry stops running at 6:00 pm on Sunday, so we drove into the French Quarter.

They went to a restaurant called Tableau.  It is one of Dickie Bennan's restaurants.  At least that is what it said on the "to go" bag that they brought back, that I didn't get.  They had fun and said that it was good.

I sat in the Jeep while they were in the Quarter.  They parked in the warehouse district next to the French Quarter.  Fortunately, my knees have stopped shaking, so I can type about it.  It was scary.   I'm SO glad they came back.

Monday, November 28 -  Today I hung out at the park with my new friend Andy Armadillo.  He lives here around Site #15 at Bayou Signette State Park.  He doesn't seem to mind that we are invading his space.  He likes to dig bugs in the dirt outside our front door.

The first time Mom saw him, she thought he was a statue, until he moved.  She says that he is the first 3-D Armadillo that she has ever seen.  Armadillos tend to be one dimensional on the roads in Texas.  

Today, Mom and Dad drove to Algiers and took the ferry into the French Quarter.   Mom took this photo of the Ferry, with the riverboat Natchez in the background, while they were waiting in Algiers.  

                           

She took this photo while they were crossing the Mississippi.  If you noticed that it looks stormy, Mom says that you are very perceptive.  She was nearly blown over taking the photo.  It was REALLY windy!!!

They had a fun time in the Quarter and had a late lunch/early dinner of Creole Food before they came home to me.  I'm just glad that they came home and made dinner for me.

Tuesday, November 29 - Today we drove to Grand Isle, Louisiana.  Grand Isle is a barrier island south of New Orleans.  It was a pretty drive through marshes and over causeways.  It's kind of Louisiana's version of driving to Key West.  When we got to Grand Isle, Mom and Dad let me run on the beach, which is on the Gulf of Mexico.  I've been to the Gulf of Mexico before, but it's been a year, which is a LONG time in Dog Years.  It was fun.  Dad threw my ball and I ran after it.

Mom and Dad bought shrimp from one of the shrimp boats.   This is what Dad made for dinner (for him and Mom, not me).  

It's called Firey Cajun Shrimp.  You can Google it.  It's Paula Dean's recipe, although Aunt Mary has a similar recipe, which gave him the idea.

Here is a map of the places we have been lately.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 23, 2016 – Glad that Dad came home from his business trip last night.  I was SO glad to see him.

 

Today we went to The Hermitage.  That was Andrew Jackson’s home.  He had a big plantation.  Mom and Dad toured the house, grounds, and museum.  Then, they walked around the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and looked at the Christmas decorations.   The Hotel is a huge place.  It has 2888 rooms and covers 47 acres, including three domed atriums with gardens.   Mom said that it was pretty amazing.

Thursday, November 24, 2016 – This morning we left Nashville and started a drive down the Natchez Trace Parkway.  

We saw a really cool bridge

And lots of pretty scenery

I have a lot to be Thankful for.  I found a bone today!!

We saw lots of wild turkeys today, but we didn’t catch any and my pictures didn’t turn out.  Instead, Dad is currently working on Filet Mignon with fresh broccoli and baked potatoes for him and Mom.  I get kibble and afterwards I’ll dream of my bone.  Unfortunately, I had to drop it outside the door of the motor home and when I went back out to look at it, it was gone.  I'll keep checking every time I go out, no matter where we are, to see if it has reappeared.

Mammoth Cave National Park to Nashville, TN

Thursday, November 17 - We didn't go in any caves today, but took a hike on the surface of the park.  It was a beautiful day and lots of nice fall color.  This is a picture of our camp site.

When we left Mammoth Cave National Park, we drove to Nashville.  On the way, we stopped in Bowling Green, KY and took a tour of the General Motors plant that builds all the Corvettes in the world.  Mom and Dad thought the tour was very interesting.

Friday, November 18 to Sunday, November 20 - We spent three days seeing the sites of Nashville. Mom and Dad took a bus tour to see sites around the city.  They went to the Grand Ole Oprey on Saturday night.  They toured the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, took the back stage tour at the Grand Ole Oprey, saw a replica of the Parthenon, and toured Barbara Mandrell's former home, a cozy 27,000 square foot log home.  Yes, I got the size right.  It was gigantic!

They also spent some time downtown listening to live music at some of the establishments on Broadway.  Here are a few pictures.

Nashville's new rising star...

Sunday - November 20 to Tuesday - November 22 - Over the last couple of weeks, Dad has been talking to a potential new client.  Everything came together last week and they hired him.  They wanted him to come out and meet with them right away, so Sunday afternoon, Mom and I took him to the Nashville Airport and he flew to San Jose, California to meet with them.  

Mom and I have been having some bonding time.  She's been doing some prep for year end for a few of her clients, caught up on the laundry and did some cleaning of the motor home.   We will pick Dad up from at the Nashville Airport on Tuesday evening.