With Girlfriend Weekend over, we had two full days to relax and see the sights. High on our agenda on Day 5 was the singularly Texan experience of getting (and drinking) cocktails from a drive-through kiosk. They have an extensive list of cocktails, all served over lots of crushed ice in to-go cups with a piece of tape carefully placed over the top of the cup, just to one side of the hole for the straw. This pays attention to the no-open-container law but also gets around it by allowing you to insert your straw and immediately start to enjoy the drink as you drive off. I rapidly figured out that the crushed ice serves an important function -- you simply cannot drink the cocktail very fast because the ice gives you “brain freeze” if you try. By the time we arrived at my friend’s house, about 20 minutes later, I had finished my drink and was definitely aware that I had imbibed a strong drink. Great fun! We ended up spending the evening playing golf on Wii (I lost -- bummer).
We also seem to have found a worthy quest for our trip -- finding the best freshly-made lemonade and limeade. In Jefferson, the drugstore downtown has a lunch counter and they make limeades from scratch. We even tried cherry-limeades. Worth a definite rave! Which reminds me that east Texas is Dr Pepper country. If you order a “coke” they ask you what flavor coke you want -- Coca-cola, Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper. Cute.
On day 6, a Monday, we went to see a model train layout that was absolutely fabulous. This is a huge layout that was lovingly built by two men who, upon their deaths, wanted it kept intact and moved to a place where it would be appreciated and well maintained. A few model train enthusiasts in Jefferson, TX were able to convince the family that Jefferson (population 2,000) was a worthy location (rather than New York or Dallas). The town hastily built a new building to house the trains and the result is impressive. The detail is amazing -- inside every building are scenes with furniture and people. The layout includes two small towns, with all the details you might imagine.
Then we drove to the only naturally-occurring lake in Texas, Caddo Lake, which is so large that it is in eastern Texas and also in Louisiana. Part of the lake is a large open water section and part is classic Louisiana swamp, with cypress trees draped in Spanish moss, green-brown water, and an eerie feel. We looked at some of the swampy bayous, although the bugs and other animal life remained hidden because it is winter and the weather has been especially cold for the region. We drove by a couple of towns with names that make me laugh -- Karnack (think Johnny Carson, and if you don’t know who he is then look him up), and Uncertain. I’m not joking -- these are real places.
We celebrated our final evening by going to a Texas steak house -- nice-sized and delicious ribeye steak with baked potato and creamed spinach is $16, which is at least half of what I would pay at home in California. We tried something new -- deep fried pickles with ranch dressing for dipping sauce. YUM! I know, it doesn’t sound very good, but it was.
Today is day 7, a Tuesday, and we took off for Savannah, Georgia (GA). Because it is a 14-hour drive we decided to stay at the halfway point which is in Birmingham, AL. So today we drove across Louisiana (LA) and Mississippi (MS) and partway into Alabama (AL). In LA, we passed Poverty Point Monument, which is the site of very early earthen mounds (as early as 700 BCE). Apparently archeologists discovered this site in the early 1900s and to this day are not entirely sure what the purpose of the mounds are. Look it up to find more info. None of us had ever heard of this and to learn that it is a national monument with such an interesting mystery was very exciting.
Interesting sighting in LA -- driving down the highway in the middle of nowhere there was a yellow diamond-shaped highway sign with a silhouette of a bear and the word “BEAR.” Bears in LA??? There were only scrub trees and swampy land for miles. Who knew?
More fun place names in MS: Bovina (who would name a town Bovina?), Chunky (yup, I’m not lying), Rhymes, and Van Winkle. We lunched in Pearl, MS and had chicken and dumplings smothered in gravy -- a totally Southern experience. On our route today, we’ve apparently been all over the world -- drove past Delhi, Quebec, Cuba, Canton, and Carthage, not to mention Eutaw in AL (yes, that is how they spell it). We ended the day with Manhattans, which are the perfect ending to any day.
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