wedding

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 12 (Finale) / May 11, 2019 by Mark

Reporting from home…

The final day of most trips is uneventful, and this one was no exception. We went over familiar roads we’ve traveled dozens of times—so there’s little to report.

We were home for several hours before I remembered I needed to dash off a blog entry. Here’s the final picture…

So, just over 3,000 miles and 62 hours of driving this trip, covering 12 states. It was a lot of fun, but we’re glad we’re back home.

Hopefully, there will be a little less of a delay before my next blog entry.

#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 11 / May 10, 2019 by Mark

Reporting from Indianapolis, IN. We’re only a few hours from home, but we have found that if we make a final long dash we end up exhausted. So, here we are.

Today was Big Things Day, featuring the world’s largest <fill in the blank>.

Here’s the world’s SECOND largest rocking chair—why second? More in a minute.

Here’s a giant ice cream cone at an elementary school in Affton, MO for some reason.

Here’s the world’s largest chess piece, outside the Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis.

But the main event was Carey, IL—the world’s headquarters for the world’s largest objects.

So here’s the world’s largest rocking chair. It eclipsed the previous #1, so that’s considered the largest chair on Route 66.

Here’s the world’s largest see-saw (under construction).

The world’s largest FUNCTIONING wind chime.

The world’s largest mail box. You can even drop off actual mail inside.

The world’s largest (non-wearable) wooden shoes.

Why is this all in one small Illinois town? Because there’s a workshop that churns out massive working versions of various objects. I assume Batman villains frequent this place.

Meanwhile, at the closed giant objects factory, the Penguin is completing a purchase!

Well, we crashed early at the hotel. It’s been a long trip (but a lot of fun), and the final day is tomorrow.

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 10 / May 9, 2019 by Mark

Reporting from Rolla, MO.

We’ve been in three states today, starting with Oklahoma, which offered us a cheery good morning.

There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow…

After some driving and possible wrong terms (we couldn’t get two GPS’s to agree), we found ourselves at the border of three states.

We then visited the Joplin Museum Complex, which is a strange assortment of random stuff that adds up to an interesting experience.

Joplin was founded on mining, so there’s a large exhibit on that.

Dennis Weaver was born here. Chief? (something for the MSTies out there)

There’s a miniature circus exhibit and the…

Plus cats wander around the museum freely. All for $2 a head (yours, not the cats).

By then, it was time to eat. Open faced beef sammich, taco salad, and homemade pie from Granny Shaffer.

We had already planned to stop in Carthage to see Marlin Perkins’ statue (he of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom) when I read 20 minutes earlier that Jim Fowler (the guy who wrestled the wildebeest while Marlin had Mai-Tai’s in his tent) died today at 87. RIP

We then reached a second…well you know. This one was in a parking lot.

There’s a rest stop on I-44 (aka Route 66) that has miniature versions of attractions on the way.

When we saw the “World’s Largest Gift Store”, you know we had to stop. Bonus—Lucy’s old car. Where’s Fred and Ethel?

Yet another attraction is the Uranus Fudge Factory. Let the puns begin!

So we wound up in Rolla, which houses Stonehenge—at least a miniature version.

No one knows who they were, or what they were doing.

OK, that’ll do it. Wi-fi is giving out. More tomorrow.

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 9 / May 8, 2019 by Mark

Reporting from Claremore, OK.

We started in Pauls Valley, and saw the daily Amtrak come through the rainy station.

But the real reason we were there was the Toy and Action Figure Museum. This guy has an ENORMOUS collection, organized by room and genre.

The only exception to the organized collection is the massive amount of random figures in the “bedroom”.

Later, we stopped in Norman, OK to add to our collection of TV stars in bronze. This time it was the late James Garner of Maverick and Rockford Files fame.

Then it was off to Oklahoma City for our third capitol building of the tour. We were very impressed with the Louisiana and Texas sites—Oklahoma, not so much. Parking was almost nonexistent, the building is under construction, and someone had the genius idea of inviting the local high school jazz orchestra to perform in a marbled rotunda. We were there for about 10 minutes.

Is this a state capital or a subway station?

Yep—Oklahoma sold NAMING RIGHTS to their state capitol!!!

Mindy did a search for “fried pies in OKC” and found this place. Just a small lunch…

We also tried to visit the OKC memorial, but again, parking not really an option. Oh, well—I didn’t want to be depressed anyway. We did see a giant toothbrush, though.

Moving on to Route 66 (where you can apparently get your kicks) and “Pops”, a convenience store/soda emporium.

Once we made it to Tulsa, we found the “East Meets West” tableau, showing old and new transportation in an impass.

OK, it took quite a while to transfer this all over hotel wifi, so more tomorrow.

#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 8 / May 7, 2019 by Mark

Reporting from Pauls Valley, OK (where the waving wheat, can sure smell sweet, when the wind comes right behind the rain…)

The day began back in Waco, TX—hence the waffle.

We drove into town, which boasts the the king and queen of cable home decoration, Chip and Joanna Gaines. It’s quite the empire.

Then it was off to the Dr. Pepper museum. There’s quite a history here of the various sodas (or pops, if you prefer).

We had lunch at an Asian food truck. Quite yummy. Our meal was only slightly impacted by a dive-bombing butterfly (don’t ask).

Waco certainly keeps it weird.

I noticed a billboard for “The American Domino Company”, so we stopped in. We left with a Number Domino 15 set.

Then it was off to Ft. Worth and the Water Gardens. They shot scenes for the film Logan’s Run here.

The next stop involved no photography—the US Mint. My mother will be happy to know I got in without a problem (she’ll know what that means).

A strange spot in suburban Denton, between two normal homes, is “The Chairy Orchard”. Is it an art installation? A neighborhood meeting spot? In any case, there’s a lot of places to sit.

Another un-photograph-able attraction was Magnetic Hill, in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma. It’s one of those places where gravity supposedly goes haywire. It’s just an optical illusion—it seems like your car rolls uphill—but it’s fun.

Well, that’s plenty for now—I’m worn out. More tomorrow.

#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 7 / May 6, 2019 by Mark

Reporting from Waco, TX—

We had originally planned to stay two nights in Austin, but our experiences there seemed to run 50/50.

Our breakfast was fantastic. The Magnolia Cafe served us “the Love Miga”, a breakfast taco and a LARGE pancake. Yummy! Mindy is already trying to figure out how to replicate it at home.

However, lunch was a different story. Black's is based in Lockhart, reportedly the Nirvana of Texas 'Que. We were unimpressed. The meat was decent, but the baked beans were a little soupy--kind of like refried beans with liquid smoke added. Pecan cobbler (the review said you could eat a pan of it) was basically pecan pie broken up. Overall, #citybarbeque does a better job.

We found a lot of interesting stuff, from hipster locations to historic ones, outside of downtown.

…but Downtown was another matter. There was an event going on which basically took traffic down to a standstill. (I had no idea Austin was so big!) We ended up dropping a couple of places.

We did manage to see our second state capital building of the tour.

After a trip to the top of Mt. Bonnell for a peek…

We made the judgment call to move on.

There were a few sites we wanted to see on the way to Waco, but they all seemed to be on these strange elongated “service roads” next to the highway. If you didn’t catch them, you had to go miles out of your way and backtrack. So we moved on.

Mindy did find an interesting snack—rolled ice cream. It’s quite the performance as they put liquid on a super-chilled surface…

Time to wrap it up—more tomorrow. #BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 6 / May 5, 2019 by Mark

We’re back on the road post-wedding and all the accompanying parties. A lot of fun, and the ceremony/reception was great. But now, we’ve made it to Austin, TX.

Since Lake Charles, we have hit no less than three Buc-ee’s. What’s a Buc-ee, you ask? Imagine a convenience store hopped up on steroids and Red Bull. It’s EN-OR-MOUS! They are well spaced to sell you a a large drink and then have another store an hour and a half later when you need the facilities.

You could spend a week shopping here. The also have infinite gas pumps.

One of the Buc-ee’s even had the “world’s longest car wash”.

In addition to convenience stores, we also stopped in Houston to see an art installation celebrating John Glenn and Yuri Gagarin, the first two men to orbit the earth. It’s near an old NASA site. The display has a huge set of tiny holes that, when seen at a distance, shows Glenn’s photo from the capsule.

In addition, Houston reportedly had the “Big Bubble”—an art installation with a red button next to a bridge, which was supposed to generate a, well, big bubble in the river. It must have been down today—no bubble.

That stop did let us discover a George Bush (41) monument. <political comment> He’s the dictionary definition of “grading on a curve”—a President who looks a lot better than what we have today.

Another stop was the Igloo cooler plant, which has an interesting security shack.

In Austin, we tried out Mighty Fine Burgers, and they met that definition.

OK, I’m getting tired. Touring Austin tomorrow.
#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 4.5 / May 4, 2019 by Mark

A mini-entry from Lake Charles.

Mindy and her sisters went to the shore to see alligators and stick her toes in the Gulf.

We later attended the wedding rehearsal dinner at the party house. It’s quite the facility. Since we’re in the Bayou, they had a crawfish boil, so we gave it a shot. If you like lobster, you’ll probably like it—but get ready for some work to get it out.

The wedding is later today. They had the nerve to hold it on Free Comic Book Day, so we’re sneaking out this morning to go to a local shop.

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 3.5 / May 3, 2019 by Mark

Writing this entry late—we were out into the wee hours (which for me is about 10:30p).

We headed off to Baton Rouge and the state capitol. It’s a very impressive building, especially considering it was built during the Great Depression. Governor Huey Long didn’t take no for an answer.

Google just went ahead and made this panoramic view for me.

We went up the tower and took a look outside.

Then it was off to the old Governor’s mansion (Governors’ ? Governors ?). Docent Frank talked our ears off with some great stories about the place.

Gov. Long had it built like the White House so that “he could find the light switches when he got there”.

On the way over to Lake Charles, we drove around Rayne, LA. It’s touted as the “Frog Capitol of the World” because they caught and sold frogs to restaurants throughout the South. It’s teeming with statues.

Rayne also boasts the only “wrong way cemetery”. They are traditional laid out east to west, but when this one was started north to south, they just left it that way. Add to that the above ground crypts standard in the Bayou, and you get a creepy sight.

Finally we made it to Lake Charles, where we’re attending our niece’s wedding.

Entries may be sparse for the next couple of days, but we’ll see. If not, we’ll continue on the second leg of the trip. #BayouWeddingTOur

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 2 / May 1, 2019 by Mark

Reporting from Slidell, Louisiana.

We made our way through Alabama and Mississippi today, winding up about an hour or so from Baton Rouge. We’re big fans of giant statues, and Birmingham has them all over. Here’s “Miss Electra”, presiding over downtown and the local power company. Per Roadside America, "She appears to be ready to either 1) hurl benevolent electricity into downtown, or 2) fry Birmingham evil-doers with a bolt from the blue."

On top of Red Mountain we find Vulcan, originally created for the 1904 World’s Fair, finally getting his own park after years of neglect. There’s a museum covering local history, an elevator that takes you up to Vulcan and incredible views.

We had lunch in Tuscaloosa, at Avenue Pub. I had their famed Bacon Burger, while Mindy had a HUMONGOUS chicken sammich.

Needless to say, we just had a snack for dinner.

Enough for day 2—tomorrow is Baton Rouge and our main destination, Lake Charles.

#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 1 / April 30, 2019 by Mark

Well, it’s time for another travelogue. This time, it’s a trip to our niece’s wedding in Louisiana. We’re taking a fairly straight shot down from Ohio, and then a leisurely loop through Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri on the way back to Columbus.

We tried out Chaney’s Dairy Barn in Kentucky, which reportedly has great ice cream (it did). Sandwiches, not so much.