WTF!??? Snow in Mid-April

Last year, we got back to Orillia on April 7th, only to have snow and freezing rain hit us the next day.  It had been so cold that Jackie's water pipes were still frozen.  So this year, we decided to delay our return by a week and guess what?!.....it fricken' snowed in Indiana and there's a winter advisory for Flint Michigan, our next stop.  I always swore I would never see snow again after I retired.  So much for that prediction.   I managed to avoid having to drive in it (so far) but we did hit fairly heavy rain today between Indianapolis and Angola.  On the plus side, it did clear a few bugs off the windshield.

All I can say is that the idea of sacrificing a virgin to the weather gods is looking like a pretty reasonable alternative right now.

Next year, I'm not coming back until June.

I May Have to Rethink Some Eating Adventures

I've written about eating tripe (urk!) and boudin (yum!) and crawfish (jury's out), but I didn't tell you about some of our other culinary excursions.

In Yuma, one of the grocery stores featured yogurts with flavours such as Pineapple Kiwi Spinach and Blueberry Cucumber.  Naturally, I bought everything they had including Dark Cherry Beet, Lemon Zucchini and Spiced Apricot Butternut Squash.



 Let me just say, for the record, that ALL of these are a very bad idea.  I tried the first two and just about gagged.  I couldn't even face the other ones.  I opened them up, took one sniff and tossed them into the trash.  I know you're supposed to eat vegetables and all, but, quite frankly, I'd rather risk scurvy than dip into these again.  They even made tripe look good.

So, not to be outdone, my two sisters prepared a little taste testing event last night featuring pop (aka soda) they picked up in Tennessee or possibly Mars.

The first one (Sample A) smelled like old shoes and didn't taste a whole lot better.  The second one (Sample B) tasted like something you would pour on pancakes, only sweeter and wetter.  Sample C seemed okay at first, once you got past the gag reflex.  However, it definitely had an afterburn that was reminiscent of that feeling you get when you kind of puke but don't quite get there.  The final one (Sample D) was bright green and smelled like a combination of mouthwash and old dusty books.  That same old book taste lingered for quite awhile.  ALL of the samples were thrown out the Beast's window in very short order.  Want to know what we were drinking?

Sample A:  Ranch Dressing soda
Sample B:  Maple Bacon pop
Sample C:  Buffalo Wing pop
Sample D:  Cucumber soda

Kind of makes me crave a big glass of milk and a bologna sandwich.

Anyhow, we said goodbye to the girls last night.  They are off to Michigan for some final RV repairs.  We are off to Flint, Michigan and then home to Sudbury.  Sudbury....where it snowed 30 cm in the past two days.  yay

Vicksburg....drop everything and go there

For the first time, we have turned north.  Our path took us to the town of Vicksburg, which was a huge civil war battle site and is now home to half a dozen casinos and one huge riverboat.  What a gorgeous town!  Everywhere you look there's a mansion or a statue or a mural or a cannon or ironwork decorations or cobblestone streets.  We spent 3 days there and I plan to spend a whole lot more time in the Fall.

The mansion tours just about did RRR in:  she had said, just the day before, that she should be walking more.  Be careful what you ask for!!!  And, for some odd reason, people in the 1800s really liked stairs..... a lot!  It must have been so they could make grand entrances in their hoop skirts.

RRR was not thrilled with the mansions - she felt they needed a good cleaning.  The first one was a "town house" and was actually quite small (and a bit dingy) although it did feature a hand-crafted carpet done in petit-point (check out the photo).

 The second one - Cedar Grove - was gorgeous.  It also featured a canonball from the civil war, which was lodged in the wall.

The colours were amazing - one room was done all in Wedgwood Blue, another was dusty rose, another was forest green.  There was even a pink Lalicque chandelier and a piano that was valued at $1.5 million.  Even more impressive was a huge safe that sat in the formal dining room:  it looks just like a buffet table, but was actually a 3000 pound safe that the owner used to hide his valuables when the Union army commandeered the house as a hospital.  No one ever guessed that the side table hid all of his money.  I was so busy kicking it (they said we could), that I forgot to take a photo.

One interesting thing I learned about was the paintings which you see everywhere:  they are usually of little kids in very uncomfortable looking clothes that no parent in his/her right mind would ever dress them in.  It turns out that, because of the bad winters, painters would paint a selection of bodies in various costumes and with various backgrounds.  Then, in good weather, they would travel to wealthy homes and people would pick out their favorite outfit and the background and the painter would just paint in their faces and hands.  This led to some weird combos:  in this case, there is a painting of a little girl but the face and hands are those of a much older woman.  It's kinda creepy.

 Also creepy was the doll museum..... it's kind of unnerving to have all these little eyes staring at you everywhere you turn.  My favorite was the X-files Barbie and Ken.  I had to have that picture.

And just across the street was the Coca-Cola museum where I spotted a Jabba the Hutt lunchbox.  What little kid wouldn't like to bring that to school!?

All in all, Vicksburg is a memorable place.  I really need to spend some time there to indulge my interests in the civil war era.  The place just drips with history!!!