Author: karenbpalmer

The Galveston-Port Bolivar ferry, this free ferry ride lets you bypass Houston.

The view from our campsite. Sight 55, our only complaint would be the security lights that belonged to the condominiums right next to us.

We toured the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Museum, to many interesting facts to try to share. We were surprised that it didn’t have a lot of propaganda supporting the oil industry.

John working hard on the oil rig.

We didn’t stop at Pleasure Pier as it was raining, maybe next time.

We did the tree sculpture tour, some were beautiful others were rotting away.

We asked these locals if they knew a good place to get fresh seafood, they recommended Katie’s.This is Katie’s fresh catch selection of the day. We went with the Golden Tile fish which was delicious.

 

We parked at Sam Houston Jones State Park.

Konriko Rice Mill, oldest rice mill in America.

Tabasco Factory, by the time we left my eyes were burning a little bit.

Mash is stored in oak barrels for up to 3 years, they put salt on top to help keep impurities out.

This was taken early afternoon.

911 Memorial, beams are from the World Trade Towers

Our first bonfire of the trip, a lot of the campgrounds we stay at do not allow fires.

Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana, miles of beaches and only a few houses here and there. Have a full tank and either snacks or a picnic because there is nothing out there.

Brrrr, hard freeze for two nights.

Beignets and coffee at Cafe Du Monde, in the French Quarter, taste like a big fluffy funnel cake.

Muffuletta sandwich at The Market Cafe.

Joan of Arc

Lots of frozen pipes, New Orleans pretty much shutdowns when the temperatures drop to close to freezing. So many frozen pipes and loss of water they had portable potties at the airport. A lot of museums and restaurants shut down. Mind you this happened Tuesday/Wednesday and some places were shut down till Saturday.

Inside of St Joseph’s plantation house. Doors were aligned to provide better air flow. Woodwork was all done by hand. 6,000+ square feet and at one time housed 23 kids and their parents, (two families) with two bathrooms installed later. This is still a working sugarcane plantation.

Oak Valley Plantation, beautiful grounds. We had to take the picture and go as they were getting ready to shut the bridges down. As crazy as it sounds they close them at dusk and they don’t open them till much later in the morning.

We ‘parked’ our home, turned on the furnace, and headed back to a South Dakota.

Supermoon over Lake Cochrane SD.

Cheerleaders for Alexis & Elysa’s basketball game, they won! We got a ‘couple’ looks.

Cheerleaders for Joseph’s game, they ended up losing but not by much. We got a ‘few’ more looks.

Beautiful Biloxi sunset

Mom wasn’t felling well so dad and her went to the doctor Friday afternoon to get things checked out. Not finding much they decided to transfer her to Sioux Falls. Saturday morning she passed away from septic shock.

Magdalene Marie Wollum (Maggie) was born April 29, 1934 to Joseph and Barbara (Achartz) Kronabetter in the little back bedroom on the Kronabetter farm. Maggie was baptized, confirmed, and finished school through the eighth grade at the St Leo Catholic Church in St Leo, MN. When Maggie was a little girl she enjoyed helping her mother with cooking and cleaning in the house. In the evening, after school, she had to help her father do chores.

In 1955, Maggie married Ronald Roles and to that union five boys were born: Roger, Mark, Timothy, Daniel, and Steven. They lived right outside of St Leo farming and raising their family. Ron passed away in 1961.

In 1965, Maggie married Harvey Wollum at Our Saviors Lutheran Church in New Ulm, MN. The new Wollum family of seven became a family of ten when Beverly, Karen, and Krist were born. Harvey and Maggie raised their children on the Wollum family farm and eventually retired to their lake home on Lake Cochran.

For fifty-two years, Maggie watched her family grow and met many new friends with Harvey by her side. She took pride in being a mom, wife, and eventually a grandmother and great grandmother. She will be remembered for her love of Wheel of Fortune, card playing, bird watching, and “choir practice.” Maggie enjoyed so many beautiful years full of happy memories surrounded by family and friends near and far.

Goodbye mom, we miss you.

Gulf State Park, huge park, cabins, the RV sites were big, and they are in the process of building a hotel and conference center.

Beautiful Beaches

Awesome boardwalks

******

Our visit was cut short.

There was a bunch of these blobs washed up on shore, so we had to research when we got home. We believe that these are Portuguese Man of War jellyfish, small dangerous guys, the biggest one we saw was just a little bigger than a quarter.

Christmas Eve appetizer, PJ’s baked oysters.

About 70 degrees out, but a little cool (for one of us) with the ocean breeze.

Standing on the pier looking back at the Emerald Beach RV Park.

Nice park, there were some ‘different people’, some were out walking their cats on leashes or in strollers. The neighbor across from us had a little dog that he kept asking his 5 pound dog “why you barking at your daddy, why are you mad at your daddy?”

On our way out of town, John took me out for breakfast to this fancy restaurant,Waffle House.At the campground we stayed at there was Convict Springs, (pictured below) the water in the spring is always at 70.5 degrees, this flows into the Suwannee River, they had kayaks available to rent. Nice campground, bike path near by, activities on the weekends.

Convict Springs, open for swimming year around and has an underwater cave system.

Our adventure to Epcot begins and the waiting in lines start.

A refreshing break

Gingerbread House at the American Adventure Pavilion

Candlelight Processional, Neil Patrick Harris narrated.

Epcot was all decked out for Christmas, and of course they had special Christmas fireworks.

Epcot at night

Karen makes a new friend

Woodsmoke Camping Resort site 315, nice big site but right on the corner so there was a lot of traffic.

Bonita Springs beach, in the 70’s but a little breezy today.Little Hickory Beach, no wind today, beautiful.

Lovers Key State Park, nice area, have to purchase a day pass but has decent facilities and a snack shack where you can, of course, get a snack or rent beach chairs.