Our big vacation this year was a trip to Texas and Louisiana to visit family and celebrate Grandma and Grandad Roberts 90th and 92nd birthdays (respectively) as well as their 70th wedding anniversary!
Our trip started with a 5:30 am flight from Seattle to Dallas. With getting only 2 hours of sleep before the flight and my proneness to motion sickness, the 2 part flight was basically just miserable. I was happy to land on the ground, even if it was 30 degrees hotter in Dallas than it had been in Seattle (I literally gasped because of the heat when I walked outside). Surprisingly, we had 4 people meet us at the airport in Dallas instead of the 2 we had expected.... Mom and Dad Roberts were picking us up from the airport so we knew that they would be there, but I didn't know that our good friend Jasmyn who taught English with us in Russia would meet us there too (wither her mom, who makes the 4th person)! It was quite a surprise! We immediately went and ate lunch together and it was so nice to get to see Jasmyn and meet her mom :)
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| Jasmyn, me, and Philip (who wore his Russian shirt for memories sake) |
On Sunday we drove with Mom Roberts to their lakehouse to spend a couple days in relaxation mode. Dad Roberts got called to work and we actually didn't get to see him again until Friday :(. While there we did lots of relaxing, talking, and some canoeing. On Tuesday Philip and I went and stayed with Philip's next oldest brother Scott, his wife Aimee, and their kids Emily, Maddy, and Nathan in Longview Texas. While we were there Scott was nice enough to get our teeth cleaned (he is a dentist and neither of us had been to a dentist in over a year), and I actually got a filling done without anesthesia - tooth pain is a weird kind of pain.... Philip was cavity free (which is a miracle-trust me)! After hanging out in Longview for a couple of days we drove to Baton Rouge to meet up with the rest of the family. All but two of Philip's siblings and their families were there, and lots of extended Roberts family was there too - There were a lot of people!
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| Philip playing with his parents dog Happy while at the lake house |
As we drove to Baton Rouge on Thursday, Mom Roberts, Philip, and I stopped at a place called Vermilionville. It is an outdoor museum type of a place with several buildings that have been restored from the 1700-1800's and is meant to give modern day goers a peak into Acadian and Creole life back in the day. It was a really interesting place - I thought I took a lot of pictures of it, but right now this is the only one I could find - sorry, you don't really get any taste for what it's like. In almost each of the houses they would have a worker there who would be dressed in period type clothing and would be doing a period based task. We saw a carpenter, a lady spinning cotton into thread, and another making dolls out of corn husks.
On Friday Mom and Dad Roberts, and Philip and I went and toured three plantation homes. I absolutely loved it! They all had done it before, as they lived in the area for many years, but it was definitely a first for me. It was so interesting to see those houses and the extreme detail that went into them at a time when it was so difficult to make detailed decorations.
The first house we visited was the Nottaway Plantation - it was beautiful! The pictures speak for themselves!
After Nottaway we drove by Oak Alley plantation. This plantation house is so amazing because of the beautiful old live oak trees that are growing in the alley up to the house. Live oak trees are so amazing and you definitely come to appreciate their beauty during a trip to Baton Rouge. It was pouring rain when we went to Oak Alley, so we didn't get out, so I don't have any pictures of it, so I am including one from Google.
The next plantation we visited was the San Francisco, but you couldn't take pictures inside and it started pouring rain again while we were there so we didn't really get any pictures outside, so I am including one of the outside from Google.
The last plantation we visited was The Houmas House, and I would say it was probably the best tour we went on. Our tour guide was very entertaining and knowledgeable and the house was interesting not only because it is a plantation, but also because the owner of the plantation who restored the place actually lives there and he collects a lot of cool unique antiques - so the house is just filled with cool stuff. Also, the gardens at this house were just amazing! It was getting dark and still slightly drizzling while we were there so I didn't get many good photos of the outside - and when we were inside I was too interested in the tour to think about taking many pictures!
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| Do you see how big those leaf things are?!?! |
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| Mom and Dad Roberts |
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| You can't exactly tell here, but those lily pads were ginormous - at least 4 feet in diameter! |
I would definitely recommend to anyone touring plantation homes near Baton Rouge to tour Nottaway and The Houmas House - those two were by far the most impressive of the three we went into. I didn't go inside Oak Alley, but at least a drive by of that one is worth it too!
On Saturday, Philip and I took some time to go see the state capitol buildings in downtown Baton Rouge. First we went and saw the old Capitol building - and it looks like a castle! It is no longer in operation and now it just acts as a museum and reception hall for events - it was fun to see because it is so ornate in a cool way!
After we toured the old State Capitol we drove over to the new State Capitol building (new as in 1930's built, but still in use new). The coolest thing about this building is its demanding presence and the observation deck where you can get a 360 degree view of the surrounding areas of Baton Rouge and the Mississippi.
Saturday night was the party night to celebrate Grandma Roberts 90th birthday. I took pictures there - but I don't know on what - or where they are stored - so maybe they will make it here some day. I've just got to say that Philip's grandparents are quite amazing. They have been married for 70 years, are still happy together, and are just so cute! You want to hear something amazing? They have over 40 great grandchildren! How many people get to live to see over 40 great grandchildren get born to them?!?!?! Not many! It was quite the spectacle to see the gathering of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends that were there for this event. They are very lucky, special, and loved.
And..... One of the yummier parts of Louisiana..... BEIGNETS and hot cocoa!!!!!!!
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| Well, it wouldn't be a proper trip to Louisiana without partaking in some delicious beignets! |
We were supposed to fly back to Seattle on Sunday night, but due to a weather delay, we missed our connecting flight in Houston. We stayed overnight at a Holiday Inn with an airport shuttle and luckily the next day we were able to get 2 seats on a non-stop flight from Houston to Seattle. So at 3pm Monday we finally made it back! It was really cool flying into Seattle because there was cloud cover at the time and so before we descended it was beautiful and sunny and there was a blanket of clouds - made me want to roll up in loads of fluffy cotton!
Soon I will be blogging about our summer here in Seattle and some of the different things we have done here - it will probably be a week or two since we leave Sunday morning and start our trek back to Provo - but it will come!
Oh, and the title of this post is burning hot summer fun because I seriously felt like I was being broiled alive the whole time we were down south - so hot! I've gotten too used to this cooler Seattle weather!
