After Steve’s mum passed, the siblings were given some money and we said that with it we wanted to go on a mini adventure with his Dad to the States. We wanted to show him the way we do America as even though he has been several times, it is always to Baton Rouge to see the grandkids, which even though is amazing, we wanted to show him what else the country has to offer.
Travel
Dad made his own way to Manchester airport as he had stayed with Graham, one of Steve’s brothers, the night before. My parents drove Steve and I but it is only an hour and a half away. FYI on your return to the U.K, if you want picking up from the airport, you have to go to T2 West Car Park not departures as we used to.
Steve and I have flown to America together 5 times with different airlines and the best so far is Singapore. Their check in and bag drop is quick and painless, onboard entertainment is great and food is plentiful. Of course we normally go with the cheapest but if Singapore is less than £100 more expensive then we will generally fly with them.
We landed in Houston. The first customs bit you get to is the visa/ ESTA self service check – you need an ESTA for the U.S. which costs $14 and lasts 2 years – as we go each year its basically $7 a time). Oh and if you don’t get straight through this, then you may have an hour plus wait to get seen by a human. Steve managed to go straight through this time but dad and I had to wait. Luckily though it gave Steve time to go straight to Hertz and get the truck. Because the truck we wanted needed to go in for a service and there were no other trucks in our range left we got a free upgrade to a Lonestar pick up! BOOM! Dad thought it was excessive for three people (still would have gotten it with just Steve and I), but I simply reminded him this was America and here nothing is excessive!
No journey of ours is complete without a stop at Walmart so we went for some breakfast bits and nibbles. You MUST try Milk Duds – just delish!! We found that stopping at Walmart for croissants, fruit, granola bars, fruit juice and water saves so much money (and waistline) than getting food out.
On the way we stopped off for fuel and explained to dad how the filling up process works – was a bit confusing for us the first time so if we can help you guys then awesome! Basically park up next to a pump, go inside to the desk and ask to put ‘x’ amount onto pump ‘y’. Then go outside and start filling up. DON’T WORRY – if you don’t use all the money you put on, it gets refunded to the card. The only problem is, at first, you never know how much to put on. I’d suggest for a truck about $60-70 from about a quarter full. My one advice when driving in the States is NEVER risk it with fuel if you are in the dessert/outback! If you are in a major city and travelling to another major city on normal roads then you’ll be fine but some petrol stations are very far apart.
San Antonio
Our first stop was San Antonio about a 3 hour drive from Houston. Normally that would mean Highway 65 radio on and chill but Dad had so many questions about how we do America we chatted for most of the journey which was fine.
Hotel
815 Wyoming Street, San Antonio – so this wasn’t a hotel but a house booked with ‘Airbnb’ which worked out cheaper for a whole house than 2 double rooms in a cheap motel. Airbnb WARNING : When someone puts on the comments saying that there’s train noise, BELIEVE THEM!! Literally there were horns blasting (several times and long too) till midnight and then from 6am. Absolutely lovely place though and had been recently refurbished.
Places to see/things to do
Now the main reason for doing San Antonio this particular weekend was the festival ‘Día de los Muertos’ (translation: Day of the Dead) – think Coco! Now as a Spanish teacher I couldn’t exactly miss this huge cultural and educational experience, could I? I lit up when I heard the Spanish music and saw all the masks, costumes etc. We really wanted to get into the spirit of things so we got our faces painted ($20 each), well Steve and I did, Dad bought a mask. We walked by some of the ‘ofrendas’ which are alters made to remember the departed. There were ‘ofrendas’ for anyone and everyone (police officers, victims of mass shootings, pets, children). There was one ‘ofrenda’ for babies and so I went there to say a prayer and pay my respects. For a couple of hours we wandered round the various stages and areas (different places had different things on, but they were all close to each other so even Dad had no trouble). At 3pm there was a parade going round all areas which was small but still cool with adults and children playing a part.
There is so much to do in San Antonio you could spend a week here and still not see everything but we had just over a day so here are the highlights: The Alamo is a MUST, as is a cruise on the Riverwalk – a bit expensive but totally worth it to do it once. ‘Tower of the Americas’ has a great view of the entire city and the $13.95 per adult and $10.95 for a senior for a day ticket means you can see the contrast between day and night, plus you get to do a few of the 4D movies inside their cinema.
Food
We ate on the Riverwalk at ‘Barbecue – the lone county’ as I really fancied ribs – you can’t not eat meat in Texas! I had half a rack of ribs (which in UK terms meant a full rack!) No wonder there’s a big problem with weight in America! Dear god! Steve had the brisket and Dad had the chicken. All was Goooood!! Can totally recommend this place.
Final thoughts
San Antonio is a lovely place and yes there are way more things to do than what we did but for us the main thing was the festival – when I got back to work my first lesson for all my Spanish classes was this, showing them the pictures and videos I had taken. The kids loved it! Always a teacher! You can never snap out of it, even on holiday!
Houston
Hotel
Again not a hotel but a house on booking.com – 2229 Mimosa Drive #1, Houston. £159 for one night which is cheap apparently for Houston! At least it included free car parking and the house was very nice. It had 2 rooms, one double room and one twin, separate bathroom and extra toilet. Cooking facilities seemed fine although we didn’t use them. The only annoyance was that the code we were given to enter the property was incorrect and we ended up having to ring the owner from our UK phones, and he didn’t answer straight away.
Places to visit/things to do
Now when you say Houston, you think NASA, so no way we could miss it. It is quite expensive to get in ($24.95 per adult and $22.95 per senior citizen) but you can easily spend a whole day here as there’s tonnes of information, mostly accessible for young adults and above, with lots of interactive stuff for the kids. You can visit the Space Gallery and go through the various stages of us getting to the moon, see the rocket ‘Independence’ and look around at the various sections which show you how the rocket is transported between Johnson Space Centre and Kennedy Space centre and back again. You even get to see Mission Control which is just fascinating! An absolute must in Houston! A note on this – tickets bought online allow a visit over the space of a few months so it’s not for one specific day, good if you have a few days and one day is bad weather and you want to do something indoors.
As we only had a day and a half in Houston and we’ve done the whole rodeo thing before, plus we’re not into museums, we just went for a wander around Buffalo Bayou Park which is free to enter but parking prices can be steep – we ended up doing valet as it was only $4. The last thing we did was very quirky – ‘Beer Can house’, and yes it is what it sounds like!
Food
If you are looking for a lovely brunch place then the Dunvaly restaurant in the park is fantastic. It is pretty well known so expect a queue, especially on a Saturday like when we went. Food is divine and the fresh orange juice/mimosa definitely recommended. Not too expensive either.
Final thoughts
Major city, lots of museums – not really our cup of tea but definitely glad to have done the Space Centre.
Lake Charles
Lake Charles for us was a half way stop off to the family, plus they do great seafood.
Hotel
Quality Suites Convention Centre – 2x King rooms for £57 each. Spot on really with a lounge area, fridge/freezer, TV, writing desk, mirror and sink area (they nearly always have mirrors and sinks separate from the bathrooms – very odd) a bath/shower combo and a toilet.
Places to visit/things to do
There’s not much to do in Lake Charles really, although there are a lot of casinos. What we did was part of the Creole Nature Trail, a stretch of road where alligators can be seen.
Food
I had already done some research and narrowed it down to Steamboat Bill’s or Luna Bar and Grill for food but the lady at reception said definitely Steamboat Bill’s. It wasn’t far from the hotel – 5mins drive. Thought the interior was a bit tacky to be honest but food was really good!! Had etouffée and gumbo (preferred the etoufée as it had a thicker creamier sauce) and scrounged one of Dad’s fried alligator pieces from his po-boy (basically a brioche sandwich roll). Steve had jumbo crawfish. Fishy heaven!
Breakfast is also included in the price of the room (please don’t set your sights too high on a ‘free’ American motel/hotel breakfast. It’s basically just carbs, carbs and more carbs with the odd apple and yoghurt. It fills a hole and is more than acceptable for a breakfast or two but I wouldn’t want to have them every day).
Baton Rouge
Hotel
Casa de la familia (Poulton household!)
Places to visit/things to do
Major catching up, food induced comas and babysitting – being jumped on, elbowed, kneed, smacked, and chocolate smeared over you, that’s what we do when we visit ‘The American’s’. This year was particularly fun as we Brits had a brand new experience – Halloween USA style! Bloody awesome! We got dressed up (Coco style), and OMG the amount of candy! I was in heaven! Good thing to note is that you can only go to houses between certain times and only if they have their porch lights on – think we need to do this in the U.K.
If you like shopping with brand names such as Levis, Gap, Old Navy, Wranglers and TJMax – that’s right J!! then Gonzales Outlet is for you. Clothes are a hell of a lot cheaper in the U.S. so we have started coming out here with 1 suitcase and coming home with 2! I mean Levis at like $40 (£30) are £70 ($90) in the UK! And there’s nearly always a deal on.
There are more things to do in Baton Rouge, it’s just we like to spend our time with the family. On our honeymoon (USA naturally) however, Stu, Steve’s brother (yes another one, there’s 6 siblings in total!) booked us a slot at a gun range called ‘Precision Firearms’ – that was our wedding present! Frikking awesome wedding present I might add! We’ve also been to Nottaway Plantation and Houma’s House where you can learn all about how plantations were run in the past and a little about the slave trade etc. Quite interesting.
Blue Bayou Water Park and Dixie Landin’ looks like a fun day out with the family but I’m waiting for Sam and the girls to be a bit older before we all go there. To add to this there are numerous museums etc, it depends what your tastes are. I’d suggest visitbatonrouge.com as your first port of call.
Food
As there are three children at 3 and under it’s just way less stress to eat at home, but that doesn’t mean naff food. American Angie (yes we have to say that as one of Steve’s sisters is also called Angie) can COOK! And she is definitely a feeder! A snack to her is like a 3 course meal for us! God bless her; roasts, mac and cheese, seafood, you name it, this girl can cook it!
Final thoughts
Baton Rouge for us isn’t really about us being tourists, it’s being with family, a family we love and miss so much! God bless video calling and seeing the little ‘angels’ whenever we, or they, want. We normally get calls with a 2 year old with their face mashed up against the camera saying ‘Hi Aunty Rachel!’ Yep that’s right, they confuse me with their Aunty Rachel all the time! Gotta love them!
All in all a lovely, if slightly too short, adventure. Was great to share the experience with Dad and I think he enjoyed his trip more because of the variety. Next time (hopefully next year – although maybe not ‘hopefully’ as I’d prefer us to be pregnant and not be able to travel!) Montana I think.
