Louisiana for Thanksgiving - November 2016

Shawna and Ginger

As we alternate families every year for Thanksgiving, it was the year to visit Louisiana.  We decided to fly in and out of New Orleans since there are direct flight on SWA.  At the last minute Shawna had to be in Hartford the week before, so we both met at New Orleans airport on Wednesday evening and drove up to Moreauville that night, making the trip in under 2.5 hours. 

Shawna had arranged for us to go to Ginger's new house for Thanksgiving lunch - Ginger and Michael now live near Alexandria.  It is a wonderful house on a huge lot.  The entire house is decorated with Gin's Den designs and really feels homey.  Ginger's extended family was there so it was fun to catch up with everyone, some of whom we had not seen since our wedding. 

At Ginger's House

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet because Shawna was sick.  While we were bummed she did not feel well, we clung to the upside that it means she won't get sick on the Sri Lanka trip!  We were able to see Nicole for a while.  Other than that, we rested and ate a lot of gumbo.

Our flight back on the Sunday was at 1:30pm - so we made it to our house by 6pm. 

John and Jo Visit - November 2016

Food and Wine Festival

John and JoAnna planned a trip to see us and it worked out that Jo had a conference in Vegas, so we were able to host them the two weekends either side.

Hiking at Cathedral Rock

They were supposed to arrive at 7:45pm on the Thursday night but the flight was an hour late.  We immediately drove up to Sedona to stay at the Hampton Inn where we had booked two nights on points.  On Friday morning, Shawna had calls from 6-8am and Keith had calls from 8-1pm.  So Shawna, John, and Jo left the hotel to walk around Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock while Keith worked.  They came back to the hotel in time to pick up Keith for lunch - where we went to The Hudson.  The restaurant has great views - we had a few beers and shared several appetizers including bruschetta, pretzels, sliders, and chicken lollipops.  It was then back to the hotel for a nap before getting ready for dinner.  Dinner was at Mariposa which is our favorite restaurant in Sedona with beautiful views - we had atun, yucca fries, fried avocado, and the mixed grill, with churros for desert.  After dinner, we went to the Oak Creek Brewery where we had a few beers and listened to a local band that turned out to be pretty good.

Mariposa Restaurant

On Saturday, we checked out of the hotel and drove home so we could attend the Central Arizona Food and Wine Experience which started at 1pm at the Talking Stick Resort.  There were two huge tents with both food and wine.  Differently from the Nashville festival, our tickets restricted us to 10 tastings of wine and beer.  But fortunately some of the vendors were not too serious about marking the tickets - plus Keith and John were able to rub off a few of the marks to get duplicates! We had decided that we would take it easier this time so while we managed to not drink too much, we still had a ton of food and we were quite stuffed at the end.  The food was quite tasty.  We Ubered home, napped again, and then just decided to stay in for the evening - we rented a couple of movies (Popstar and Life of Crime)  and ordered PF Changs to be delivered.

Chez Dodds

On Sunday morning, we hiked the Gateway Loop Trail for a couple of hours.  It's a nice length of a trail but the views are not as great.  We then showered, did laundry, and John made us a lunch of cheese/crackers, buffalo chicken dip, and hummus.  We relaxed at the house and then went into Old Town to walk around for a bit before dropping off Keith, John and JoAnna at the airport.  That evening, Shawna met up with Beth who was in town visiting her son for a few drinks.

Gateway Loop Trail Hike