Texas and Louisiana - May 2025

In between DC and CO, we spent three weeks in TX and LA to spend time with our parents. 

Louisiana

Shawna drove by herself to spend 10 days with her mom while Keith stayed in Texas for his dad's back surgery and then Keith joined her about half way through.

While in Louisiana, we did the following:

Day in Lafayette - Shawna took her mom to the dermatologist in Lafayette and while there, we had lunch at Don's Seafood and ran a few errands.  We also picked up some pastries at Poupart's to take home - some of which we brought to Lydia and Mark.

Lunch with Hope - We met up with Hope for lunch at La Petite Affair Cafe in Marksville.  It's a cute place with a menu that changes daily.

Evening in Alexandria - Keith got a one way rental car to Alex where Shawna had to pick him up.  So Shawna and her mom made an evening of it - going to Dillard's to get a few things for Shawna's mom and then having dinner at Verona Italian Restaurant - cute place with tasty Italian food.

Day in St Francsisville - Shawna bought tickets for a tour of gardens where we got to walk around the gardens of six homes and we were also able to go inside two of the homes.  There were a couple of gardens that were quit nice. We had a bit of time before lunch so we also stopped to walk around Afton Villa Gardens and Rosedown Plantation.  We lucked out with the weather as it turned out to be sunny but not too hot.  We then met up for lunch with Brenda and Joe at Restaurant 1796 which is at the Myrtle's Plantation - the place is very nice.  We shared a salad and a great steak.  

Rosedown Plantation

Mother's Day Lunch - We went to Little Big Cup for Mother's Day lunch in Arnaudville - they do a massive buffet which turns out was just OK.  Shawna and her mom had been here a couple of times before and it had been good but this time we were a bit disappointed.  

Mother's Day Lunch at Little Big Cup

Rocky's - We went here for dinner our last night so we could get our fill of crawfish.  Crawfish was great, decor was not as great.  

Texas

Keith stayed behind in TX for four days to be there for his dad's back surgery before joining Shawna in LA.  Graham also flew in for a couple of days.  During this time, he did the following:

Outback Steakhouse - Shawna, Margaret, Keith, Jean and Dick went to dinner here the night before Dick's surgery.  We shared a salad and pork chop.

Visited his dad several times in the hospital - Dick was there for three nights to recover.

Family gathering after Dick's surgery

Nanglo Indian - Jean, Keith, Graham, Margaret and the four kids went here for dinner after seeing Dick right after he got out of surgery. Keith had the lamb vindaloo and it was as delicious as ever. Dick texted the family to bring him butter chicken which he ate half but then was told the next day to stay away from spicy food for a bit!!

Dodds Family Dinner

Uncle Julios - Margaret, Graham, Keith and Jean went here for Mexican dinner where Keith had the chicken fajitas and way too many chips with salsa.

Cold Beer and Cheeseburgers - Keith and Peter went here for dinner - Owen was not working this evening.  The beers were cold and the cheeseburgers excellent! It was great to catch up.   They both stopped by the hospital right before dinner to see Keith's dad.

Keith and Peter at dinner

After our time in LA, we both drove back to TX to spend a week before heading out to CO for the summer. During this time, we did the following:

Parker Cemetery - Keith had organized a clean up of this cemetery for his Eagle Scout Project in 1985. We stopped by to see it - it's in great condition but sadly you cannot go inside without scheduling an appointment.

Parker Cemetery

The Mexican - Keith, Shawna, Jean, Dick and Margaret went to dinner here as a belated Mother's Day / early Father's Day celebration.  We shared several appetizers for the table: guacamole, lobster elote, and sea bass ceviche.  Then we both shared the beef enchiladas.  Everything was very good.

Family Dinner - Margaret, Owen, Kaitlyn (Owen's girlfriend), Josie, and Lily came over for dinner.  We grilled some steak and made corn on the cob and potato gratin. We also made a lemon almond cake for dessert. The dinner was a success - the kids were engaging and the food was great!

Dodds Clan

Visit with Bob - We stopped by one afternoon to catch up with Bob and had a glass of port with him.

Mi Cocina - Keith met Rick, a former Livcor colleague for dinner. 

Mi Cocina with Rick

Full City Rooster - Keith met Rebecca and Thad here for lunch in between doctor appointments. 

Rebecca and Thad at Full City Rooster

Margaret Dinner - Margaret came over on our last night and Shawna made a fish dish with polenta.  

Arizona and Vegas - March 2025

To kick off our Spring trip, we spent one week in AZ and Vegas before heading to DC for a month. We had missed this leg of our West Coast trip in 2024 so decided to come back to spend a little time here.

Arizona

Phoenix

We spent four nights in Phoenix at Rak's place, spending time with him and Kelly.  We arrived on Friday morning when Rak picked us up at the airport. He made us a yummy risotto lunch and then we chilled until we went out that evening at the Global Ambassador hotel across the street from his apartment.  We had a drink at their rooftop bar and then had dinner at Le Ame, their French/steak restaurant in the lobby.  We shared a steak and a short rib dish - delicious!

On Saturday, we went for a 1.5 hour hike in Piestewa Peak park - it was great being outside and seeing the desert landscape again.  We had lunch at Nelson's, a fish market that also does sandwiches - although their sandwiches have quite a bit of mayo so was not our favorite.  We hung out at Rak's place that afternoon as he cooked for a dinner party that evening.  He made a bolognese with polenta and Shawna made semolina cake for dessert.  Rak had two friends in town so they came over along with another friend who lives locally.  Kelly also joined us.  The dinner was great and was fun to hang out with his friends.

Hike in Piestewa Peak Park

On Sunday, we had brunch at Otro Cafe, a great Mexican place - we had avocado toast and huevos rancheros with brisket - very tasty.  That afternoon, we went to one of the spring training baseball games - Giants vs the A's.  We got to and from the game with a Waymo, self-drive taxi - quite cool! And that evening, we had amazing ramen at Mensho.

Spring Training Baseball Game

On Monday, we had lunch with Jen (Shawna's colleague from Cigna) and Todd at Cornish Pasty - our favorite lunch spot. We had our usual greek salad and spicy asiago chicken pasty.  We chilled that afternoon and Rak made dinner - a tasty pasta dish.

Lunch at Cornish Pasty Co with Jen and Todd

Sedona

On Tuesday, we drove to Sedona, staying two nights at Arabella.  The room was nice sized with a view of the pool and the surrounding red rocks.  However, the hotel could use some updating. 

View from our room at the Arabella

We had dinner the first night at Mole, a Mexican restaurant on the property of our hotel - we shared the cornbread, Mexican corn and guacamole with crab meat for appetizers and then had the flank steak for our entree.  Everything was delicious.

The next day, we hiked the Cathedral Rock Loop: Hiline and Templeton Trails.  It took us 3 hours and we hiked for 7.8 miles, gaining close to 1K in elevation.  We had not done this specific trail before and decided it was definitely our favorite.  Along the way, you have amazing views of Cathedral, Bell and Courthouse rocks.  We rewarded ourselves with lunch at The Hudson, our favorite lunch spot.  We sat out on the deck and shared the meatball appetizer (which is humungous and delicious) and the kale salad with salmon (tasty but they could have chopped the kale more).  

Cathedral Rock Loop Hike

That evening, we had dinner at our favorite restaurant, Mariposa.  We started with drinks on the patio while watching the sunset and then had a wonderful dinner of empanadas, lamb, mushrooms and cheesy potatoes.  This place never disappoints!

Dinner at Mariposa

Louisiana

We left one day early from this segment to do a detour trip to Louisiana.  While in Phoenix, we found out that Nicole, Shawna's sister-in-law had passed away.  She had a car accident one week prior due to a heart related event and had not been responsive since.  The doctors said she had significant brain damage and would not recover so they took her off the machines and she passed away on March 17th, Danny's birthday.  We flew to Louisiana for just one night, attending the visitation, funeral, burial and reception afterwards before flying out to go to Vegas.

Las Vegas 

We had found out that Nate Bergatze was going to do a show in Vegas so we coordinated to meet up with Eva and Stacie (Shawna's former colleagues) and their spouses, Brian and Lucas, for three nights.  And since we decided to go, Eva and Brian decided to make their marriage legal by doing an Elvis wedding! Apparently, while they got married a year earlier in Sedona, it was a spiritual one and not 'official'. We stayed at the new Fountainbleau hotel which is a gorgeous hotel.  Our room really nice!

We got there late on Friday night (due to the detour in Louisiana) so missed the dinner out that night.  However, the next day we made up on the fun by spending a day at the pool.  We rented a cabana at the 21+ Legacy Pool and chilled, drank and eat to make up for the $1.2K minimum to rent the cabana! We made it by ordering a few expensive bottles of champagne at the end to make up for the remaining balance!

Pool at our hotel

That evening, we had dinner at Nobu where we shared several yummy dishes for the table.  And then we went to the Nate show at the Wynn hotel.  The show was hilarious - we were in stitches for the entire show.  So much so that our stomachs hurt the next day!

Nate Show

Sunday was wedding day - the girls did a bit of shopping so that Stacie and Shawna, the two self-proclaimed 'bridesmaids', could get a few items to wear to 'glam' up.  We opted for glittery t-shirts that expressed our love for Vegas and rhinestone 'sexy' hats! The group hung out at the pool for a couple of hours before getting ready.  A limo picked us up to take us to the Graceland Wedding Chapel where the ceremony was held - 15 minutes of Elvis singing three songs, conducting the standard vows and also the 'Elvis' vows! The chapel was quite cute and the service was fun!

Eva and Brian Wedding

We returned to the hotel to have a few celebratory drinks at Collins.  We then had dinner at Mother Wolf, the Italian restaurant at our hotel.  We shared a salad, a couple of pizzas a few pastas - all delicious! 

We all left on Monday with us flying to DC to spend a month. What a great trip!

Louisiana and Texas - March 2025

Louisiana

We decided to continue Keith's recovery from his surgery by spending two weeks in Louisiana.  We spent the majority of the time at Shawna's mother's house and spent two nights at the end in New Orleans.

Moreuville

While in Moreauville, Shawna helped her mom with doctor's appointments, getting estimates for work needed in the home and general purging while Keith relaxed, read and did more trip planning.  While here, we did the following:

Ginger and Michael - They drove to Marksville and met us for dinner at Broken Wheel. As always, we had many laughs!

Dinner with Ginger and Michael

Date Night - The two of us had a date night - first going to Kyrle's to have a drink as Keith had never been there and then we had dinner at Legend's Steakhouse.  Unfortunately, the dinner was not as good as the last time we had gone here so we may not be back.

Drinks at Kyrle's

Nicole - Nicole joined us for lunch where Shawna made a delicious gumbo.  

Dinner with Shawna's Mom - For our last night, we went out to Kyrle's for dinner.  The food was not the best so in the future we may only eat there if we decide to eat fried food!

Dinner with Shawna's Mom at Kyrle's

New Orleans

We stayed two nights for free on points at the Springhill Suites in the Warehouse District.  The hotel was in dire need of some repair! 

Our first night, we had an amazing dinner at Saffron's.  We tried tandoori squash, garlic naan, potato nest chaat and the pork vindaloo - all very flavorful.  The next day, we walked around the French Quarter, stopping to have beignets at Cafe Du Monde and a beer at Lafitte Blacksmith Shop Bar.  That evening, we met up with Moni and Jeff for dinner at MayPop, a great restaurant in the Warehouse District.  We shared a few appetizers for the table and then we split the Fried Drum and the coconut rice.  Everything was very tasty!

Dinner with Moni at MayPop

While in NO, we found out that Ginny, Peter's mom, had passed away - she battled with cancer for quite some time.  The service is expected to be another month out.

Texas

Austin

We drove to Austin from New Orleans, spending one night at Jeff and Nina's house so that we could catch up with them.  We had a couple of drinks at the house and then had dinner at Gino's where we shared a lasagna and caesar salad.  We left early the next morning to drive back to Dallas.

Dallas

We spent three nights in Dallas, getting organized for our next trip to Phoenix, Las Vegas and DC.  While here, we did the following:

Dinner with Keith's Parents - We did a practice Japanese dinner at Nikko's to make sure Keith's dad could put up with Japanese food since they planned to join us in Japan in the Fall.  We shared a few appetizers and then each got the seabass for dinner.  Everything was delicious and Keith's dad enjoyed it!

Walk with Brandon - Keith met up with Brandon (former work colleague) for a walk around White Walk Lake and then had a coffee with him at Starbucks.

Walk with Brandon

Lunch with Lee - Keith met up with Lee (former work colleague) for lunch at Sammy's BBQ. 

Lunch with Lee

Dinner with Peter - We met up with Peter at the restaurant that Owen is working, Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers.  We had burgers and beer (duh!) - the burgers were quite tasty. We got to see Owen in action as well!

Dinner with Peter and Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers

Dinner with Margaret - For our last night in town, we had dinner with Keith's sister at Truluck's - a great seafood place in Southlake.  We shared crab claws for an appetizer and then had a salad and redfish dish for our entree - all very good.

Louisiana and Texas - Dec 2024

We celebrated Christmas at Shawna's mother's house in Louisiana, staying there for nine nights.  We drove  there, stopping at Ginger and Michael's house in Woodworth to have dinner with them and to stay the night.  We all went out to dinner at Spirits in Alexandria where we sat outside and shared some nachos for the table and a fish dish for our entree.  

Spent the night with Ginger and Michael

The next day, we drove to Shawna's mom's house and for our time there, we worked out almost everyday at Anytime Fitness in Marksville and Shawna did a lot of cooking and baking.  We also caught up with the following people:

• Brenda and Joe - We met them for lunch at Morel's in New Roads - nice restaurant on the river.  We shared a salad and fish dish.  Brenda brought us a delicious fig cake which we ate throughout the week.

Lunch with Brenda and Joe at Morel's

• Ginger and Lydia - We took them out to dinner along with their spouses to Broken Wheel Brewery.  Had our usual crab cake and redfish entree.

Dinner with Ginger, Kurt, Lydia and Mark at Broken Wheel

• Hope and Craig - We had them over for dinner at Shawna's mom's house.  Shawna made a yummy salad and pasta dish and we had pecan pie from Collin Street Bakery (Keith had bought this in Texas).  Before dinner, we had cheese and crackers in the living room.

• Nicole, Hunter, Harmony and Hayden - They came over on Christmas Eve to have gumbo with us and open gifts.

Shawna and Honny

• Nicole, Hunter, Harmony, Hayden and Juanita (Nicole's aunt) - They came over on Christmas Day for lunch.  We had fried turkey, ham and cornbread dressing (made by Chet), green bean casserole (made by Juanita), mac-n-cheese (made by Nicole) and eggplant casserole, gelatin salad and pineapple cake (made by Shawna and Honny).  As usual, there was too much food but it was all delicious!

The crew for Christmas Day

We drove back to Texas on Boxing Day, arriving in time to celebrate with Keith's family.  Margaret, Owen, Josie, Lily and Boone were all there along with Keith's parents - we had picked up Boone on our way in.  We first opened gifts and dialed in Graham so we could 'somewhat' participate.  We then had a late lunch/early dinner of brisket, potato salad, corn, popovers and steamed pudding - yum!

Dodds Clan on Boxing Day

Texas and Louisiana - Sept 2024

After being out of the country for four months, we returned 'home' to spend some time with family and friends in TX and LA.  Keith's parents were not home when we arrived. We first went to TX for two days to unpack, do laundry and take care of some personal items before heading to LA for seven nights.  We then returned to TX for four nights before beginning our West Coast road trip. Since we had been quite glutinous over the past four months, we also took this time to start getting back into shape!

Louisiana

We spent a week at Shawna's mom's house.  While here, we caught up with the following people:

• Dinner with Hunter and Nicole at Broken Wheel Brewery.  We shared the crab appetizer and a fish special (red fish stuffed with crab and crawfish).  As usual, the food was tasty.

Dinner at Broken Wheel with Hunter and Nicole

• Lunch with Ms Betty and her daughter Jamie (and Jamie's two daughters) at Broke Wheel Brewery.  They drove in from Churchpoint and met us at the restaurant.  We had salads (seafood salad and salmon salad) which were quite good.  After lunch, they came over to the house to visit for a bit.

Lunch with Ms Betty and Jamie and her family

Shawna also took her mom to the doctor in Lafayette one day and while there we went to see Hunter at the hospital.  The day before this, Nicole went into the hospital in Marksville thinking she had a gallbladder issues - turns out, she was having a heart attack.  They flew her via helicopter to the hospital in Lafayette where she immediately went into bypass surgery.  When we went the next day, she was still not closed up and was sedated so we just visited a while with Hunter.

The rest of the trip was working out, cooking and catching up on admin stuff.

Texas

When we were in TX the first time before we went to LA, we went to see Owen play tennis - doubles match which he won and then had dinner with Margaret at Bread Zeppelin, a salad place. 

At Owen's Tennis Match

When we returned to TX, we caught up with the following people:

• Dinner with Peter at Hoshi Ramen - We each got a bowl of ramen which was pretty good.

• Dinner with Margaret, Jean and Dick at Acquario Italian Seafood - great restaurant about 15 min from the house.  We shared the meatball appetizer and dover sole in lemon sauce for our entree.

Dinner with Jean, Dick and Margaret at Acquario

• Visit with Bob and Ginny (Peter's parents) at their house.  Jordan also stopped by.

• Dinner with Lily, Jean and Dick at the house - Shawna made pork tenderloin, couscous and asparagus.

• Walk around White Rock lake with Rebecca.

Walk with Rebecca - White Rock Lake

The rest of the time was more working out and admin as well as packing for our West Coast road trip.

 

Louisiana and Texas - April 2024

After our East Coast roadtrip, we spent 8 days in Louisiana visiting with Shawna's mom.  It took us two days driving from NC to LA, spending a night in Birmingham, AL to break up the trip.  We arrived early evening and after unloading the car, we had gumbo (leftovers from our time there in January) for dinner!

Keith had a doctor's appointments he needed to get done, so the next day, he drove to Dallas and stayed there two nights while Shawna stayed in LA.  While he was in TX, he worked out a couple of times at the Bedford Y (first time!) and had dinner at Zafiros with his parents and Margaret.

While in LA, we did the following activities:

• Shawna and her mom met Betty (friend of Shawna's mom) for lunch in Opelousas at Yamato Steakhouse of Japan.  We each got the chicken stir fry and chatted with Betty for 1.5 hours.

• We met with Kim (former LSMSA classmate) in Alexandria for dinner at Spirit Food & Friends. We each got a burger which was very tasty.  There was a band playing so we sat outside so we could hear one another and hung out for a couple of hours while catching up.

Dinner with Kim at Spirit Food and Friends

• We had a crawfish boil at Shawna's mom's house. Hunter did the boil for us and Nicole, Harmony, Hayden, Pat and Chet came over as well.  We had chips and dips for snacks and then ate our heart out on crawfish - they were so good and all quite big!  Shawna had made a peach cobbler for dessert but it turned out to be way too soupy so we threw it away and just had ice cream for dessert.  We all hung out outside - it was a nice breezy day.

Crawfish boil at mom's house

Our next stop was Austin, TX.

LA and TX - Jan 2024

We took a brief one week detour from our five month roadtrip to spend time with Shawna's mom in Louisiana for her birthday and to take care of some doctors appointments in TX.

Louisiana

We left our car at a Park and Fly in Miami and flew to New Orleans.  We then got a one way rental and drove to Shawna's mom's house, arriving on Sunday late afternoon.  That evening, Shawna made a yummy soup.  The weather for the week was predicted to be very cold (below freezing) so we prepped the house to get ready for the polar vortex.

We stayed in Moreauville for 6 nights and while there we did the following:

• Celebrated Honny's 83rd birthday - we went to dinner with Ginger and Lydia and their spouses at Broken Wheel in Marksville - our 'go to' place when we are visiting there.  We shared the crab cakes and shrimp and grits - both pretty good.  Shawna had baked a pineapple cake so we had that for dessert when we got home from dinner.

Dinner at Broken Wheel

• Shawna had to take her mom to two doctor appointments in Opelousas.  One one of the trips, she and her mom met with Betty (long time friend of Honny's) for lunch at Yamato Steakhouse.  We each got a stir fry with veggies and rice - very tasty. 

• Celebrated Nicole's birthday - we all went to dinner at The Francis in St Francisville.  We picked up Nicole and Hayden and drove together, meeting Hunter there.  We sat upstairs and we shared the crawfish bisque (the gravy was too dark and thick) and the triple tail fish (which was very tasty).  And for the table, we all shared the bread pudding for dessert - very good.  Nicole and Hayden then rode back with Hunter.  We had a great evening.

Dinner at The Francis

The rest of the time, we spent time with Honny at home and worked on some more trip planning and other items on our 'to do' list.  Shawna made a gumbo so we had that for dinner a few nights!

Texas

We drove to TX on Sunday, stopping at Schlotzsky's in Marshall TX for lunch.  We arrived at Keith's parent's house around 3:30.  Al (a friend of the family from the UK) and his business partner Graham were in town so we had dinner with them and Margaret that evening.  Jean made salmon with potato salad and Shawna made an arugula salad to go along with the meal.  

Dinner at Jean and Dick's house

Monday and Tuesday was catching up on doctor's appointments with the big one being Keiths' six week post-op follow up on his left foot, allowing him to finally get out of the boot!  On Monday evening, Shawna made chicken and salad for Jean and Keith for dinner and on Tuesday evening, Margaret came over and we did take out from a local Thai / Japenese restaurant.  Keith's parents had left Tuesday morning to fly to NM to spend time with Graham at NOSA for a few days.

On Wednesday, we flew back to Miami to continue on our road trip.

Texas for Christmas - Dec 2023

Following our trip to Vegas and Phoenix, we arrived back in Texas on Sunday Dec 10 in time for Keith to have his second toe surgery on Monday the 11th.  The surgery was as seamless as the first, and the pain was mostly zero for the two weeks "of toes in the air."  There were a few to-dos that we caught up on, and Shawna was able to do a girls trip to Des Moines while Keith was in recovery.  Peter came over for lunch once day and had pizza with Keith and his parents.  Shawna did more of the cooking, and we used most of the 24th to pack for the east coast trip.  

Keith second surgery

Peter came over for lunch

Christmas Day was a bit quiet as it was just us with Keith's parents.  The four of us saw Boys in the Boat around lunchtime, and Margaret and Peter both came over mid-afternoon to chat.  Dinner was just the four of us having lamb chops.

Boxing Day was the "official Christmas" for us.  Keith had his 2-week post-op that morning, with the whole family arriving just after 11am.  Of course the first priority was opening the pressies for the kids which is always fun.  Graham participated as well virtually via video! Christmas lunch was a traditional turkey, with crab legs for Margaret.  Lily and Boone stayed the night at the house on the 26th.

Dodds Xmas in TX

On the morning of the 27th, we got up at 5:30am to get ready to leave on our epic 5-month east coast road trip.  

Saying farewell for our roadtrip

But, the first stop was Moreauville, which we got to at 3:30 in the afternoon with Shawna driving most of the way while Keith sat in the back with his feet propped up.  A bottle of red wine for dinner, with gumbo for the 3 of us that Shawna had left frozen from our trip a few weeks earlier.  We then opened presents, which for us included new sleeping bags for our retirement adventures.  Then it was to bed early again, as we had a 7am start to get to the first leg of the trip: a beach house in the Redneck Riviera with the RDU gang!

Christmas with Honey in LA