Several years ago, acquaintances in the dive community opened a lovely wine and cheese shop in Key Largo. They sold other gourmet-type items and it was kind of like having part of a Whole Foods available. Corks and Curds was an appropriate name. I don’t recall how the transition came about, but they eventually decided to install a wood-fired grill and become a restaurant. The thing is though they aren’t open at lunchtime and they aren’t on the water. They are ocean-side on Overseas Highway, just as the highways splits in Key Largo. (This landmark doesn’t mean anything if you don’t live around here) Anyway, while they specialize in pizza, they have other items and we kept saying we were going to have dinner at some point.

We decided okay, this year for my birthday would be it. I have mentioned in other posts that if you have a restaurant in the Keys and aren’t on the water, you have sort of two ways to go decor-wise. You can stick with the ocean-theme with art, etc., or you can go the opposite way which a few places do. C&C, as it is referred to, went with the industrial, loft-like look of exposed brick walls and wood. It works well although it is also a noisy place with not being very large and putting in as many tables as possible, plus a bar  that seats twelve. At least they don’t add loud music on top of it so the feeling is definitely one of camaraderie. We didn’t intend to have pizza – sold only in the 12-inch size I think – and I should have paid more attention to the many variations they offer. They have about six non-pizza entrees on the regular menu and nightly specials. I went for the sirloin topped with roasted shallot butter and Hubby had the special of lobster and crab lasagna. We split a salad and obviously had a nice bottle of wine. Interestingly, the portions are not designed for leftovers which is fine. The food was excellent.

The only other slightly unusual aspect was an espresso focus. That’s the only coffee they serve and at least two of their desserts are espresso-based. I was surprised there was no chocolate cake option, but the key lime parfait we shared was delicious.

Last lunch with family was yesterday; my cousin who is my age and his wife were able to join us and we spent a pleasant few hours with them. Fried chicken and fried okra from the local place and then a cup of Bluebell vanilla ice cream as I hadn’t picked up dessert when we went. My aunt always keeps plenty on hand and it was the perfect amount. Although Many has grown to the point to have a Walmart and a McDonalds, none of the chicken franchises have taken hold. The drive back to Shreveport was fine and in making reservations in the area of Bossier City where I usually spend the night, I was not aware of the construction tearing up parts of I-20. I had seen it on my way south Friday and considered changing my reservation, but thought getting through wouldn’t be too difficult. It wasn’t exactly, but what I hadn’t noticed was there was only one exit closed down and yes, it was the exit I needed. I hadn’t turned on my navigation system because I know that exit quite well. What I didn’t know was the alternative route. After making one wrong guess, I allowed technology to prevail. For some reason, I had also decided to try the Hilton Garden Inn instead of the usual Hampton which is close by and as luck would have it, they were short of staff and the room wasn’t ready. I had already intended to take a walk and that was as good a time as any. Granted, in my regular clothes in 90+ degree heat wasn’t my first plan. I certainly didn’t go for a fast walk and I did try out the shower not long after I got into the room.

The Hilton Garden Inns generally have an on-site bar and bistro and the menu looked adequate for my purposes. In fact, my vegetable in-take had been lacking and the bartender said their tomato-basil bisque was quite good. I paired that with another appetizer of three pulled pork sliders. The soup was excellent (obviously homemade) and the sliders were good.

Trip home was annoying only in the sense of a tight connection in Dallas made tighter by a slightly late arrival. However, for a change, the luggage in Miami came out more quickly than usual.

A leisurely morning and I did safely get bag and myself down the tricky staircase. Was able to start the day with a nice walk around the quiet streets although there was some traffic at 6:16 a.m. Oddly enough, I think I was the only guest at the inn. I did have an early lunch to be able to get into the well-known Lasayone’s. This is the old-fashioned Southern cuisine place that made the Natchitoches meat pies famous. All comfort food and yes, even they have added a few healthy options. I suppose someone orders that occasionally. The place looks pretty much like it did when I lived there fifty years ago. I don’t remember when it was actually opened.

Last on my culinary list was crawfish. Turns out the place in Many where we went for dinner was one of the few sit-down restaurants, Bayou Crawfish Hole, but considering my lunch, I opted for the crab cakes topped with crawfish ettoufee and only swiped two fried crawfish tails from my cousin’s platter. I was able to visit with her sister for a few hours. She came by my aunt’s house before she had to leave to drive to Mississippi where she was going to see her daughter and family. My other cousin, the one my age, and his wife might be able to come for lunch today. I’ll run out and get friend chicken for everyone and stay until around 2:30 before I leave for Shreveport to spend the night. I have to be at the airport at 4:30 tomorrow.

I did a FB post about the bakery/cafe, Geaux Fresh in Minden where I went for an early lunch after visiting the cemetery. The TV series Hometown has done some “Hometown Takeovers” where they select a small town struggling economically, but trying to revive. They do a few projects, one of which is revive a small business. This cafe was selected during the Minden “Takeover”.  It is very nice, excellent food, friendly staff and they seem to be doing well. As it turns out yesterday was shrimp day for me. I had the spicy Cajun shrimp wrap at lunch and more shrimp for dinner.

I decided to take a different route to Natchitoches and go on a slightly longer drive that I hadn’t been on in years. Not much has changed. I also decided to stay downtown at a B&B and I should have checked their website more carefully. Charming Victorian, nicely furnished throughout, and the Wifi connection is good. It isn’t that I mind third floor with no elevator. It’s the staircase to the third floor is quite frankly dangerous. I can manage, but have to be very careful. And there is no in-room coffee maker. Location is good, too though if you are a walker – and I am.

One of my favorite restaurants is being transitioned to what looks like it will be a nice Cantina and I erroneously thought my second favorite was closed. Turns out it isn’t, and I’ll remember that for next time. In all fairness, all the restaurants downtown are good, but not all are open for dinner.  Anyway, I actually did a “double” last night. That wasn’t my initial intent. I was at Mama’s Oyster House and had a cup of the shrimp and corn bisque, then a special appetizer of bacon-wrapped shrimp. I didn’t want a full entree, but that turned out to be not quite enough. Natchitoches is university town and it was a Friday night so things were getting a bit loud. There was a new place on the way back to the inn and I thought I could pop in there for another appetizer and glass of wine. But as I walking along at the Sushi place, there was a lit sign, “Bar in back” that looked intriguing. Natchitoches has a lot of New Orleans architectural influence, and this is one where there was a courtyard between the main restaurant and its second bar and dining room. The back was very quiet as only one guy in the courtyard and people at the one table were on their way out. I had my other glass of wine and the garlic shrimp skewer appetizer.

The morning started well, and considering other travel issues I had in the past, things were okay. I made the mistake of thinking I would get one of the fruit and cheese plates they sell on the airlines now. That didn’t work out and I knew the connection was tight in Dallas, but if there was a place to grab a bite close enough to the gate, it could work. Except as does happen, my flight went out of the section of the terminal that had the least services. There was a small bar, but only those prepared sandwiches which are mediocre, but by that point it would have to do and they did have Miss Vicky chips – jalapeno of course.

I am in a hotel I haven’t stayed at before and I won’t be staying here again. It’s okay to an extent, but the “on-site restaurant” is not open at night and while I do enjoy a Sports Bar and Grill – the one open – let’s just say the limited menu was very limited. However, they were friendly – the whole staff has been – and the catfish was excellent. Served out of a Styrofoam container and the hushpuppies were jalapeno so that required food item for the trip is taken care of.

There may be a bit of an issue with the rental car, which means I will backtrack to the airport and talk with them. Not sure if it’s a setting that needs to be re-set or they need to swap cars. Hopefully, it won’t take long. Today is fairly easy on time, so that isn’t an issue.

We are fortunate to have two National Parks here – the Everglades and Biscayne. I’ve posted numerous times about both and of course, Hubby spends many hours in the Everglades with his photography. He also often covers different stories for the paper. One of those has been the saga of Flamingo Point. Everglades National Park is huge (1.5 million acres) and has multiple sections and entries. Once inside, there are also multiple places aside from the Main Visitor Center set up for walking and other activities. Deep into the Park – as in 42 miles – is the “end” of our section at Flamingo Point. There is camping, a small marina, and was a restaurant and hotel. Significant damage was done during Hurricane Katrina and in somewhat typical government fashion it took far longer to get back on track than one would expect. However, part of the delay was because they decided to build a new area with some extra facilities.

There is now a nice visitors center where the old motel and restaurant used to be and a new lodge and restaurant are close to the campground. Hubby has followed that entire process, but I hadn’t had a chance to go yet. He was unexpectedly off work Friday and we drove separately so he could stay after lunch and take more photos.

It does take an hour to drive and the thing is you don’t usually see much going through that part of the park. The spots for bird watching and so forth are off the main road. This time of year all the migrating species are gone, and noon to mid-afternoon birds and other wildlife aren’t active. In other words, the drive down and back wasn’t eventful. In keeping with elevation to avoid future storm surges, the new buildings are up approximately fourteen feet which does provide a partial view of Florida Bay. The restaurant is where you order at the counter and they bring meals to the table. They do have a full bar and the menu is mostly sandwiches, salads, and some soup as well as a few desserts. It is nicely decorated. I had a BLT wrap, Hubby had the grilled fish sandwich and they were both good. This is not really a place I would suggest as just to go for lunch – except once to experience it. To combine it with one of the walks will be pleasant though.

The rain did hold off to allow us to get into the Franklin Institute. The place is huge and even though we didn’t get to see the show wanted to at the Planetarium, we were there for around four hours. The big traveling exhibit was the Art of the Brick, the incredible exhibit by the guy who make art from Legos. He does 2d and 3d and some of his sculptures use up to 100,000+ Legos. Nathan Sawaya’s story and technique are amazing and the easiest way is to go to the artist’s website of https://www.brickartist.com/ I lost count of  the number of pieces in the exhibit and it was definitely far more elaborate than I anticipated.

We did luck out with rain that evening, too, as it cleared a bit and we did the short walk to Fado, another quintessential Irish pub the kids used to go to for special occasions when they lived there. It was Amelia’s first time of course. Having passed on Shepard’s pie in New York, that was what I did and Hubby and daughter-in-law had fish and chips. Son did Guinness Mac and Cheese with buffalo chicken and with a couple of appetizers and a huge soft pretzel, granddaughter basically passed on protein and grazed on all carbohydrates, once again leaving room for ice cream. It was Trivia night beginning at 8:00, so the place was packed as we made our way out. We’d been back at the hotel for maybe twenty minutes when the weather alert said rain would start again in fifteen minutes. Granddaughter decided she wanted one final adventure for the trip and they kids were going to take her to the big aquarium about twelve miles from Philly on Thursday.