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Our next mission

June 25, 2025July 1, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

It may not appear so, but we’ve been busy since the May 5 Fun & games post, in which we alluded to the “next Olsen Mission.”

After Fernandina Beach, we secured a rental in Saint Augustine for the month of May, primarily to pull together mission critical details. (More on that below.) It wasn’t all work and no play, though. We made routine use of the neighborhood fitness center (play??) and watched spring bloom – although it already felt more like summer (ain’t gonna lie – is the Florida heat stereotypically true? Ha!).

It must be spring. This proud Muscovy duck paraded 17 ducklings past our patio.
**SEVENTEEN**!
Now that’s a whole lot of missions!

On one pretty spring day, son Tate took us for a boat ride on Lake George. Nothing like getting back out on the water!

Tate easing down the ramp & Todd waiting to secure the boat

Since the boat decided to act up (as boats will do, oi vey!), we enjoyed our picnic lunch and called that part of the day done.

Not to be deterred from enjoying the remainder of the afternoon, we headed to nearby Welaka.

The one thing our Saint Augustine rental lacked was a grill. So, when the time came for a traditional Memorial Day weekend cookout, daughter Tracee and her boyfriend Royce hosted the festivities. Everyone donned patriotic red, white and blue for the family photo op.

Top row: Royce, Noah, Tracee, Kayla, Todd (aka Dad/Pop)
On the floor: Tate, Alan, Alaina, Susie (aka Nana)

Happy Memorial Day!

Travel Challenge conundrum: We pulled a card while in Saint Augustine, but per the instructions cannot share the results.

(Perhaps someone will have figured it out by now.) 🙂

Ahem. Now, how about that mission?

Oh, dear. No. Nothing quite like that.

Or that. Please, no fire stunts.

Okay, that’s more like it.

If you know Kayla, you know we had to throw in a cute kitten.

Spot on!

After much research and many conversations about the possibilities of the future, we reached consensus, put our own plans on hold, and hatched a whole new mission! Time to help young granddaughter Kayla get “launched!” We scrambled into school tours and apartment hunting before Kayla completing driver’s training, getting her license, and turning in her two-weeks’ notice, led to Thursday, May 29, as the day for the big move.

With Nana’s planning and Tate’s help, we bounced smoothly from the furnished rental on the east coast of Florida to a temporary furnished rental over on the west coast of Florida. Given our packed travel rig (Pearl), thankfully Tate had room for Kayla’s things with a little trailer in tow containing the rest of her stuff and some “gifts” from her mom and Uncle Tate.

Big move, and just in the nick of time. Within an hour of arrival, we had appointments for school registration, tuition, and orientation. Whew.

We then ordered new bedding before hitting thrift stores and estate sales to begin furnishing the empty apartment we’d leased for this endeavor. Time to shop til you drop! (Not really, but it felt like it.) Or you’ll not have anything upon which to set something down, or heck, even to sit!

The comfortable 4th floor apartment, where the three of us are now “roomies”

As to the most important part of this new mission, just a few days later, Monday morning, June 2, Kayla began the journey to becoming a clinical esthetician. Double whew!

Olsens’ Travels is on pause for now, but the new mission has only just begun. We’ve got your back, Kayla, and you’ve got this!

Fun & games

May 5, 2025June 24, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

It’s been more than three weeks since our last post. Some might wonder what we’ve been up to. Well, as it turns out in this case, fun and games!

After the quick (carousel-less) overnight stay in Meridian, Mississippi, we continued along our return to Virginia for family business.

The next stop?

A terrific visit with friends Louis & Lisa at their lake house in Pell City, Alabama!

_{Welcome dinner at Grill at the Farm in Cropwell}

After dinner, we experienced our first absolute failure at the Travel Challenge. Although one of us was fully confident in Todd’s ability to maintain a straight face while making stuff up, there is no “local zoo” in Pell City. No petting zoo. No animal rescue farm. Zip. Nada. Nothing.

Such an utter failure required implementing a rule in this ruleless game. What to do when the task is impossible? Hmm…? As a team (of two), we decided to “bury” the card in the middle of the box and see where it reappears in the future.

The Travel Game may have been a bust, but that didn’t stop us from playing lots of card games into the wee hours. Next time we need to bring more dollar bills – these people are serious. 😉

Thank you, Louis and Lisa, for the good times, hospitality, dancing, singing, and marinated olives!

Next stop, Flowery Branch, Georgia for a seriously overdue visit to catch up with old friends Matt & Betsy.

After dinner, impromptu bartender Matt showed off his skills

The following day was beautiful. After the cookout, we learned a new game, one of shapes before playing cards and ultimately catching a Braves game on TV.

Thank you, Matt and Betsy. It was great to see you again!

On April 16, we finally made it to Virginia, where our first order of business was to surprise Mom with fresh pork rinds at The Bier Garden in Portsmouth.

Since the aforementioned “family business” was oral surgery, there was no time to waste. After the procedure in the morning, it would be a while before she’d again be able to chew such crispy delights…

Ready for the next Travel Challenge?

Ha! What better place to pull this one than in the area where one of us grew up. It’s expanded and changed a great deal in the 17 years since Susie left, but she can still get around… pretty much…

On Saturday we headed to Mechanicsville for a makeup session of family game time because we’d missed our date in February due to illness.

Ready to throw down on some Apples to Apples
(Jeff, Caitlin, Todd, Michael, Kai, Ella)

We’ll return in December ready for a rematch!

Okay, probably not as winners. The cards, word games, and dice were great, but we’d both forgotten just how difficult it is to play Clue. I mean, seriously, just how are you supposed to figure out not only whodunit but where and with what?? Sheesh. Great job, Caitlin!

Back in Hampton Roads, there was plenty more card shuffling in Chesapeake. Sometimes Mom beat us quite handily. Sometimes not. But always fun, right, Mom?

The family visits were warm and the time precious, but we had to move along to North Carolina for additional medical check-ups on our way to Florida for the next Olsen Mission (more on that in another post).

After the appointments in NC, the next bit of fortuitous timing led us to fun in Fernandina Beach, Florida. Cruising friends Barry and Robin had just recently made the crossing from the Bahamas and kindly offered to anchor for the night and wait for us to join them.

The next day, brother Mike and sister-in-law Jackie arrived for the 60th annual Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival.

Catching up with cruising friends Barry & Robin
(they’re the ones sporting the nice tans… )

While waiting for the Shrimp Festival to get underway, we enjoyed a friendly round of mini golf.

Mike would later proudly score the 1st hole-in-one

What’s more fun than Susie frequently retrieving her ball from the flowerbed and both of us getting whooped at mini golf? A parade!

As seasoned thirty-plus-year veterans of the Shrimp Festival, Mike & Jackie booked a room with a perfect view of the parade from the balcony.

As in any proper parade there were plenty of floats, Shriners, and marching bands, of course, but this parade is focused on… shrimp and pirates!

Eventually, all good things must come to an end, even fun and games, but just how do you know when it’s over? Well, perhaps when this guy shows up.

One Mississippi. Two…

April 11, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

New Orleans was great, but those paying attention to our movement (Daddy 😇 ) know that in order to get from the wedding in Alabama to the crawfish boil in Louisiana, we had to drive through Mississippi.

One.

Indeed, we did, taking US-90 along the Gulf shore and entering Mississippi from the east on March 25.

Opting for a stop along the water, we took a chance on the South Beach Hotel in Biloxi. Turned out to be a great stop. Not yet being “the season,” it was not crowded nor too expensive. Score!

Our top-floor suite in the South Beach Hotel

After a couple of days at the beach hi-rise, we continued the drive along the Mississippi coast, where the houses are large and the live oaks massive! The drive was so pretty our distracted navigator – umm, photographer – was enjoying the scenery rather than taking pictures (sigh).

The navigator had done her research, however, and routed our entrance to New Orleans through Mandeville, Louisiana not only so we could take the long bridge across Lake Pontchartrain but also so that we could hit some specific tourist stops.

Turns out these particular “stops” may not be high on the touristy list though, as locals in the park had no idea what we were talking about.

Not to be deterred, we happily continued our search of the lakefront area to locate the first specimen.

Susie visiting the Old Lady of The Lake Oak

A short drive from the Northshore Lakefront, we located the Champion Seven Sisters Oak in a private yard on Fountain Street. It is the largest live oak registered by the Live Oak Society and estimated to be between 500 and 1,000 years old.

In 2016, the girth was nearly 40 ft & the height 57 ft

After the trees, fast-forward a bit past our New Orleans visit (which we covered in the last post), and we are once again Virginia-bound for family business. Well, in order to now get from Louisiana to Virginia, one must drive through – you guessed it – Mississippi!

Two.

On April 3, we re-entered Mississippi from the south.

Our captain – umm, driver – had done his research and suggested an overnight stop in Meridian, MS.

As it often goes on travel days, Susie searched on the fly to come up with a creative dining stop. Enter Weidmann’s, established in 1870.

Legend has it that due to a war-driven shortage of butter in the 1940’s, a patron suggested peanut butter as a replacement. To this day, each table at Weidmann’s is set with a crock of peanut butter and an assortment of crackers.

A local potter in Meridian makes the crocks by hand

Turns out Todd suggested Meridian specifically because it’s home to an historic 1895 two-row Dentzel Carousel. Meridian is so proud to be home to the carousel that there are more than 60 life-size carousel horse sculptures throughout the city!

After driving around “carousel horse-spotting” for a while, we headed to the park to see the real thing. Yeah!

Operating in Highland Park since 1909, on Thursday the carousel was…

With someone somewhat disappointed, we headed for the hotel.

Seems you just can’t escape the carousel horses in Meridian, Mississippi

The next morning, as we continued our journey east, we passed the Simmons-Wright Company that has operated as a general store in Kewanee, Mississippi since 1884.

It’s not as good as a carousel ride, but “Simmons?” That’s a mighty fine name 🙂

And there you have it. One Mississippi. Two Mississippi.

Laissez les bon temps rouler

April 8, 2025April 9, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

Okay. Okay. We’ll help: “Let the good times roll!”

It had been thirty-some years since Todd went to the Big Easy, and it was Susie’s first visit. Nevertheless, we entered Louisianna under cloudy skies for reasons beyond the food and music.

Did we go the “Easy” way? Nah.

We meandered on the smallest roads we could find, checking out champion trees along the way, before crossing Lake Pontchartrain on the longest continuous span over water in the world! Saltwater, baby! Who knew??

With time to kill before 4pm check-in, we took our growling tummies to Parkway Bakery & Tavern for a New Orleans tradition, the “Poor Boy.”

Legends abound over the history of the “Poor Boy,” but Parkway Tavern, est. 1911, is one of the originals

Our 1st Crawfish Boil!

Back in late November at a quaint, crowded non-descript eatery in Rome, we were seated by the harried owner next to a smiling couple who’d already ordered. Hmm? Can we speak to them?

Having been in Italy for more than a month at that point, we offered a practiced, “Buongiorno.”

“Buongiorno” was returned, and then the lovely lady leaned in and asked, “Speak inglese?” Hey! We had fooled them! Everyone laughed, the jabbering began, and a friendship was formed.

Hence, the day after our arrival in New Orleans, we headed to Gonzo and Yvonne’s home for the actual purpose of our trip – to meet the family. Boy howdy, what an experience. Wonderful “kids” (15 on up to 20-something, plus a self-proclaimed, “Baby Everett!”) and an authentic Crawfish Boil. “Boil?” No, we ain’t “sabe”. ^{Notice the mix of languages, Ha!}

Fortunately, our host Gonzo was fully sabe and had all the right gear. This was serious man-business, and what fun to learn from the master!

Under Gonzo’s watchful eye, Todd stirred the pot (what’s new 😉 )

While the first ~~victims~~, umm…batch, sat in the cool-down tub, Yvonne and some of the family took little Everett across the yard to see the pool containing the second round of “mud bugs” awaiting their fate.

Natalie, Ella (holding Everett), Yvonne, & Everett’s father Isaac

Okay, okay, it’s a boil, it takes a bit. After the timer went off, it was (finally) time to really get the party started.

After a second round of crawfish boil and Ella’s freshly baked, homemade desserts, it was nap time! Ha! Okay, not really. Well, maybe…

What a great day getting to know everyone!

Soaking in a bit of history

On Saturday, our hosts suggested visiting one of the area’s many plantations. We began the cloudy day at Oak Alley Plantation, a sugar plantation with more than 200 years of history.

Approaching the Oak Alley plantation house from the back

We’d avoided the rain and enjoyed the tour so much that we opted to push our collective luck and drive along the River Road to see the restored Houmas House Estate and Gardens.

Todd & Gonzo on the lawn of the 1880’s Houmas House Estate

The French Quarter

After church Sunday, we shared traditional muffalettas and gumbo, then parked the car and walked to the streetcar station to grab a ride to the French Quarter.

Aboard the St Charles Streetcar, the oldest continuously operating streetcar in the world!

Plenty of people were out enjoying the warm, sunny day.

Blue skies over the St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square

To share a taste of the adventure, here’s a brief snippet of the sounds in the French Quarter:

Live music on Frenchmen Street

Thank you, Gonzo & Yvonne, for the warm welcome and for showing us around New Orleans!

Gonzo and Yvonne returned to reality – i.e. work, school, etc. – and we got some rest before celebrating our anniversary (lucky 13) with a fantastic dinner at Gianna Ristorante (yep – “rustic Italian”).

By the end of the week, we found ourselves with too many items remaining on the list of things we wanted to see, making it difficult to choose. We opted for time with the animals.

Located in historic Uptown New Orleans’ Audubon Park, the Audubon Zoo consistently ranks among the Nation’s Best and was just ranked #8 in this year’s annual USA Today 10 Best Reader’s Choice Awards.

Challenge Accepted!

A week in New Orleans meant we pulled Travel Challenge #5, and it was absolutely perfect, given the setting.

We were in just the right city to score an easy A+ on this one!

All good things must come to an end, so after the great visit and many New Orleans experiences we’d had – not to mention the Sazeracs, BBQ shrimp, and pralines – there was only one thing left to do.

Put on some jazz music & retire to the back porch

Wedding bells in Alabama

March 26, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

After one more beautiful sunset on Cape San Blas off Port St Joe, Florida,

… we took our final look straight down at the seawall that will someday surely lose its battle with the elements.

We then stood in line in the parking lot of the nearby convenience store to buy fresh donuts from Weber’s.

Sufficiently loaded up with sugar, we were ready to make the final leg of our trip to Fairhope, Alabama.

But let’s back up – why Alabama? Well, our dear friends Terry and Lynn were about to gain a daughter, Rachel, as their son Trevor was headed down the aisle to wedded bliss. And we’d been looking forward to and planning this trip for months.

In January, Susie bought a gown in Italy & carefully crammed it in a travel cube

On Tuesday, March 18, we checked in with Terry and Lynn, and it was finally time to get the parties started!

Susie & Lynn stepped into Jill’s traveling spray tan booth

Now that the fancy duds were wrinkle-free and the gals were both sporting a healthy glow, it was time to prepare for the first big event, Rehearsal Dinner.

Lynn and her mother Barbara setting tables

From here, things got pretty crazy with events and festivities. There are very few photos, though. After all, just how the heck is our in-house photographer supposed to fit a camera into her tiny, borrowed clutch (thank you, Brenda!) while celebrating?

Sporting a resort casual vibe for Friday’s Welcome Party

We wish Trevor and Rachel a lifetime of love and happiness!

After all that feasting, we needed a walk, so we hit the trail. Well, in this case, we walked down the street from the rental house directly to the shores of Mobile Bay.

We were to be in Fairhope a week, hence, we needed a Travel Challenge card. We pulled it in fact on the 18th while sharing donuts we’d purchased that morning in Florida. As Susie pulled the card, Terry made a joke about it most likely involving eating as many donuts as possible or something similar.

Now that’s funny!

We are now on the way to New Orleans to visit Gonzo & Yvonne. Yes, we are staying a week. Sure hope the next Travel Challenge doesn’t involve food…

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Author: ssolsen12