Sister Trip 2012

Being 13 years younger than my sister has had its advantages over the years.  She was always a great advice giver, a constant companion, and a phone call away...unless it was 2:00 in the morning and she was asleep. ;)  Our relationship has changed very little as we grew older.  The greatest change has been the fact that we are now adults and when we talk about taking trips or doing fun things we can just do them!  As crazy as it seems to me, this summer we took our FIRST EVER planned sister trip and it was long overdue. 

Winnie is chief/queen of crazy ideas.  It is never a surprise to get a phone call at 8:00 at night to tell me that we are headed to the casino, get ready.  Or, hey, let's go get a puppy...llama....peacock...etc.  Or, a fishing trip at night due to a bet with her husband that we can catch more fish than him because our bobbers light up so the fish can see them--that adventure wound up with Winnie IN the pond while Jamie and I laughed histerically.  So when Winn called me and said that there was a town-wide garage sale where people ride around in buggies buying things ridiculously cheap and that we had to go to, I was not surprised.  I googled and found out that it existed and even though I was skeptical, I thought it would be a great reason to get away.  That next Friday afternoon, we headed for Abita Springs, Louisiana.  This also happened to be the last Friday of the largest lottery in LA history.  We immediately bought tickets knowing that we were both going to win.  We travelled to Covington, LA where we had a hotel at the Country Inn & Suites which we will definitely return to, then we headed to Manshac for dinner at Middendorfs....deeeelicious.  We both got seafood platters even though the waitress advised against it. (I mean, she had no idea how hungry we were at that point.)  After the delicious meal we ordered their banana's foster bread pudding to go and scooted back to our hotel to try and catch the lotto numbers on the tv or net.  We found the right website that had a countdown to the number drawing and at the exact moment that the numbers were to be revealed, the screen refreshed and then WOULD NOT LOAD.  Thankfully we were hysterical and delirious enough to think that it was funny, but we ran to the room to try and catch it on the television.  The numbers were no where to be found.  I mean, we were just in disbelief.  So that night we went to bed knowing that it would be okay in the morning because one of our tickets had just won millions of dollars.

Here we are in our Middendorf's tshirts trying to get a good self-taken picture:



This was the best final product...we were so tired!

The next morning we made a breakfast stop at Chik-fil-a and then we were at the garage sale by 5:30 am.  It was awesome.  It really is a whole town that comes together for a yearly garage sale.  People are riding around in their buggies and carrying strollers just so that they can put their purchases in them!  We walked around and made several fun purchases like an antique metal watering can for $8.00 and some giant welded bird planters, a wooden chandelier, two old huge ceiling tiles and an 1800s wooden twin headboard/footboard.

Bird plant stands...this is not the final product, but you can see what they look like!

1800s bed that I am getting Jay to make benches out of!

It didn't take us long to pick out the good stuff at the garage sale and decide that it was getting too crowded.  We headed back to the hotel for some napping and extra shopping.  On our way home, Winn just happened to spot the Abita Springs Brewery! I had not made the connection of course, so I was pleasantly surprised and we HAD to make a trip back to the brewery before we left.  We took their early tour--which was completely free.  It was an awesome tour.  They even brew root beer and keep it on tap!

Us in the brewery...I had to wear booties b/c I had worn flip flops

Sissy enjoying her root beer!

After the beer tour, we tried to google and find a good place to eat dinner, but all that we could think about were the huge shrimp from Middendorfs...so back to Middendorfs we went.  It was a beautiful day and we so enjoyed being able to stop where we wanted and when we wanted...we totally piddled.  And our piddling then led us to a SWAMP TOUR.  Cajun Pride.  We both have always wanted to do one, but had never gotten around to it.  It was loong.  But very interesting and entertaining.  Sissy says that I have a good alligator eye. I always spotted them before she did. :)

Crazy tour guide feeding these alligators.

Alligator.  This one is about 8 years old.

Sissy with a two year old alligator!

At the end of the tour, when the boat was on its way back to drop us off, the tour guide pulled out this 2 year old alligator and said we could pass it around and take pictures with it!  Winn turned to me immediately and said, "Amy, I don't think we are qualified to hold an alligator"  and I agreed.  It scared the begeezes out of us.  Like, five year old kids were holding it and me and Winn just held our breath.  Thankfully his mouth was taped shut, because I've seen Crocodile Dundee.

We relunctlantly started our trip back to Meadville, aka reality.  We sang in the car the whole time.  We giggled and talked about everything in our lives.  It was the perfect sister trip...even if we didn't win the lottery.