Treats and Eats at Corsicana

Can someone explain the misplaced 't' in the sign?

Same (mis)spelling on the menu:  "Mexicant Restauran"

Baby back ribs--wanna guess where we ate this night?

Awesome salsa

They had me at "buttery cornbread"

Loved the cornbread bun!

Oh my..........

Chocolate as far as the eye can see.

I will spare you all the pics--it would just be rude. ;)

It looked like the Easter Bunny exploded in the store.

Chocolate bunnies and jelly beans galore!

Yes, we got souvenirs!  Lots of them.  ;)

Meeting an old friend

Our stay in Seguin put me stone's throw away from a dear old friend that I don't get to see very often.  It created the perfect opportunity for us to get together over lunch and catch up. We had both looked online for suggestions and decided walking around the central park would be a good place to start.

We settled on Jonathan's choice for lunch: Amy's & Cathy's. As cute as the little sandwich shop was inside we chose to dine alfresco. The afternoon was just too beautiful!

More walking led us to a coffee shop with "We've Moved" written on the glass.  A disappointment.  We continued on to a fun little bookstore.  Who can resist?  After a thorough perusing, we chatted a while with the owner and got directions to the relocated coffee shop.  It wasn't in walking distance, but oh, it was worth the short drive just for the sheer novelty of it!  Jonathan and I found quite the juxtaposition:

Chiropractor & Java Joint

Let that sink in for a minute.

Your eyes are not playing tricks.

We indulged in the Java portion, but passed on the chiropractic! 

We soaked up the remainder of our afternoon on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

The bookstore lady told us this old power station is being converted into a restaurant.
This will go on mine and Bobby's to-do list.

That evening, Bobby and I just struck out with no place particular in mind to eat.  Maybe the afternoon outing inspired me, because we ended up at the Guadalupe Grillhouse.

It it usually a good idea to ask the server for a suggestion on what to order. They will either tell you their favorite or what is most popular.  Their recommendation will either confirm your choice or convince you to try something you otherwise would not have.  That was the case for me on this night.  I tried their brisket nachos.  Excellent choice, if I so say so myself!  The smokey meat was a very different take on traditional nachos. They were loaded with brisket, cheese and beans, topped with jalapeno slices.  Our server tempted us with a platter of desserts and we succumbed. We shared a slice of locally-made caramel pecan cheesecake over coffee.

Seguin, Texas

Traveling north just a bit, we land in Seguin, Texas. We arrived in town tired and hungry; comfort food was the ticket, even before we checked into the hotel. Our go-to favorite in that category:

I love IHOP.

It was training night at IHOP--shadowing trainees galore.  I was reminded of Kristin's stories from back in the day when she was the 'shadower' and then 'shadowee'.  They were all working so hard--we got asked about 15 times by several people if everything was okay.

We were in a booth. Picture the kind with a half wall divider and a strip of glass atop that.  I didn't notice when 2 quite elderly ladies were seated on the other side of it.  What got my attention was their server.  He was maybe all of 19, tall, cute in a teenage sort of way, turned out in his white shirt and black slacks.  He was giving his utmost attention to his customers.  The ladies were deliberating over the menu, clearly unsure of what was what.  This young man was bent over the table, pointing through the menu, describing items, giving them consideration as if he were ordering for himself. He was so sweetly patient, without a drop of frustration or condescension toward these little ladies. It was quite touching. When he finished taking the order, I caught his eye over the partition and gave him a thumbs up.  Later I mentioned to his supervisor what a kind thing he did.  The supervisor then told me that the young man had ADD and when he first started working there he wanted to give up on himself, but this supervisor wouldn't let him. He took the young man under his wing, literally, working with him side by side.  He became confident and can now handle multiple large tables at a time--on that night he was also training 3 other people.  One of his best employees. An already good story just got better. I wish that young man many successes and kudos to the supervisor for seeing his potential.

On this night, IHOP provided not only comfort food, but comfort for the soul.

Rockport & Fulton, Texas

From the top, I will just say that our Rockport stay was too short.  There was too much left undone for my satisfaction, but that will give me something to look forward to should we get to return.

Our first night there we drove down to the Fulton Harbor just as the fishing boats were coming in for the day. These are not the yachts and pleasure craft of the last post, but rugged working vessels, rusty and grimy. We watched them unload their wares as the fog began to roll in.

Mere steps from where I took these photos was the Moondog Seaside Eatery.

We asked to be seated on the patio, but asked to by moved inside before we ordered since the heavy fog was getting chilly.

We enjoyed our meal much better without the shivering.

Our server assured me the crab cakes were good and she was right--fat, well seasoned with bits of sauted celery and onion, topped with a nice dill sauce.  I had a side of sweet potato fries.  Bobby had shrimp--see a pattern starting to develop?  Unfortunately it was too dark and the pictures did not look appetizing, which is a shame, because it was delicious.  Most of the clientele seemed to be local which are the kind of places we seek out.  The service was fair--we could have used more tea refills.

I had an afternoon to kill while Bobby was working that I spent at Rockport Harbor.

Only in Texas

The aquarium is closed just one day a week.  Guess what day I was there.

Now we're talking crab cakes!

Funny side story:

Years ago when I was still a kid at home we were on a family vacation and stayed a day or two at Rockport.  It was there that we experienced our worst restaurant ever. The Rusty Anchor has gone down in history and family lore as the symbol of dining at its lowest.  It looked innocuous enough going in--tables, chairs......And you would think, right there at the coast you could expect real seafood, right? Wrong.  In hindsight, our first clue came when the waitress seated us, waved nonchalantly behind her as she departed and said the now infamous words: "Help yourself to the salad bar."  She was using that term loosely.  There was a bowl of wilted lettuce, some other bits and pieces, and all this proudly displayed sans a sneeze guard. That was the defining moment we should have kept walking past it and right out the door.  We didn't.  We ordered fish dinners--I don't remember the make or model--but will never forget, some long while later, she brought to our table......fish sticks!  Burnt, tough fish sticks!  I can say that disastrous meal has provided us more laughter and jokes through the years that it almost made up for the crime that it was!

When we were headed to Rockport this time, I told my folks I would look up the Rusty Anchor for them, full well knowing it had to have gone out of business days after we left it years ago!  On the afternoon of my walk-about, this cafe caught my eye:

My apologies to Crazy Rusty for any dubious associations of horrors past.

"Help yourself to the salad bar" = code for "Get the heck outta here!"

USS Lexington - Corpus Christi

We stayed an extra day in Corpus Christi so we could tour the USS Lexington.

I won't lie, when Bobby said he wanted to see it, I was less than thrilled.  I went along willingly to be a good sport.  We were on that aircraft carrier for almost 4 hours and I can honestly say I enjoyed about 3 1/2 hours of it, which is the inverse of what I expected.

We covered the ship from top to bottom There are 5 self-guided tours. .  Being on the expansive flight deck and inside that huge vessel, I became enthralled with its history. I came away with a new respect for the thousands of men (and later, women) that served on her.

 We encountered this sobering display on the gangplank on the way in:

On the placard:

On the aft side of the island  (the multi-story structure where air-traffic control and the bridge are located) you see a Japanese Rising Sun flag with a black border. This flag indicates the exact loction where on November 5, 1944 a Japanese kamikaze plane, Code name Zeke, crashed into USS Lexintgon, killing 50 of her crew and injuring 132. His mission was a success.

I like how they use mannequins through out the ship to make the scenes really come alive.

From the USS Lexington website:

Commissioned in 1943, she set more records than any other Essex Class carrier in the history of naval aviation.The ship was the oldest working carrier in the United States Navy when decommissioned in 1991

During World War II, the carrier participated in nearly every major operation in the Pacific Theater

The Japanese reported LEXINGTON sunk no less than four times! Yet, each time she returned to fight again, leading the propagandist Tokyo Rose to nickname her “The Blue Ghost.” The name is a tribute to the ship and the crew and air groups that served aboard her.

In 1962, she sailed into Pensacola, Florida, and began training operations, eventually being officially designated CVT-16, Navy Training Carrier until she was decommissioned in 1991.

Let me know if you are intrigued and read more about her.

 

When we got our land legs back, we went just around the corner for a wonderful lunch at Pier 99 where we dined on the open-air deck with the Lexington just across the bay.

At the recommendation of our server we tried the seafood gumbo. Oh. My. Goodness.

Best gumbo ever, topped with jumbo shrimp, grilled fish, and crab legs!

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We enjoyed thsee guys hopping around.

I would love to try more from Pier 99, if business sends us back that way.

Another spectacular view of the Lexington from the dining porch.