Tuesday Travels: Road Trip to Texas

 

Husband and I will be heading down to Lubbock, Texas in November for a wedding on 11.11.11. What a cool date to be getting married on huh?! My brother and sister in law were married on 7.7.7 … so we’re going to have at least one couple on each of our side of the family who married on a cool date.

Now, we’re sort of excited that the wedding is in Lubbock… as uneventful as Lubbock is… because it is a days drive away from us. Literally, only about 9 hours away. AND since the wedding is on a Friday, we’re going to make a vacation out of our little trip and head over to Dallas.

 

Here is the Google Map of what our one way trip will look like. We’d obviously be going back the same way, stopping in Amarillo overnight before making the rest of the trip back. Originally, I wanted to stop by Santa Fe, NM on our way down to Lubbock but we figured there isn’t much to do in NOVEMBER in NM…

   

These are the two photos I have of the last time we drove through Lubbock. We stopped on Avenue Q to have lunch at Whataburger. This is pretty much all the town has to offer, from what I know. Maybe we’ll discover something else on our trip there in November.

From our front door to the wedding location, is about 9.5 hours, and 537 miles. On our last road trip to Texas, we left Denver around 8 am and were in Lubbock by 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and drove another 2 hours to Big Spring before we stopped for the night.

Since the wedding is in the evening on Friday, we’ll be able to leave Thursday afternoon, and make it into Lubbock before midnight on Thursday, which will give us all day Friday to relax and get ready.

I’m thinking the next morning we’ll get up and spend some time with family, before we head out for the almost 6 hour drive to Dallas.

We’ve never been to Dallas, and since we’re looking to moving out there in the near future, we really want to get a feel for what it’s like and whether Dallas or Austin is the right city for us. We’ll probably do some sight seeing, and maybe check out a few of the builders in the areas right outside of Dallas.

 

I can’t wait to explore this city! And we are so overdue for a vacation, so this will be perfect.

We are still deciding as to where we’re going to be staying, and how we’ll drive down. Since it’ll be November, we’re worried about Snow on the road in Colorado, and our car hates snow. Remember this:

There wasn’t even that much snow when it initially got stuck in the middle of the street. BAH.

So we might just rent a car… or we might take up my in-laws on their offer to drive down together, and then explore Dallas together. Or we might take our project car down… but adding so many miles to it will break my heart.

So, have you been to Dallas? What shall we do?! Are you in Dallas (Linds) and want to make time for us?!

Shrimp and Sausage Boil

 

When warmer weather comes around, the Husband and I love nothing more then easy meals that we can make in one pot or on the grill then dig in with our hands.

About three years ago we went down to Rockport Texas for the Mister’s family reunion and visited a little place called the Boiling Pot.

This place was very cool! The tables were covered in butcher paper, there was a roll of paper towels thrown on top. You ordered your food by the bucket and when it came out it was just dumped on the table in front of you.

 

A few months ago I was dying for some Cajun boil, and after searching high and low for an easy recipe to duplicate and coming up empty-handed, I decided to try and take bits and pieces of ones I found and create my own. I mean HOW hard could it be to boil a bunch of stuff together?!!

Well my first attempt was a little strange, the potatoes didn’t cook all the way, the shrimp might have been slightly overcooked and the sausage was completely wrong. But after several tries, I perfected it, and now it is one of our go to meals!

I’d like y’all to meet the Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Boil!!!

Here is what all you’ll need:

• 3oz bag of Shrimp and Crab boil
• 3 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
• 4 lbs of small new potatoes
• 6 ears of corn
• 3 lbs of Andouille Sausage
• 4 lbs of medium unpeeled shrimp
• Lots of lemons
• Some Italian Parsley

Make sure to follow the following steps in order to ensure you have fully cooked food.

1. In a large pot, bring about 2 gallons of water to a boil
2. Add in the Shrimp and Crab boil, along with the Old Bay Seasoning, Let the seasoning boil around for about a minute or so
3. Add in the potatoes and let them cook for about 10 minutes
4. Cut up the corn into 2 to 3 inch pieces and add them into the boiling pot (Ha! get it!)
5. Let the corn cook for about 10 minutes 
6. Cut the Andouille into inch long pieces and add it into the mixture, let it cook for about 5 minutes
7. Finally add in the shrimp and watch for them to turn pink.

Once the shrimp are cooked, and be super careful not to overcook the shrimp, drain the pot and dump the boil into a serving platter stick wedges of lemon next to it and sprinkle parsley on top.

 

However, this meal is not done until you make some garlic/lemon butter to go along with it. This butter is my own creation and I sort of eyeball what I put into it. Next time I make it I will get measurements so that y’all can re-create it. Here is what I do put in it:

• Some butter, melted
• salt
• paprika
• garlic powder
• salt powder
• red pepper

Now go on, make this dish, dump it on the patio table and enjoy it along with a cold beer or some sweet ice tea!