Murphster Meets Up with Alligators!

Hello Team Murphy,

While we were in Louisiana with the weekend off, we took advantage of the beautiful summer-like weather and spent all of our time outdoors. Since we were in swamp territory, we figured we should tour it! We went on an airboat ride and I loved going super fast across the water! When we'd slow down real quickly, we knew our driver was spotting alligators so we'd start scanning the water's edge for them. We saw so many...and some real big ones, at that! Our driver caught a baby alligator for us to hold, it was the cutest little critter I've ever seen and it smiled at me the whole time! What a fun way to spend an afternoon!

Your swamp lovin' friend,
Murphster

Bobert Helping Me Vacuum!

Butterscotch Update from LA

I am visiting Uncle Wooga's friends The Muellers in Los angeles.  Today we went to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour.  It lives at the California Science Center.  Click HERE for a time lapse video.

I'm going on more adventures tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

xo

Butterscotch

Teddy Tortaleenie Nutstar

Teddy has had some major adventures when he went to Pittsburgh. Teddy was
able to go to the NCAA basketball tournament that was played at the Consul Energy Center. 

At the NCAA tournament

On the next day, he went on a trip to Boston for a Bat Mitzvah. 

 This weekend Teddy tried to go to Charleston, SC for the annual 10K Bridge Run but his flight was so delayed that he wasn't able to go.

Teddy will be off to New York on Monday.

On a bridge in Pittsburgh

At the Pittsburgh airport

Ready to Fly

Enjoy the pictures!
Grace (age 7) and Lizzie (age 5) (Keith and Steph, too)

Bobert and his New Friends!

Chesnut Loves To Cruise

Hi Everyone...
I am back from a wonderful time on my cruise. The Disney Fantasy is wonderful. We got on the ship in Port Canaveral Florida. The day was sunny and WARM. Aunt Amy, Uncle Chip and Cousin Ashley were welcomed with applauds by the cruise staff. The ship is huuuuuge, almost 4 football fields long and 13 decks high. There are 4 swimming pools, some just for the grownups.

The first night we were in the Royal Ball Room for dinner. The food was great, especially the dessert.

 

We went to the island of St Maartin/St. Martin. It has two names because half of the island is ruled by France and the other by the Netherlands. It was so cool to have one foot in France and the other in the Netherland. The biggest money maker on the island is tourism. There were five ships in port on the day we were there. Everything is so green and colorful.

  

Then we went to Puerto Rico. It is really part of the United States. It has a wonderful old fort on the mountain top that helped keep the people safe a long time ago. I learned that Puerto Rico means "rich port" in Spanish. It has lots of mountains and forests. Over half the island is covered with mountains.

Then we went to Disney's Private Island, Castaway Cay (pronounced "key"). What fun. So many water sports and things to do.

 

I met a lot of friends on the ship. There were real characters. HAHA

 

  

That's it for now. Miss you all. Will be back from my adventures in April. So much to tell.   Chesnut

Murphster Finds Good Eats in The Big Easy!

Hi friends...now about the food in New Orleans, LA! Jen is in food heaven here. The VERY first thing she had to have was a fresh crawfish boiled dinner! That consists of seasoned "craYfish" (is what we call them back home), corn on the cob and whole potatoes...all boiled together with southern cajun spices. Boy, I must admit it seemed a little strange seeing all those little critters but wow, were they tasty! The south is as proud of their crawfish as we are up north of our lobsters.

   Next on Jen's list was Saturday morning downtown at the most popular coffee cafe in the city called "Cafe du Monde"...no trip is complete to NOLA for tourists without a stop here to try their famous french doughnuts called "beignets"! (Have any of you watched the Disney movie "The Princess & The Frog"? The Princess' character works as a waitress but dreams of opening her own restaurant to make these beautiful powdered sugared fritters!) 

Well, the 25 minute wait in line for a table was worth it! They were delicious! All they serve at the cafe is beignets, coffee & cold drinks...that's ALL so service was fast!! There was a jazz band playing right out in front of our outdoor patio seats so it was so enjoyable to sit a while!

   For lunch on Saturday, Jen had gumbo on her mind! It's a spicy soup with rice and shrimp & sausage! Again, we ate outside and she was happy with her gumbo.  

Murph gumbo & more gumbo

Supper...yup...outside again for MORE gumbo and also fried catfish & boiled shrimp with a cream sauce we'd never seen before and can only dream of having again until going back to NOLA, it was THAT good!

   Sunday was a sandwich they call a po'boy, which is like our grinders or subs up north, you can pick what you want for meat and the bread is a crusty french bread kind of a roll. Jen chose more catfish as her filling in her po'boy. Jen fell in love with Louisiana catfish this past fall when she was up in northern LA at the tv show's Duck Dynasty Diner where she had jambalaya which is a southern rice dish. So Sunday, we ended with MORE beignets where we happened upon a mini storefront Cafe du Monde on our riverwalk, they made all of us very happy...plus we only had to wait 5 minutes there instead of 25!

  Don't be surprised if I'm a little bit bigger when you see me next because I'm certainly eating good on the road!

Your friend that is stuffed in more than 1 way,
Murphster :)

Murphster Explores Louisiana

Well pals, where to begin on my travels to Louisiana & the incredible city of New Orleans? All I can really say is, wow...what a GREAT way to kick off the first weekend of spring!
We arrived on Friday to finish our deliveries of equipment in the trailer at a couple of hospitals and it was over 80°...sunny & hot...flowers, lush green grass, palm trees & blooming trees were all around! Thank goodness for a steady breeze off the Mississippi River to cool things down! Doug & Jen did not have to load any new shipments to leave before the weekend so that meant to whole weekend off to explore this new tropical & festive territory.

Louisiana is rich in history, as is the city of New Orleans. A few things I learned about was the history of the french settlers from Canada & immigrants that would arrive by boat here from all around including Spain, Germany, Ireland & Haiti just to name a few! There is such a blend of nationalities that the combination of languages, traditions, music & foods has had such an influence on the area that it makes it such an interesting place to visit. Have you heard the term "cajun" or "creole" before? They stem from the blend of settlers here in Louisiana. What history there is here from native americans to pirates to battles & wars, to the civil rights movement to crazy hurricanes & floods, celebrations & festivals, it is the birthplace of jazz and there is amazing architecture here, there is so much to see, hear, taste & learn.

Have you learned about who Ruby Bridges is? She has an amazing story from when she was 6 yrs old from the civil rights era and had an amazing teacher who was from Boston...oh how I love those Boston area teachers! ;)

So I might've mentioned in the past, oh who am I kidding? I KNOW that I've mentioned that Jen is a travelling "foodie", meaning she loves to find foods that are popular in certain areas and boy, is she in her glory here in cajun country! I think we may have to make a separate blog entry on the food we ate. Actually, with that said, we will!
For now, I will tell you that we explored downtown New Orleans and never needed a jacket even into the evening hours. We walked the whole city, which is A LOT bigger than I expected...there is a popular area called "the french quarter" and that is where we spent our whole Saturday. Sunday we ventured a little further south to a national park for an air boat ride through an alligator swamp then BACK to New Orleans for a little more walking to watch the sunset along the Mississippi River "Riverwalk" area and for a little more fun & food in the french quarter...again, no jackets needed! I will try to bring some sun & warmth your way!

After the weekend was over, we drove from LA (NOLA is a nickname for New Orleans, LA) to Houston, TX (a new area of TX for me to see, which is in the south eastern part of the state) then on to Dallas for Doug to load back to CA but now Jen & I are flying home to MA because the truck won't be back in MA for another week or so and Jen has some of Bryce's college baseball games to catch! I hope you all are well!
Signed with love,
Your trucking friend, -Murph