We started 2023 by finally breaking out of our loop, and we went somewhere new. For the past 6.5 years of our marriage, Frank and I have cycled between Florida, northwest Ohio, and Chicago, over and over again. To be more specific:

Toledo, OH -> Naples, FL -> Chicago, IL -> Jacksonville, FL -> Naples, FL -> Sylvania, OH -> Chicago, IL -> Rockledge, FL.

Wow, we moved eight times in a little over six years. How about that?

Naturally, we made pit stops to briefly explore new places along the routes between these destinations. Nevertheless, life was beginning to feel like we would never go anywhere else beyond Ohio, Florida, or Chicago, in spite of all of our hopes and plans. Thus, when we began planning our slow travel month-to-month nomad life, I had one demand for our first month on our own. We must spend our month somewhere new, somewhere neither of us had ever been before.

Enter, Nacogdoches, TX!

Why Nacogdoches? For access to the cute little college in that town, Stephen F. Austin State University? We threw a dart at a map and it landed on Nacogdoches? I always dreamed about going there?

Nah, we found a super affordable and cute AirBnb, so it worked out best for our budget. In all fairness, the college was cute, the local food was fine, and we found a local church with a playground for the kids. After Frank would finish his workdays in the little home office, we spent many evenings on the swings and slides at that playground, and met some lovely people along the way! Also, we got to indulge our love of road trips on the weekends and spent every weekend exploring Dallas, Houston, and Shreveport, LA!

Yet, before we made it to Nacogdoches, we took a new and exciting route to make it down there! We took our time and made multiple pit stops before we made it to our final destination.

The Route Down

Indianapolis, IN

We left Toledo a little too late, so we basically just stayed the night in our hotel outside of Indy. There are a few bucket list things there, so naturally, we’ll have to eventually go back.

St. Louis, MO

On New Year’s Eve, we made it to St. Louis in the early evening. Our agenda: find delicious St. Louis barbecue, and have an early night. We had Mass in the morning and another long day of driving ahead, after all. While approaching downtown, I did some research into the best barbecue in the city. Oddly, the most popular is Paddy’s Memphis-style barbecue-St. Louis is weird. We landed on one of Salt + Smoke‘s locations, the one in Hampton. This barbecue completely changed our (previously unfavorable) opinion of St. Louis-style ribs, because these were great! I personally loved the mustard-based barbecue sauce, and put it on Everything.

Next morning, we attended Mass at the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales before packing up our hotel room. St. Louis has SO Many gorgeous churches, so we already know we will be back for a church tour. On our way out of town, we swung by the Gateway Arch National Park so I could snap a few pictures. We didn’t take the tram up or see any of the other aspects of the park like the Old Courthouse though. So, of course, now I know we need to go back there too.

Memphis, TN

My primary goal in coming to Memphis was to experience Beale Street. Hear some jazz or blues, eat some more barbecue, and in general, soak up the atmosphere. We tried to go to B.B. King’s, as we saw they had some live music. Yet, the moment we stepped inside, we realized it was just too loud for the kids. It wouldn’t have been a good time, for all of us. So, we walked a little further and decided to eat at Alfred’s. Our meal was great, Frank loved the music, and I got a mixed drink with a plastic monkey. That part was Victoria’s favorite. Next stop: Insomnia Cookies!

We left early the next day for the longest leg of our drive, and eventually made it to our cute little apartment in Nacogdoches! As I said before, the town was sweet, and we occasionally ate out in Lufkin, a nearby, slightly larger town. Nevertheless, our weekend day trips to Dallas, Houston, and Shreveport remain the principal highlights of our month in Texas.

Dallas, TX

Our first weekend in Texas, we decided to immediately knock out one of our bucket list items. We headed to the Dallas World Aquarium (bucket list ✅) to “explore the world’s biomes,” and we had a blast! Naturally, we saw an abundance of varied fish and aquatic life, but this place was also part zoo! Victoria loved seeing the sloths and many frogs, while I particularly loved the ocelot, the Napoleon Wrasse fish, the octopus, and the penguins. The amazing plant life blew us away too. 10/10 would recommend for anyone fond of zoos, aquariums, and family fun!

Following our fun in the Aquarium, we began our hunt for the best barbeque in Dallas. I stumbled upon this link here. We spent the next 30+ minutes dissecting every picture, mapping distances from our location, and skimming reviews. We eventually landed on Terry Black’s Barbecue, and I wish I was exaggerating when I say we had a life changing meal. With a 4.7/5 and over 3700 reviews, I had a hunch we would be in good hands. Though it cost a pretty penny, we ordered a veritable smorgasbord of barbecue delights that I still daydream about:

The meats:

• One beef rib
• ½ lbs of pork ribs
• ¾ lbs of brisket

The sides:

• Green beans
• Cream corn
• Mac & cheese
• Pinto beans

Desserts:

• Mini pecan pie
• Banana pudding

I also ordered the frozen house Blood Orange Black Margarita, which was the perfect accompaniment to this incredible meal. If you happened to be wondering, yes indeed, this was too much food. Thankfully, I had a little lunch box in our car, so our leftovers came home with us and yielded the second perfect meal! The brisket melted in your mouth, the beef rib fell off the bone, and the pork ribs were also very good. All of the above were amazing in their own right, but then Frank suggested I add Terry Black’s Sweet and Tangy BBQ sauce. Suddenly, everything needed to be swimming in it, and the meal went from a 10 to a 12. All of the sides and desserts were super yummy too.

I would go back to Dallas just to be able to eat at Terry Black’s one more time. On that note, we probably do need to do another pass through Dallas at some point, as these two stops were pretty much all we saw!

Houston, TX

We elected to take two day trips to Houston. We had just too many interesting things to do and see there to fit in one day. Our first trip, we spent ages searching for parking, as it was a beautiful day and basically all of Houston was out and about. Eventually, one parking garage and a long walk later, we made it to the Japanese Garden. While it was lovely and peaceful, I think I’d recommend going in spring or early fall, when everything is green and lush. Following that excursion, we took the train into downtown and found a quick lunch. In any major city with a Metro of some kind, that tends to be Frank’s highlight, and this jaunt was no exception. Other highlights this day included Mein in Houston’s Chinatown and a super quick stop at the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall, a favorite local photo spot (and personal bucket list item).

Unfinished Business

The following weekend, we went back to Houston on a mission. We parked much closer to the Waterwall, to be able to actually linger there and soak it in. It is truly immense and awe-inspiring. The weather was not nearly as friendly as the previous weekend and thus it was far less crowded, which I appreciated. I think Victoria and Dominic liked it too, but the chilly temperature and wind kept them from loving the experience. We sought out more barbecue to compare, which almost always ends in disappointment after a meal as epic as Terry Black’s. To some extent, that was still true. I thought it was fine, but Frank didn’t care for it. I don’t even remember the name of where we went, but we got gelato afterwards, which was nice.

We also had several beautiful churches on the bucket list to see, so we made our way to All Saints Catholic Church to see their icon wall, followed by Annunciation Catholic Church. When all was said and done, we headed back to our spot in Nacogdoches to rest and relax for the rest of the night.

Basically, Houston is really cool, and I hope we get to go back there too someday.

Shreveport, LA

We noticed on the bucket list that Shreveport, LA had a couple of beautiful churches we wanted to see. In addition, Shreveport was a reasonable 1.5 hour drive from our place in Nacogdoches. So, we elected to spend a day over there to see the churches and indulge in a little Cajun food. Our other blog will share the details of our stops in those churches and will be linked once that post is written. Here’s at least a few family fun photo from the Cathedral of St. John Berchmans.

We weren’t able to see the second church on our first visit there because it was locked. We therefore went back on our last Sunday to attend Mass there. Nevertheless, the first time we visited Shreveport, we decided to try Crawdaddy’s Kitchen. We waffled over what to order at first, but we noticed a couple at the adjacent table with a truly massive platter of crawfish. I inquired about the relative spiciness and asked a few other questions. Get this: this lady handed me two so Frank and I could try them ahead of time! That southern hospitality is no joke, people. Our waitress and seating hostess were both fantastic as well, bringing crackers for Dominic and entertaining both kids every chance they got!

Our Meal

Naturally, we went with the same as our neighbors, a five pound platter of crawfish, with a boudin balls appetizer. For those unfamiliar with Cajun comfort food cuisine, boudin balls are pork sausage and rice that’s been seasoned, balled, and breaded, and then deep fried. I tried them in both Nacogdoches and Shreveport, and both were good but they were better at Crawdaddy’s. The crawfish were delicious but a little small, as it was still early in crawfish season. We aren’t going to hold that against them. We love those perfect family date nights, where the food is fantastic, the atmosphere and service are friendly and fun, and the kids eat well and have pleasant attitudes. I think I found out much later that Crawdaddy’s is a chain, and so I have hopes of us finding another somewhere and having another great night out!

In short, Shreveport was really cute too, and we are really glad we visited.

Reflection on the Month

Our month in Nacogdoches taught us so much about what our full-time travel life can and does look like. Four weeks proved the perfect amount of time for that adventure. We stayed somewhere simple and experienced a slice of southern small-town USA, but also ventured out and got a taste of big city life on the weekends. We recognize we only scratched the surface in those places and left a lot of stones unturned, of course. It would be nice to go back, revisit our favorite spots and find new gems. Yet, we might not ever get a chance to return to that area of Texas. After all, there are just so many other places to go too. Overall, we learned so much about ourselves, what we need to bring with us, what we can afford to leave behind, and how we like to spend our time!

What’s Next?

Quality Time with Family! I’m sure we’ll still get up to some shenanigans and have our own adventures, so stay tuned for some Florida- and Ohio-based fun!