A week in the South
The #TaterTwins and I spent our second tour week visiting a few of our southern neighbors. Our first stop was in Gulfport Mississippi. (I learned how to spell that State name years ago because of how fun it was…and it still is fun to spell, even at this age.) Age is something that happens to all of us, but there’s a cure; acting immature. One way to act immature is to team up with SunSouth, a John Deer dealer, and ask for Tractor Test Drives. (Aka Tractor Joy Rides) This was Kaylee and Jessica’s first time on a tractor. (Judging by their abilities.) They didn’t get the crops plowed, but they did get to drive them around the Big Idaho Potato. The guys from SunSouth were awesome to the #TaterTwins and they enjoyed their rides so much, I think we have two new farmers in the making. We were treated wonderfully by the staff of the Holiday Inn in GulfPort, and didn’t want to leave, but we had some kids to go see.
Houston Texas was our next destination. A taste of rain greeted us on the way, so we had to make a pit stop in Baytown, to let the roads dry out. We got to Houston just in time to visit KHOU’s Great Day Houston, a morning show with Cristina Kooker. We showcased our Spud, talked about the Houston Childrens Festival, and then had a friendly Potato Peeling Contest with Cristina. I won of course, because I knew you shouldn’t peel your Idaho Potato, you eat it with the skin. We picked up some potatoes from Kroger’s on Studemont, for the kids to decorate. Kroger donated the potatoes for the activity and while originally only offering one thousand, they upped that ante to four thousand for fear that one thousand wouldn’t be enough. They also graciously let us store our Big Idaho Potato in one of their walk in fridges. (Or was it the back of the parking lot? One forgets the small stuff.)
The next morning we got to represent the Houston Chidren’s Festival on the news with KPRC channel 2 news Today along with our PR Director, Sue Kennedy. We were honored to help the festival out by representing them and we got to take a bit of time too, for ourselves. Nothing like a good old fashioned potato peeling contest. The #TaterTwins wanted a rematch from the day before. I almost won two in a row, but someone switched out my spud for a Spuddy Buddy. (Poor Spuddy Buddy) It was all fair, but I think our host, Sofia Ojeda won that time.
The McDonald’s Houston Children’s Festival was a blast. The kids had fun decorating their spuds. They also got to go to the next booth, for free McDonald’s french fries. Spuddy Buddy then made an appearance, which is always a treat. Spuddy Buddy danced with families and of course, took pictures with them. There were so many fun activities at the festival. We didn’t get to go on any of the rides because we were so busy, but there was always day two, right?
Nope, turns out Mother Nature had other plans. The Festival was canceled for day two on Sunday, to avoid any possible conflict with some really nasty weather. We got a few more pictures of Houston, then we headed out to the outskirts to get ourselves ready for the trip next week to Florida. Texas was a blast though and you know we’ll be back one day. That Southern Hospitality just can’t be beat.
