When Denise caught wind of a nature preserve in a little town called Kingsville less than an hour south of Corpus Christi, her ears perked up. When James found out that said nature preserve had real-life raptor birds ready to put on a show and devour piles of meat, he brought every lens in the camera bag!

From El Potrero Ranch to the 106-year old Harrell's Kingsville Pharmacy, the neighborly vibes were also on full display everywhere--even the Mayor showed up to talk to your favorite empty nesters.

Kingsville is full of potential and affordable housing, and speculators are starting to take notice. If you're into fishing--or crushing four-dollar burgers at the corner store--then you may want to give Kingsville--or nearby Baffin Bay--a solid look!

#emptynest #fulltank

In the Northeastern part of Louisiana sits the 3rd oldest city in the US, and is best-known for 2 things. The first is that its name, Natchitoches, sounds nothing like its pronunciation, "nack-a-tish." The second is it's the town where the true story of Steel Magnolias is based. Turns out Denise has seen the movie 12 times and cried every single time. Conversely, it's like ambien to James. He's tried to watch it in 3 different decades and failed to stay awake every single time.

The hotel was fantastic, but the nightlife--at 8:15PM--was virtually non-existent. It wasn't until they stumbled into a bingo hall that things seemed to take a turn in a more exciting direction. The food was mostly good, when they could find it. Turns out, catching a restaurant between 2-5pm for a late lunch is REALLY a struggle.

For a town with a university and so many festivals during the year, the dynamic duo thought there would be a vibrancy on the streets of this beautiful setting. What they found wasn't exactly a traveler's paradise, and instead some mixed reviews from the locals, themselves.

Special thanks to the Church Street Inn!

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For someone who never watches HGTV, Denise sure knows A LOT about the hosts of their shows. James knew nothing about Laurel, Mississippi or the show "Home Town," but you best believe he knew Erin and Ben Napier's names by heart by the time we left!

Our first night in this growing town was overshadowed by a grungy hotel in a not-so-great area, but charming Downtown Laurel awaited us the next morning. We were greeted by a few locals, Landon and Kate Bryant, who are the geniuses behing the Southern-centric, uber-successful @landontalks channels on TikTok and Instagram. We all piled into their car for our own special tour of the neighborhoods around Laurel and it certainly did not disappoint.

Tell your "mom 'n them" that what we found in Laurel was a new surprise around every corner. Here lies a town that is charming, ripe with potential and overflowing with civic pride. Spoiler alert: Our prediction is that, in 5 years, some people are going to be REALLY glad they put skin in the Laurel game.

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