Shreveport + Me = In Love

We made a short trip to Shreveport this weekend. Seriously, we got there around 11 p.m. Friday and left about 2 p.m. Saturday.

We loved what we saw, though.

We looked at two rental properties, the only two I could find near good elementary schools. They were both in great neighborhoods, but the homes themselves were a little more outdated than we hoped.

The first one was in my target neighborhood and just a hop (not even a hop and skip) away from the school. A greenbelt runs through the neighborhood and there's all the shopping and dining you could want within a 10-minute drive. There's also the most awesome playground ever within an easy 5-minute drive. The downside was not much of a yard and no fenced in area for the dog.

The second home we looked at was more in the boonies. It was surrounded by forest and had a private lake for the neighborhood. The trees were amazing. The house had a gigantic backyard. The property manager warned us about snakes, then we saw a guy catching a snake out of the street. Needless to say, my husband was not impressed with the prospect of poisonous and not poisonous snakes hanging around. A friend suggested we buy some guinea fowl to take care of the problem - fresh eggs and no snakes! I like it! BUT, the place is not within walking distance of its great elementary school AND my husband is totally freaked about the snakes. Totally.

Ultimately, we decided on the first house and headed back to it. AND IT WAS GONE! Someone came while we were gone (a whole 3.5 hours) and gave her a 2-year lease and a deposit. It felt like we had the rug pulled out from under us. We drove every street in the neighborhood hoping beyond hope that we'd see another place for rent - no luck. As a matter of fact, there were only two homes for sale in the whole neighborhood (and two townhomes).

It's funny. I was sort of favoring the forest/snake house, but when we found out the first house was unavailable, we didn't head back to get it. Clearly, the second house was not the right house for us.

We checked out the base. The commissary is great. It was a madhouse (right after pay day and the day before Easter), but I was still in love - I love grocery shopping. The Barksdale Inn, however, left a lot to be desired. We've stayed on base at three other bases and this was by far the worst. They call it "historic," I call it a dump.

We checked out base housing and weren't impressed with what we saw. We also heard of "East Gate" which is base housing about 20 minutes outside of base that they're moving people to. So, we made a decision that we absolutely did not want to move on base and pay for private school. The area right outside of base isn't nearly as nice as the area by the first rental home.

We drove around the downtown. It looked nice - no abandoned buildings and rundown businesses. It actually looked pretty clean and totally not scary. The convention center was very pretty from the outside.

We played at a couple playgrounds (including the super-awesome one).

We headed home and about an hour from home the landlord of the first place called. She didn't like the people's credit, so the home was ours, if we still wanted it. AND WE DID. She's in the middle of PCSing herself, so we'll get the paperwork this week and send it back with the checks. So, I hesitate to say the place is ours till everything is signed and money is exchanged, but things look good.

The casino/riverwalk area looked pretty neat from the highway - at least six HUGE casinos, complete with hotels and restaurants and even theater venues.

So, all in all, I'm in love with Shreveport. I cannot wait to get moved out there and start our life.

Now ... someone buy this damn house.