French Quarter

We got in late on Monady evening and found out that the New Orleans Jazz Festival was the weekend before and the weekend after our visit. It runs over two consecutive weekends, so we were right in the lull of the middle. The city was all geared up for it however which made it fun. Our hotel ended up to be old but clean. A little funky, but the location was good( a block off bourbon) and the feel was very French Quarter. We walked around and had a lot of fun. Wow, can this place party! You'll have to ask Ron about the "Gentleman's Clubs" and the superb advertising they offered, including wild girls swinging out of club windows onto Bourbon Street and lap dances where there were not even laps involved. And all you had to do was be walking down the street. Sin lives in New Orleans to be sure.

Ron had some good cookin, to include red beans and rice, shrimp creole, jambalaya , gumbo and dessert of something like bread pudding which I have forgotten what it was called. I had a muffalatta sandwitch. That is like an Italian Grinder with olive and marinated sweet pepper tapanade on it. ( more or less). Traditional and good. Ron had a couple drinks and I had one to go, ( so as to keep my wits about me as we continued along bourbon street. ) Maybe I should have had none, because we were victims of a "street artist" posing as a cop. I was "fined" for drinking outside of the "open beverage" area, by a cop who was a dead ringer for a yound Eric Estrada in CHIPS. It was $20.00 and we got a hat out of it. It was all in good fun, but I have to admit, I was a little freaked until I caught on that it was a joke. I guess I'm not too sharp. Ron just wanted to give him the $20.00 and move on...there were more ladies to be admired, I guess. :)

The French Quarter was beautiful and at night it had a mysterious quality. like nefarious happenings could be around every corner or in every doorway. Just a little dark and forboding. The music was great, comnmg out of every door and club. We saw a classic jazz group with as lead who thought he was Louis Armstrong. They were good and it was entertaining. I didn't get good night shots, but I got a few of our hotel and the next morning we went out and did the French Quarter by day. It showed its beautiful side then. What georgoeus old buildings with the most beautiful iron work and building details I have ever seen. Really old and unlike San Franisco where the old is so beautifully restored, these still have the qualities of old tired ladies. Ron and I still need to do some research on the history of New Orleans, since there were some Spanish-French markers and such we couldn't really place in time very well. I hope you enjoy the pictures, although I am sure they will not do it justice.

Ron finished his tour of New Orleans cuisine with some street music and an Andouille Sausage Po'Boy Its on the road to Florida now...which route to be determined.

Houston to New Orleans

We left Houston after lunch and drove on to New Orleans. It was about a six hour drive. We stopped in the "Welcome to Louisiana" Tourist Info station and we asked about lodging n the French Quarter. They had some coupons good at a couple of the historic hotels. We were a little worried about staying at a French Quarter hotel that was that cheap, since all of the ones we had been calling along the road were pretty pricey, but we went for it anyway. Look out New Orleans,,,here we come!

The tourist stop was on a beautiful lake with lovely grounds. Upon further inspection you could see lots of signs it wasn't your usual rest stop. The garbage cans were all elevated off the ground and there were grassy areas by the lake that you could not take your pets. Big signs saying " Danger- Alligators" and the like. The rest stop worker said that the garbage cans were elavated to keep the "critters" from being encouraged to come out of the swamp and snack. The critters being alligators. I can see her point...nothing says welcome to New Orleans like being attacked by an alligator.

The road we traveled was pretty much the same all the way, once we got into the gulf area it was all bayou. The freeway was all causeway elevated over the swamp, It was pretty cool at first, but after hours of it, it got old too. You could see shacks amongst the swamp occasionally- maybe the were old fishing shacks or maybe someone actually lived out on the swamp, I don't know, but it seemed kind of surreal. There were also those big fan boats buzzing around amongst the swamp too. I suppose all those things meant alligators too, but unlike Alligator Alley in Florida, where the freeway is close to the ground, we were well elavated on pilings so no visible gators.

WE crossed the Mississippi River. That is one BIG river, let me tell you. Very packed with industrial stuff and just wide and huge. This was were it poured out into the gulf so it was a cool high bridge so ships could trabvel under. I tried to take photos but they are pretty bad, you can't really see anything. There was no where to pull over so they are all out my car window. Coming into New Orleans was kind of the same, but over Lake Ponchatrain. It too is a huge lake. It feels like one of the Great Lakes, since you can not see one side from the other, but I guess in termsof sixe, its not even close, but as big a lake as I have ever seen outside of the Great Lakes. Swampy edges however.

We got into New Orleans at duska nd it was dark by the time we got into the French Quarter and to our hotel. I'll post the French Quarter next.

Dallas to Houston

HI,
Today is Wednesday and I haven't had a chance to post anything since we left Laura and John in Dallas, so it seems like we have done a lot, so this might have to go in more than one post.

This one will be Leaving Dallas and visiting Houston. It was a about a 7 hour drive and we timed it so we ould be there around lunch. The day went as planned and we picked a Starbucks on Montrose Street as the destination on our GPS because we recognized it as the street that Ron's new firm is located on. It ended up being only about three blocks away, so we walked up and just checked out the neighborhood. It was a funky neighborhood with lots of charm, so I think Ron will like working there. Houston was a neat city to drive through. We left after lunch for New Orleans. I'll post a seperate one for New Orleans.

Day 5 & 6

Hi Family & Friends,
We left Colorado Springs and headed south. We had a choice of a couple different routes and we choose to linger a day longer in the southwest to avoid heading directly into the tornado area that has been on the news so much these last couple days. That means we won't see Kansas city but it did mean we would see Laura & John in Dallas. It was a good choice.

The weather instantly changed once we got 30 nminutes south of Colorado Springs, but we heard today that Peublo and some of the towns that were nice when we went through now have snow, so I guess we got out just in time.

So, we headed south out of the Rockies into Mesa terrain. The land started getting hotter and flatter. We sure welcomed the heat. We had a 12 hour driving day ahead of us that took us through Santa Fe and Albequerque. We did drive through both cities, actually on a quest for a New Mexico Starbucks mug, but we didn't do too much tourist stuff. The land got flatter and warmer and we had a nice picnic lunch in the hot sun. We drove on historic Route 66 for some of it, and that was a fun side note. We made it as far as Amarillo, Texas for the night. Ron says Amarillo Texas is a nice place to keep driving through but not so nice to stay. I guess I agree, but we had a decent place to stay and I was sure ready for the driving to be done for the day.

Today we got up and eased our way to Dallas via Fort Worth. It wasn't too hard of a drive, 6 hours, but the terrain didn't give us many photo ops. Lots of Flat, Flat,Flat, Straight, straight roads. We drove through The Red River Valley, of song fame, and the newly plowed land was as red as any land I've ever seen. The red river was a shallow river with lots of red sand banks.

The best part of the day was seeing Laura and John, and the kids, Simon and Oliver. We all went out to dinner and had Tex-Mex, Salvadorean food. It was good too. I guess this restaurant is a favorite of Tim & Janice's when they are here visiting too. They live in a nice walking neighborhood,and it was a nice walk to the restaurant.

We didn't stsy too long, since we have an early start planned tomorrow (Houston and New Orleans) and with a busy family, they had lots to do besides entertain us. It was nice to see their awesome house and see the kids. Simon spent dinner working on the puzzle sheet the waiter gave him and Oliver spent dinner eating the bean dip with Gusto. ( Picture included). It made the trip here really awesome. I hope we are back this way again some time.

Day Three and Four

Hi-
I went to sleep the night of my last posting in Wyoming and when we woke up the next morning the ground was covered in snow. Great! This was the day we really had to cross the Rockies. We watched the news and decidded to get on the road as fast as we could becasue this was the start of some freak spring blizzard blowing in. I took some pictures of the start of the days adventure but couldn't really take any photos of when it was really bad because it was just white. Ron did a great job driving. The passes were about 9000 feet but didn't really feel like it since the main land was already at 6000. They were different too since they were many, one after the other each taking you up another increment in elevation. It was pretty but a bit scary too.

We stopped about an hour or two from Denver because Jeff had called and told us we would never make it to his town ( Colorado Springs) and in fact, the freeway between Denver and Colorado Springs was closed. We talked to fellow travelersand used the Starbucks internet to check on roqd conditions, and it looked like we could probably mqke it to Denver. We decided to go that far and justnholdnup if we had too. By the time we got there ( Three hours later than we thought) they had opened hte freeway to Colorqdo Springs. We trudged on and made it to our hotel- luckily just off the freeway. Pretty close to the academy north of Colorado Springs, in a small berg called Monument.

Jeff and Carol, our friends we were in town to see, drove in to get us in their 4 wheeler and took us out to dinner. It was great to see Jeff- its been a long time. His wife, Carol, who we had never met was lovely. Such a good balance for Jeff.

I guess it just have been pretty bad, since the high school cancelled the prom which was scheduled for Friday night. Lots of disappointed kids running around in prom dresses coved by ski coats trying to make a pseudo-prom out of the evening.

We had Buffolo steaks for dinner. Really good!

That night it continued to snow and wind storm but at the same time, the snow started melting so by this morning the main roads were plowed, everywhere else had a mountain of slush, the cars had a few new inches of wet snow, and it was blowing biting wet snow all over hte place.

Jeff and Carol came in to pick us up agwin to take us back to their house (up another 1000 feet on the mountain side)for dinner. It was a lovely day, and dinner. n nCarol and Jeff have 5-6 acres with three horses, three goats, a cat, two ig dogs, and other barnyard animals I think too. I would hav4 never guessed it for Jeff but he is really happy, and they are a lovely family. I met Carol's Grandma too. What an awesome lady. She's in her late 80's and is as spry and witty and lovely as anyone could be. I think I'll adopt her.

Well, that brings us to me here late at night doing the laundry-prepping for the nexzt phase of hte journey. Weleave super early in the mornig for Sante Fe and Alberque and bedding down in Amarillo. I'll let you know how it goes.

Love you all. and miss you. Call us sometime...it gets lonely on the road.


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Day Two- Next Installment

Ok... So I guess the Mountains we crossed weren't the rockies..or so Ron is telling me... I'm not sure what they were...but big pretty mountains for right now...
( My map reading and Geography skills are another good reason we should NOT do the amaxing race)

We drove from Boise to Utah, and dropped into salt lake City for some sightseeing.
What a proud city. The love their church and rightfully so. Beautiful grounds and nice, nice people. The tour guides of the "Temple Square" are the young missionary ladies. Very kind, and intellectusal. We had two guides and had a great tour. You can't go into the temple but you walk around it in beautiful gardens. There are many brides. Even on a weekday in the middle of the day. I guess if you are married in the temple, you are assured to be with you mate for all eternity, not seperated by death. Isn't that a nice thought? I guess in our faith we have that promise too, but not all LDS get to go to heav3n so if you get a contract option like that, you sign right up I guess.

They have many buildings in the cmplex and it is also anchored by the capital building snd the convention center, demonstrating how closely intertwined the faith life is to the political life and the social life here in SLC.

Two of the buildings are the original buildings from the original pilgrims. One is where the Morman Tab Choir still performs ( we could have seen a performance if we were here longer) with one of the worlds largestr organs. ( picture) Another is still a worship place with all original intertior from the mid 1800's. The original settlers worked the quarry and harvested the unused cast off pieces. They built one of the buildings from these uneven blocks, but then went along and trenched the surface of the blocks in a way that would accept grout. They then grouted them in an exagerated fashion along those lines to create the effewst of the building being made from prime materials. Inside the building is the original pews and interior finishes. All they had to work with was white pine, considered an inferior building material, so they used painting techniques ti imitate the better materials. The benches were staines oak color and the wood grain was hand painted on EVERYWHERE. You honestly could not tell it was not Oak. The same with thses huge "marble" columns. The looked like the columns at Holy Rosary, but it was all painted on. It was a grand and beautiful building.

Another building was their interpretive center...to tell the journey of the LDS faith. It was like Disneyland for the Morman faith. Life size replicas of the story of the old testament and Jesus' story and the Book of Mormam, etc... Quite amazing!
The whole dome of this building- and it was big-was devoted to a 360 degree mural of the universe--Sistine Chapel'ish--with a mamouth white statue of Jesus in the center. It wss menat to be a contemplative spot. Wow! Big Idea!

The guides left us on our own to explore the grounds since we said we wern't planning a conversion any time soon. But, If I was looking for a nice clean cut kid, I would be interviweing the local mormans, thats for sure.

We decided not to search out a Starbucks for a Utah mug...The odds were against us since the mormans don't do coffee.

On to Wyoming....More beautiful land. We started by Park City, Utah with mountain terrain suitable for the Winter Olympics that were held there, then into beautiful painted hillsides with orange and red stripes and craggy outcroppings, then through mesa land, Home to huge windmill farms, where we could ride along the tops and see for miles to roads down in the gorges and valleys. We saw soft hillsides covered by what I am going to call scrub pines, but who knows what they were. Pine evergreens that were round and tall like a broad leaf tree might be. Dotted all over the hillsides. Then into more stiped hillsides - but striped pale green instaed of oranges.

Then into flat wide open land again. We found our local "Wall Drug". Here they call it Little America. The signs start miles back celebrating all you will find at Little America.
"Fifty cent ice cream..all the time"; "17 marble showers(a treat for the truckers, I think): "24 hour full service restaurant- gourmet meals"; "three playgrounds, including waterslide"; Themed Motel Rooms- only $78.00"...I told Dad I wanted the Ben Franklin room since they all seemed to have an American History theme going on.

The list went on for many billboards...we just had to stop. Of course.
It was pretty much what they said but it felt like one big glamed up truck stop. I will say I enjoyed the marble bathroom stalls and the 50 cent icecream. Bought a postcard too, to send back home to you Chris & Em.

We ended the night in Rock Springs, Wyoming, I think...but it might be Colorado..not sure. We worked a deal to stay at the chain two nights and we get a third night free. Since we plan to stay at a lot of hotels between here and Florida, it seemed like a good deal. Not as god a deal ( or hotel) as our free Marriott rooms, but still good. When dad went into check us in, and I stayed in the car like the "little lady" I am, they told him his reservation did not count against the buy two get one free plan because he did not book it on-line. He came back out to the car and told me I should "go into "NEVER PAY RETAIL" mode and he said I needed to "go to the mattresses" with the clerk to get us our rightful free night. So, I did. I went in and told her we would like to take advantqge of the Buy two, get one free plan. She said I could not since I had alredy checked in. I told her I would like to cancel my reservation. She said I could not since it was after six. I told her I would like to take advantqage of their 100% satisfaction guarantee. I was NOT satisfied. I'd take my refund Now, please. She said would have to call higher authorities. I said, go ahead...there were too many empty rooms in this town to take No for an answer, and I'm sure if she thought about it she would agree. She did. It took a few minutes longer and Ron stood very quiet at my side( slightly quaking in his boots) as he watched me asert my "Never Pay Retail" training.

She did change our room number so I was pretty sure we had been reasigned to the room next to the bioler room or the room identified as having bedbugs the previous night, but so far...no issue. Its a great room, and Ron has dozed peacefully off to sleep in our temperpedic king bed with pillow soft everything. Ah, I think I'll join him.

The wind has really picked up outside and they are talking about tornados, so tomorrow should hold some good adventures.

I love you, Chris & Em.. Miss you.
Take care and give us a call sometime if you can.

Bye, Y'all see you soon!