Way down yonder in New Orleans....In the land of the dreamy scenes....

We are in New Orleans, at the Chateau Hotel in the French Quarter. This is the view from our second floor balcony.....

I love the courtyard.....We will be eating breakfast out here tomorrow morning before leaving on a 3 hour tour of the city. www.cajunencounters.com

A lot of the Christmas decorations are up, as tomorrow starts the Christmas festival.

We took a cruise down Bourbon Street before dinner. We decided to do it early, as tonight the Saints are playing the Patriots and after the game it will be pure madness.......

This is the outside of one of the Voodoo stores...

And....the inside....I have never seen so many voodoo dolls, fortune telling cards, etc. They had a palm reader on duty but none of us are interested in knowing the future!!

You see all kinds down here.......

And.....all kinds of crazy stores. I wish we were having a Mardi Gras celebration at the club this year. We saw so many cool accessories to dress up with!!

These kids were very good.....there are jazz performers all over the streets as well as in many of the bars, which are all open to the streets.

We walked into the shopping district where all of the Christmas lights were lit.

It is so interesting to go into McDonald's in different cities and see how they decorate based on the cultures.

There were a lot of policemen patrolling on horses. This guy they have handcuffed and getting ready to load in the paddy wagon was so drunk (drugged) he could not stand up!!!

This was one of the better jazz groups!! We are hoping to catch some more when we hit Jackson Square tomorrow afternoon.

We stopped in the office before heading to our rooms for the evening so we could book our tour for tomorrow. I thought the lobby was so cool....so "French"......

We didn't stop at Preservation Hall this trip. The line was long and it was too cold to stand around.

Shrimp boats is-a commin...Their sails are in sight. Shrimp boats is-a commin there's dancing tonight...

Whenever we cross into a different state, we always stop at the "Welcome Center" for information, hotel coupons, (and any other discounts we can find). Most of them are very clean but kind of run of the mill. We crossed into Mississippi and were flabbergasted when we walked into the center. They had all these different rooms furnished with antiques and looking like living rooms in Southern mansions.....Beautiful and the employees just bursting with southern hospitality!!
Ruthie and I finally found Elvis......He "thanked us very much" for stopping!!!

Getting ready to board the Shrimp boat......

Our captain (Mike)......

Leaving the harbor......

Pulling the net with the catch.....

The catch....This was such an interesting and informative trip. We learned SO much about the sea creatures (all kinds).....like, I never knew the fisherman irritated squid until they turned blue, then squeezed the fluid out and used for ink!!!

Or....that s sting rays bite was not poison, but in fact a flesh eating bacteria......

Dinner guests...looking for anything that was not a shrimp that would get thrown overboard.....

A baby blow fish...showing us how big he could get....when he was thrown back in the aquarium he looked like a minnow......

You could buy fresh shrimp on the docks. These are considered "medium" and go for between $3.00 - $4.00 a pound. Shrimp fisherman have not had a raise in 30 years!!!

We ended up staying at the Isle casino, right on the beach. We got great off-season rates on rooms with an ocean view. Did a little gambling (I actually walked out with over $100). They had a special on the seafood buffet....buy one get one free. HUGE dinner for $11.50 for both of us.

Ruth in front of one of the MANY trees in the casino. I have a feeling we are going to see some pretty fabulous Christmas decorations over the next month.

Off we go into the wild blue yonder flying high....

Saturday morning we left Umatilla to begin our trek to South Padre Island, Texas. We are traveling with our friends, Gene and Ruth Starcher (PA). Our first stop was Pensacola, FL where we toured the National Naval Aviation Museum. We loved it, and as always learned so much!!

Gene, Ruth and Salt outside the museum.

And yet another serious pose from me.....

Planes, helicopters, balloons, blimps and space stations......

I was able to feed my passion for more info on the Vietnam war. Such a big part of our teenage years.....

This is the section they have set up to represent the Hanoi Hilton (as the prisoners referred to this hell hole).

I read both of John McCain's books and many other stories of POWs but this display certainly brought it more to life.....

America's First Space Station......

Check out these three sailors before an unbelievable 34 days at sea in a rubber raft....

And after their rescue......

This is the raft.....pretty unbelievable. There was a book The Raft written in 1943. I am going on a search for a copy, as I think it will be an incredible read......

Planes....everywhere.

This was a WWII Pearl Harbor display......

The home of the famous "Blue Angels".........

The evening sky as we exited the museum......

Dinner at Cracker Barrel and in the motel for an early evening and a good night's sleep. Tomorrow into Biloxi, MS and a shrimping expedition.

For every breath...for every day of living...This is my Thanksgiving!

Since we were leaving early Saturday morning for Texas, we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner at the clubhouse with our friends. Dinner was beyond fabulous.....besides the turkey potatoes and stuffing which the club provides, each family brought a dish to pass. The variety of food was unbelievable. Here is just about half of the table of food......

This was our table of friends.....we were joined by Gene and Ruth's son Dan with his wife Billie, and their two sons Luke and Wyatt.

Dan, Billie and the boys. These kids are absolutely the cutest little boys and just as smart as they are cute!! Wyatt is on the right and Luke was being a little shy.....I did some get some pictures later.

Terry humoring the boys (or was that Susie he was humoring??).....

Thanksgiving evening Gene and Ruth hosted an evening dinner with a fire and a birthday cake for me....Yep 63!!

Luke had warmed up to all the strangers and was very willing to have his picture taken by this time.

It was fun to have my birthday on Thanksgiving....Lots of birthday wishes at the clubhouse and I even won the 50/50. Heard from all the family and lots of friends.

Since none of us had any leftovers....Terry and Susie had us all down for Turkey sandwiches...yum, MY favorite part of Thanksgiving.

Bingo tonight and finish packing. Off at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Stay tuned to the blog for our three weeks on the road!!