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Published: February 6th 2011
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Hi Y'all!!
It is Feb 6th, 7am and the thermometer says -2.7C (27F) so as you can hear nothing weather wise has improved. Pulled into Bayou Segnette State Park, New Orleans on Thursday in a sleet rain. By now, it is just oh well, it will pass. I started out being such a whiner but that got old real quick and whining did nothing to the weather.
Spent a couple of nights in Corpus Christi. Went on the Lexington aircraft carrier and toured another Padre Island. Huge long sandy beach, wild wind etc. CC is a beautiful city. There is so much water and very spectacular.
Left CC and travelled to Galveston, Texas. All these places are just about a 4 hour drive from each other so we are really just hopping across the southern US. We had not been to Galveston on our last trip back here in 2005 so it was great. Galveston is an island. James and Karen went to Houston Space center (where the phrase "Houston, we have a problem" was coined). After they left there, we met them in Kemah. A touristy little board walk town just north of Galveston. We met for dinner.
I am the tour director so sometimes the heat is on. I checked Tripadvisor and came up with The Terrace Cafe. A little off the boardwalk, a little less expensive and a little less busy. Well is was all of the above and a little derelect and half the neon sign was gone so onward. Back to the Boardwalk for dinner. Last year, Coco Beach Florida "best crabcakes in Coco Beach" according to Tripadvisor. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I actually wrote a thing for Tripadvisor about that one. The next day we drove up to Houston looking for Costco so we could buy more of that great Margarita stuff (bottle of Margarita, just add ice and it was wonderful) Drove 1 1/2 hours to the Costco and guess what the Costco's in Texas don't sell hard liquor. We still were able to spend too much money there, as usual. Left there and went to a very cool National Museum. It was the National Musuem of Funerals. Great place. Lots of old refurbished herses, funeral/memorial service programs from very famous funerals, tips on embalming, if one ever needs some tips and lots of old embalming equipment. Some of the most obscure museums
are the best.
Left Galveston by ferry over to Bolivar and onward to New Orleans. Pulled into here in the sleet as I said. It has blown, been below zero and some sun. Cold but sun. So cold we drove into New Orleans, found a place to park and took a taxi to a restaurant recommended by the parking attendant. It was about 3 blocks but at that stage who cares. This accent though in New Orleans has been some of the best so far. When we asked the parking attendent about a restaurant, we heard him say "Critter City Blue house" Since I am the tour guide and the heat is still on, I repeat it back to him a couple of times. "Critter City Blue house" Yes, yes that is it. "Critter City Blue house" .. We go across the street to have the bellman at the Westin get us a cab and he says where are you going and of course, I say "Critter City Blue house" and he doesn't blink, just tells the taxi driver to take us to the "Crescent City Brew House". We will laugh about that for the rest of the trip.
Sat in front of a couple on the Streetcar yesterday and I was trying to listen to them. I knew they were speaking english but I could not get a word to make any sense. Of course, we just open our mouths and people ask where we are from.
We took a great van tour of New Orleans. It was a combination City tour and post Katrina - rebirth tour. It was very well done. I know other people that have done the post Katrina tours and been very depressed by what they have seen. I know this tour could have been promoted that way but it was promoted as a rebirth. We drove the whole area. Randy the tour guide explained about Katrina and what went on. He explained about so many people not being able to get out of town but they did evacuate 1,000,000 in 2 days. People are beginning to rebuild. It took a long time to settle with insurance companies, deal with Habitat for Humanity, Brad Pitts, Make it Right foundation or the best was Barnes and Nobles rebuild. He explained about Habitat for Humanity, having to put in 5,000 hours of sweat equity
to be able to qualify for some help from them. Barns and Noble's exec decided he would build houses for families who had done all the right things -- returned to work, paid off the mortgage on their flooded house -- and yet struggled to recapture a stable existence three years after the storm. So far 20 families have moved into their new homes and eventually they hope to help 100 families.
We are leaving New Orleans today, spending 2 nights in Picayune, Mississippi to visit Karen's nephew and family. Of course, Superbowl is all the excitement and will spend the afternoon watch that. Yeah hoo!!!
On Tuesday, we are actually going to drive some longer days to get to Florida. I have Miami on my laptop screen and it looks a little cloudy but 78F. We are ready.
From Miami, on March 1st Larry and I are flying to Panama City, Panama. Jim and Deb, our friends from Kelowna are touring there for 3 weeks so we are hooking up with them for the last couple of weeks. I have been assured that there will be sun, probably too much but we are ready. Jim and
Deb bought 2 weeks accomodation at a fund raiser in Peachland last summer in Chitre. It is about 2 hours from Panama City itself. She asked the couple to recommend someplace for us to stay around them and they very kindly offered us a bed. What a treat! It is just the best to see a country with locals. We certainly learned that from our Australian experiences. The best home exchange was when we stayed in a home with the exchange people. Lots of fun, local sites, and stories. We will be in Chitre for Carnavel. Not sure what that means but should be an experience. We will rent a car in Panama City and drive there and around other places. Apparently Panama is the 5th most popular place for Expats and Canadians to retire in the world, or US. Something like that.
Our friends from home, Ed and Anita are in Florida the same time we are so I am looking forward to hooking up with them for a few days around there. Also, Chuck Morgan, Rick and Lorraine are there as well so won't be a shortage of company.
We will be either storing our 5th
in Miami or if anyone want to use it for 2 weeks March 1 - 15. You are welcome. It would just cost the price of the camp ground. It would be the Miami area because thats where we fly from. Just let me know.
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