Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The Big Sleazy
New Orleans
We stayed at the Moose in Gretna just across the river from the French Quarter and a few blocks from the Ferry. The neighborhood was a little sketchy but the unemployed plumber, a Moose, in the house next door kept an eye on Bogey and the short bus. We were pretty excited about taking the Ferry across to the French Quarter because we would be able to fully participate in the festivities. Wink, Wink.
A Lesson In Positive Thinking
A few years ago we stayed at an historic
B&B in St Louis. The other guests at the time were Lyda Kay Ferree and her friend. Lyda Kay is the epitome of the gracious southern belle and is a travel writer for a VIP Lifestyle Magazine out of Memphis. I asked her what she does when she’s disappointed in 
her accommodations. “Why Sugah, you can always find something nice to say.” Which brings me to The French Quarter in New Orleans. Help me out here Lyda Kay.
Dirty, overpriced, one bead and 
T-shirt shop after another, and some very non-jazz music blasting from every small, dark, dirty, bar you walked past. “Larsen”, I say. “This is supposed to be fun. Maybe we aren’t drinking enough.” After we made sure lack of alcohol wasn’t the problem it was still dirty, the 
music bad, and the drinks overpriced. When you pay $14 for two draft Buds, you expect at least to have T-paper in the lady’s room! Oh, I know! We had really good Oyster Po Boys at Resurrection Hall. There. That was positive.
We did find one street band playing jazz. I was so enthralled that I walked into a post and spilled my $7 beer. Larsen about wet his pants laughing at me. The man is no gentleman!
Cooking Up A Coup
Larsen continues to plot and plan his overthrow of the current régime. I don’t know what all is involved besides, “I’m gonna go/do what I want, when I want. And you and that cat aren’t the boss of me!” Whatever. But just in case, I stopped into Marie Laveau’s Voo Doo shop. You can’t be too prepared.
Laura Plantation
This is a Creole sugar cane plantation built i
n 1861 and it’s still pretty much the same as it was then. Apparently, most of the remaining plantations have torn down their slave cabins so they don’t have to talk about it. Not so with Laura Plantation. Two of the 69 slave cabins, which housed 
over 200 slaves, are still standing. Our tour guide (I detected a Creole accent) was very forthcoming about life on the plantation. The Creoles didn’t hand down property to the first born or to the first son. They gave it to their smartest child. That’s why Laura Plantation was run by women for over two hundred years.
Sugar cane leaves are sharp like razors so they burn the fields to get rid of them. Also to get rid of snakes and other critters before they harvest the stalks. Can you imagine doing that by hand with bare feet?
Blasting Home
Florida is calling to us so we wandered along the Mississippi and Alabama coasts with their gorgeous white sandy beaches then went inland to US 10 and headed for 
home. Some of the beaches were still roped off with lots of clean up crews still patrolling for tar balls. Stopped for the night at the Warrington (Pensacola) Elks. What a treat. They have a really nice baseball complex and lots of games were in progress. Overhead, the Blue Angels were doing an air show and later that night the Elks had a Trop Rock band for our dancing enjoyment. Nice way to end our trip.
I plan to do one more post when I get home so if you don’t hear from me in a couple days, call the authorities!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Waltz Across Texas
On either side of Roswell, NM and well into 
West Texas is something called “high desert”. Miles and miles and miles of nothing. Not a house, a cow, or a gas station. Nothing, nada, zip. Oil rigs and tumbleweeds. So what does one think about while traveling for hours through the area?
- Wonder how many people die waiting for EMS?
- If people out here “eat locally” they must be dining on tumbleweed.
- Hope we didn’t pay too much for this land. Oh. Forgot about the oil.
- That “school bus stop” sign is a joke, right?
- If this is desert where are the cactus? You know, the ones with arms that look like people?
And when we really got bored we counted mashed marsupials a.k.a. armadillos or possum on the half shell.
In West Texas the oil rigs turned into windmills. Much prettier.
I don’t have a scale with me but I think it’s safe to say I’ve gained a little weight. Or, could it be a giant hairball from breathing in all this cat hair? Just a little Hartz Hairball Remedy on some toast and I’ll be good as new. Oh, would that it were so easy! Looks like someone will be dieting through the holidays. Bummer.
San Antonio
The River Walk was so cool! Wonder if Detroit could do something similar with River Rouge? Probably not. It’s mostly below street level and it’s very cool and lush with landscaping and waterfalls. There’s shopping if that’s your thing, and lots of neat restaurants which is definitely my thing. And no, I didn’t finish this Margarita!
But, honestly, you can do the entire river walk and the Alamo in one day. Day and a half, tops. We were lucky there was also a 2 hour Veteran's Day parade and a Latino music festival in the Main Plaza to fill out our two days here.
Loved the parade. Texas is hom
e to several military bases including Brooks Air Base just south of the city. According to Larsen’s new best friend, our municipal bus driver, they graduate a class every weekend so there are plenty of young airmen in town dragging their families a
round the River Walk. There were two community marching bands. Not nearly as cool as our own Scottville Clown Band but still…….I loved that the majorettes and flag girls were in their 60’s with a little wear, tear, and some hairballs of their own.
Flaco In The House!
We sat on the steps of the Mai
n Plaza to listen to the various Latino bands. I was lucky to be sitting next to a very nice Latino lady that answered all my questions, among them: “What’s a Tejano?” (a Texan of Mexican decent). I thought she was going to faint when this accordion player took the stage. The crowd went crazy, chanting FLACO! FLACO! FLACO! People rushed to 
the front to take pictures. My friend said this was the best day of her life. To have a front row seat to see Flaco. So what’s the scoop on this Flaco guy? First, Flaco means “skinny little boy” in Spanish. His name is Leonardo Jimenez, he’s in his 70’s, and he was taught to play by his father.
He played with Freddy Fender and the Texas Tornados. He’s also a five time Grammy winner. Seriously? They give out Grammys to accordion players? Apparently. Reminds me of that Far Side cartoon. Well, we’re converts. Flaco rocked the house! The couple in this picture were so cute. She’s in a walker but they danced every dance.
The Texas Riviera
We found the Texas equivalent of G-Row. The Marina Beach RV park in Port Aransas. These people know how to party! If you’re ever in the area check it out. Port A is like the Keys were before the condos. Turquoise water, long sandy beaches that you can drive on, and lots of little hole in the wall places to wet one’s whistle while watching the dolphins herd fish in the channel. Oh, and great fishing too.
Régime Change
Larsen keeps muttering about a “regime change” when we get home. Apparently he thinks Bogey and I don’t understand the pecking order. When asked to explain just what changes he plans to make, he just says, “You’ll see Princess, you’ll see. And your little cat, too.” Wooooooo, I’m so scared. Ha!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Up, Up, and Awaaaay!
Albuquerque, NM
After being blown away by the natural beauty of Sedona, we’re hard to impress. Albuquerque, for the most part, isn’t very pretty. But, old town is very quaint and, well,.….old. Lots of adobe, winding streets, and shops tucked into small plazas that appear at the end of narrow alleys. What’s with these strings of chili peppers. Can you cook with them or are they just décor? I said the “C” word. I really miss cooking…….and my big shower, and the pool, and our king size select comfort mattress. Family and friends. Not necessarily in that order. 17 more days!
A Bird’s Eye View
This was so much fun. And so different than we expected. We were in the air by 7:45 AM. A very smooth and quiet ride over the Rio Grand Valley. It was so peaceful. We passed over a couple of girls tent camping near the river and could here their conversation very clearly. I don’t think they knew we were there. The ride was supposed to be an hour long but there was no wind to speak of so it lasted an extra 45 minutes while the pilot
tried to find a place to land. Ballooning is similar to sailing only you have to tack vertically to catch the wind. We were a real hit as we hovered over an apartment complex and stirred up all the dogs in the neighborhood. At one point we got so close to a tree that I reached out and touched it. “Excuse me Mr. Pilot, Sir, should we go up a bit?” There was a Toys for Tots motorcycle run gathering below and they were all cheering for u
s to land near them. The pilot tried but we ended up in the parking lot of the University of New Mexico stadium. You’ll notice that I was quite safe. The basket came up to my armpits so there was no way Larsen could claim I fell out. We were required to help put all that balloon back in a tiny bag. Then, after a champagne toast, we were awarded our wings. Wooo Hooo! Once again, I’m posting way too many pictures, but how do I choose?
Santa Fe
We love the architecture in Santa Fe but the shops are all the same. Turquoise jewelry. I mean it’s nice but if you don’t wear it…….Larsen says there are more Indian Jewelry Stores than there are Indians!
The Palace of the Governors has Indian vendors all down the portico selling, mostly jewelry, on blankets. It must have been the same a hundred years ago.
We visited the Native American Art Gallery and were underwhelmed. You aren’t supposed to take pictures but I couldn’t help myself. This entire room is painted a mango color with speakers mounted about every 10 feet. The speakers are buzzing and honking one after another but not in series. This is art? We may not be very sophisticated but we thought it was, well……crap.
Taos
Similar to Santa Fe but smaller, maybe older, and cuter. The drive up was along the Rio Grand River. The cottonwood trees are all colored up. Very pretty.
l
The Enchilada Incident
We went in search of authentic Mexican food and found a cute little café with an outside patio and live music. Larsen ordered the Enchilada plate. When the server brought it to him she flipped the plate into Larsen’s lap. Luckily the Enchilada and gooey sauce mostly missed him but he got a lap full of salad and rice. The poor girl was just mortified. She grabbed his napkin and began to wipe up his lap. I could see his eyes start to twinkle so I delivered a swift kick under the table. At about this time, the young lady realized the inappropriateness of her clean up efforts and became even more flustered. Always the gentleman, Larsen told her, “I think you missed a spot”. Can’t take him anywhere.
Off to Roswell to see my Peeps
I’ve always been open to the possibility
y that we’ve been visited by Aliens. Back in the 60’s my Mom and I gave car chase to a UFO over Missaukee County. I can see you rolling your eyes! There were no drugs involved. At least I wasn’t on anything……..Mom? We were joined in our pursuit by several other citizens and two Sheriff’s deputies. But I digress. We visited the UFO museum where they’ve documented the entire incident. Very interesting. I was telling Larsen 
that I can’t figure out what they were doing flying over the high desert near Roswell. I don’t mean to be unkind but this isn’t a very interesting area of the country. Larsen says maybe they had been drinking.
Great time at the Roswell Elks, home of the bottomless Margarita! Thanks Shawn!
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