Vacation

Just returned (at 2:15 AM Wednesday morning) from a marvelous two week trip.  We first went to New Orleans, then to Orlando where we met up with all the kids and grandkids.  After a week in Orlando (five days at Disney) the kids went home and Dennis and I went to Charlotte after a leisurely drive up the coast of Florida.  In Charlotte we went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and on a tour of the race shops.  We listened to three and a half books on CD, saw wonderful interesting sites and made a bunch of memories.  I still get tears in my eyes just thinking about the week in Orlando with the kids.  It went better than I ever could have hoped - having 12 people at Disney World can be a challenge but we all had a wonderful time.

Our first great sight (that you certainly don't see in Kansas) was this battleship.

Once in New Orleans, we took a swamp tour and saw a lot of alligators.   The captain was a very witty Cajun boy that lives in the area and was a great guide.   He threw marshmallows out for the alligators and explained they do not have very good eyesight but can see white things the best.  He said anyone with a white shirt on that day should be careful to not fall in the water.   He also said that when you see an alligator with its mouth wide open it means they have gas and are trying to burp.

After the tour we took the free hotel shuttle to the free ferry and went to the French Quarter.  After having some wonderful Beignets at Cafe Du Monde we started to walk back to the ferry in the rain.  The French Quarter was very crowded so we took the river walk which was empty as I guess we were the only ones that thought to take a poncho.

The next day we took a city tour that lasted most of the day.   It was very interesting and made us want to go back to New Orleans this winter for a few more days.

The grey wall is the levee that broke during Katrina

This picture and the following one are homes built by the Brad Pitt foundation

Our bus driver at the cemetery