New Orleans

Hi.

We have spent the last couple of days in New Orleans and we have really enjoyed visiting the "Big Easy"...a very entertaining and "alive" kind of place!

We took a "bayou" boat trip on Friday and saw at least 15 alligators.  As you will notice in one of the photos, Sandi found a new friend in the 1-year-old alligator that we got to "meet" while on the bayou boat trip.

We ate well (loved the shrimp) during our visit.  The architecture is beautiful, as was the St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter.   You will notice in the photo above that we are in fact wearing our "Mardi Gras" beads, with a Giants logo.   (Please note: we paid money for the beads ;-)   Go Giants!

We took a walking tour around the French Quarter and found lots of interesting shops, street entertainers, and "interesting" people walking about...even more so than in San Francisco.

We also drove into the Lower Ninth Ward district of New Orleans; the area that received the most damage in Hurricane Katrina.  It was good to see the new homes that have been built and that are currently being built.  However, it was very sobering to see block-after-block of empty lots, weeds 6-feet tall, and concrete foundations in the middle of nothing.   This neighborhood was destroyed...but their posted motto is, "Remember our past...celebrate our future".   God bless them!

Final note:  For those of you who happen to watch the HGTV show, "Holmes on Homes", you may recall the series of episodes where he and his crew rebuilt a home in the 9th Ward.  In that series, there was a woman sitting in her rocking chair on her porch watching the whole rebuilding process happening next door to her home.  She was interviewed several times and always had a cheery word and a positive attitude.  She could always be seen "rock'n on her porch".  So, guess who we saw as we drove by the houses on that street?  Yup, there she was, just rock'n away.

Off to Texas tomorrow.

Take care.
Don & Sandi