beware of the elephant in tall grass

..........out of Colorado, through New Mexico, into and out of Texas; all on the way to New Orleans, Louisiana.

It's been busy since we blogged last. We left Durango, Colorado and drove all the way through New Mexico and into Texas in one day. We came into Texas on US Hwy 285. At the Texas state line it read; "Welcome to Texas. Home of President George W. Bush." Well, whatever. We entered Texas in the western part of the state. Not much there except for oil rigs (I can't belive I didn't take a picture of some - darn), sage, poor soil, and windmill farms (somebody's making money on that "green energy"). We ran into I10 in Ft. Stockton, TX. We stayed the night in Kerrville, TX. The next morning, we headed for San Antonio. Now, Texas didn't impress me that much; but, San Antonio is a city I would visit again. The Alamo was fun. That Col. William Travis (the guy running the show for the Texans in the Alamo), is a distant cousin of mine. After the Alamo, we went to the Riverwalk area. It is a canal that has shops and restaurants on either side. That is worth going to the city for in itself. They have some boat tours that go around the whole canal. We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. After a very short visit in San Antonio, we left for Beaumont, TX; where we would spend the night.

We left Beaumont, TX and turned toward NOLA. We arrived in New Orleans in the mid-afternoon hours, checked into the Marriott, and awaited our first meeting with the Bowl Games of America staff. We are now on some business of sorts. I'm taking the marching band to NOLA in January, 2008 for the BCS National Championship football game. As a result, we get a director's pre-trip. The most fun - it's all paid for by someone else. After our meeting (with a free open bar), we walked down to Jimmy Buffet's Margarittaville for drinks and dinner. I had some aligator bites on red beans, rice, and andouille sausage, followed by some key lime pie - oh yeah! The next morning, we had a 45 minute meeting, walked to the Cafe` Du Monde, and had bignets and coffee with chicore for breakfast. After breakfast, we were picked-up by a bus and driven to the bayou for a swamp tour. Following the swamp tour, we went to the Natchez riverboat for a 3-hour cruise (look out Gilligan!!!) and lunch aboard ship. We left the Natchez and went to the Superdome for a tour. They were putting down the artificial turf for the 2007-08 football season (yeah, I did get a piece to display at school). This will be the turf used for all the college and pro games played at the Superdome next season. We went on a bus tour through the Lower Ninth Ward in NOLA. Much has happened there to clean up, but there is still a great deal to do. Our bus driver was actually from one of those neighborhoods, and still lives in a FEMA trailer. After our bus tour, we went back to the hotel for a couple of hours. We met later that evening and walked via Canal and Bourbon Streets to our restaurant, Arnaud's. Wow, what a dinner!!! We had a five-course dinner that lasted for three hours - what fun. The house band (a jazz trio of upright bass, banjo, and trumpet) came up to play for us when we were having our dessert. That wasn't dinner, that was dining!

We got up this morning and did some minor sightseeing in NOLA, had chargrilled oysters at the ACME Oyster House, and left for home. We made our stop tonight in Montgomery, Alabama. This is our 24th night in a hotel. It will be good to be in our own beds tomorrow night. Here are some pictures from the past few days..............

(we'll start with New Orleans)

..............some of the shops in the JAX Brewery building in NOLA.

........St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square. This is the oldest cathedral in the US.

................inside of the Louisiana Superdome. I felt an eerie sense of sadness as we walked in the front door of the facility. Just knowing what had happened there was enough to make us all stop and pay respect.

........official symbol of NOLA - the Fluer de Leis. (I hope I spelled that correctly - if not, I'll make a correction). These are all over the city. Everyone decorates them differently. To have one, is to declare that you have given money to help support the children of NOLA as the city rebuilds.

.........a scene from Deatur Street.

..........some pics from Mardi Gras World. There, they make and store many of the Mardi Gras Floats. This is were our kids will have a party when we come back for the game.