Christmas in New Orleans

We drove the streets to see the Christmas decorations. For a city that has undergone so much, they have certainly gotten into the Christmas spirit.

New Orleans--Hurricane Katrina

A trip to New Orleans leaves not much to the imagination regarding Hurricane Katrina. Everywhere we went there were signs of devastation. There were whole neighborhoods where only one or two houses were inhabited. The rest of the street was an empty slab, or a house with the entire inside gutted, or left the way Katrina left it--swamp grass on the roof and debris everywhere. It was amazing to see a nice neighborhood and there were still FEMA trailers in the front yard with people living in them waiting for their house to be redone.

The first picture is just steps--the house is gone and the lot next door is empty. Don says there were no empty lots in New Orleans. The sign is from the 60 year old owner who just wants his house replaced so he has a place to live. (If you click on the picture you may be able to zoom in to read his whole story.) The second picture is a renovation plan that Brad Pitt is establishing. It looked like hot pink plastic house parts--a roof to put on top of a box. There were solar heating panels. It would be interesting to see the finished product.

New Orleans continued

The New Orleans drive was filled with variety. We saw some beautiful old homes like this Steamboat House, but Katrina spared no neighborhoods and next door to a beautiful home would be an empty lot, a FEMA trailer, or someone's home waiting to be repaired or demolished.

We visited a cemetery and were fascinated by the beautiful crypts, many a hundred years old. Many of them housed six to twelve caskets, some had stained glass windows that were visible through the front grilling.

Our stay was short, but we enjoyed the tour. Thanks to Don and Jackie!

Baytown, just east of Houston, Texas

Well, the weather didn't improve and there was a lot of Texas, but we finally pulled into Connie and Joe's driveway to spend a few days. Their beautiful home is located on Trinity Bay (which is kind of connected to Galveston Bay and then to the Gulf of Mexico).

So off we went to see the sights. After seeing the Alamo, Joe thought we should see where the Texans actually won the battle with Santa Anna, and we visited the San Jacinto Monument. It was an excellent history lesson and the monument with its reflecting pool was really cool.

Busy with Connie and Joe

We had a chance to do some more sight seeing. It was a great trip to Galveston and we even took a ferry ride to get back home.

Connie and Joe seem to like Mitch's Wild Rice Soup really well, so he made a batch--a big batch. We got our bowls, Connie and Joe ate out of the pots!

It was great fun spending time with them and we look forward to seeing them again in the spring

TT Medina Lake, Texas

We never did get a sunny day, but the temp got up to 83 degrees. Oh well. TT Medina Lake is situated in the Texas Hill Country and I'm sure it is beautiful, especially in some other season. The park, however, is really nice and we parked in an alcove of juniper trees. Further down the road the park borders Medina Lake. Even though I didn't get our front yard, the first picture is someone's front yard. There must be 100 deer roaming the campground. (Sorry Shayne and Bryan, they are far to small for hunting fare!)

The Alamo

It was fun visiting the Alamo and seeing the old architecture. The grounds were lovely and there was a lot of history to read and see.