July 27, 2003

All –

Five weeks since I wrote last – and twice I said I wouldn’t wait 4 weeks. So much for good intentions.

The kids and Maureen are all down here and a little over halfway through an 8-day stay. We spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in New Orleans staying at the Avenue Plaza Hotel ( http://www.avenueplazahotel.com/ ) for two nights. We could catch the Saint Charles Street Trolley ( http://contrapunctus.net/league/photo/pcd0077/074.3.jpg ) right outside the hotel to get to areas around the French Quarter. I am putting in these links in case you want to look at pictures and stuff but mainly so I can go back and remember – they say the memory is the first thing to go. I think that is what they say – I can’t remember!

Tuesday we got in to New Orleans about noon and got situated in our rooms before taking the trolley to the Aquarium. The Aquarium is very impressive! http://www.auduboninstitute.org/ has a lot of information on the aquarium and zoo. We bought a one year family membership for the zoo and aquarium which turned out to be about the same cost as one day tickets to the same facilities plus gave us $2.00 off the IMAX Theater tickets and 10% off souvenirs. After a couple of hours in the aquarium we saw the IMAX film “Lewis and Clark” that was quite good giving us a feel for why they had the expedition and a lot of their troubles and experiences they had. We walked back to the Trolley through the French Quarter getting a feel for the area and the beautiful French architecture as well as the shops and restaurants. Back at the hotel, we ordered pizza and got some drinks and breakfast food at the little food market next to the hotel. We also bought one-day passes for the trolley to be used the next day.

Wednesday morning Maureen made a nice breakfast and we headed to the riverboat, which would take us over to the zoo. With our membership we saved another 25% on the boat - hey, if we use this enough, this whole vacation might cost us almost nothing! Anyways, we made the first boat and had drinks and popcorn inside. Took about 50 minutes going upstream to get to the zoo. The zoo is real impressive too. I have to admit I wasn’t excited about going to a zoo but this is the most impressive I’ve seen. Lots of volunteers to explain things both here as well as the aquarium. Two hours wasn’t really enough time but we didn’t want to wait another 2 hours for the next boat. A sudden downpour left us soaked as we got on the boat but we were pretty much dried an hour or so later. Maureen and the 3 younger kids had some lunch on the boat and Ginna and I opted to eat somewhere else. Getting off the boat, we were just a few steps from the Riverwalk Marketplace (

http://www.riverwalkmarketplace.com/ ). Ginna and I opted for a quick lunch at the food court. The highlight was probably The Fudgery ( http://www.fudgeryfudge.com/ ) with much audience participation and free fudge samples. I tried to get us all to hop on the trolley that runs along the river but was outvoted 5 to 1. Hey, I was just trying to get our money’s worth on these trolley passes. We did use them to catch a bus back to the other trolley, though. Back at the hotel the kids were ready for a swim – unfortunately the pool was closed for a private party. After a short rest Maureen, the girls and I (Chet didn’t want to miss any more TV!) took the trolley into the French Quarter and had dinner at the Acme Oyster House ( http://www.acmeoyster.com/ ). Laura ate a dozen raw oysters herself! Thanks Tom and Jeannie for telling us about the Oyster House – we all had a great time. After dinner, we coaxed the kids to walk a little more looking at different antique and art shops on Royal Street as well as souvenir shops. Maureen and I recognized some of the sites on Royal including The Court of Two Sisters Restaurant. Three guys singing on one corner stopped Laura and us and said “Hey, here is one I think you know and your parents probably remember from when they were younger”. They then harmonized “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” that the Tokens did in the 50’s or 60’s and was in the movie the “Lion King”. They were very entertaining. We were only a block or so from Jackson Square so we pushed on a bit more. At the Square, we needed a restroom so, naturally, Maureen and I had to have a beer so the kids could use the facilities – the things parents have to do! Spent a few minutes watching some of the artists and musicians in Jackson Square, located some museums to do the next day and then called it a night.

Thursday morning I took Chet to the D-Day Museum ( http://www.ddaymuseum.org/ ) in the morning while Maureen took the girls to the pool at the hotel. I would highly recommend the museum. It was very well done and suitable for all ages giving an appreciation of how the US was trying to stay isolated from the war in Europe and the Pacific and then presenting the US preparation for war and giving a glimpse of peoples lives both here and abroad during these troubled times. Afterwards, I picked up Maureen and the girls and headed to Jackson Square in the Quarter. Hey, time for another link - http://www.frenchquarter.com/ was a big help when we planned our trip giving history, restaurants and things to see and do. Good pictures, too. Looking for Café Du Monde ( http://www.cafedumonde.com/ ) we saw some horse and buggy rides by the Square and took a 30-minute tour through the area. It was pretty neat and informative – and it gave our legs a rest, also. Afterward, we had coffee, juice and chocolate milk with our beignets at the famous café. We spent a bit of time on the ‘Moon Walk’ along the Mississippi River where the kids put their feet in the river while mom and dad died in the sun. Then we finished our last day in New Orleans at the Presbytere Museum with a neat exhibit on Mardi Gras and the wax museum ( http://www.neworleanswaxmuseum.com/ ) with its history of New Orleans.

Friday and Saturday I worked but Ginna and Maureen took a tour of LSU on Friday. Ginna was pretty excited about the possibility of going there. Saturday after work we toured a destroyer – the USS Kidd ( http://www.usskidd.com ) docked in downtown Baton Rouge and then took a ride up to St. Francisville ( http://www.stfrancisville.net ), ate at the Magnolia Café and then went on a nighttime tour of The Myrtles Plantation ( http://www.myrtlesplantation.com/ ) "One of America's Most Haunted Homes". I think we were all a bit nervous during the hour-long tour of the house and its’ stories but we all managed to get to sleep after the 60-minute drive back to the house.

Gosh, now to go back to when I last wrote. Jessie came early coming here when I last came back from Pennsylvania. She will probably remember Cheryllyn taking her to the gym, going to the Jones Creek Café and Oyster Bar and not having siblings to agitate her. Laura is staying with me after the rest leave Wednesday for an extra 5 days and goes back with me a week from tomorrow.

I was up in Pennsylvania for a brief visit about 2 weeks ago. Most of the time was devoted to refinancing the house that is resulting in a $300 a month lower mortgage payment. We couldn’t take advantage of the lower interest rates when I didn’t have a job but now that is behind us.

I have been working 6 days a week lately to allow me extra days in PA and while the family is here. It is sort of a blur sometimes mainly focusing on doing the best job I can at work, trying to exercise at work and loose weight, do some chores around the house and sleep. The alarm at 4am comes awfully quick.

I do have several pictures from our New Orleans trip as well as some from my brothers that I want to put on our web site but I am not sure when I will get them up there. I will let you know. Also, I appreciate the feedback on the site and I do realize that since I am using Microsoft stuff to create the pages non-MS (i.e. Standard) browsers have trouble. Also, I am looking into better ways to navigate through the pictures.

Hope to see all of you at Musikfest in August.

Till next time,

Paul