New Orleans, Finally

Yesterday, Brenda woke with just a little pain in her back so we went to NO as planned.
When we arrived we decided that the best way to see the city in one trip was to take a tour. We had taken tours in other places and got to see places that we wouldn't have normally seen. This tour was no exception.

We parked at Jackson Brewery and caught the tour there. We saw the Garden District, where a lot of the 'money' is. We saw Archie Manning's house, Sandra Bullock's house and a few of the prominent native residents homes.
We then went to the French Quarter and drove through the Mississippi side on Decatur street.
We saw the French Market and Jackson Square. There were a lot of artists trying to sell their wares along with a host of mule drawn carriages for tours of the French Quarter.
We then went to an above ground cemetery that is maintained by the Archdiocese of NO.
We learned that the very small tombs can only hold one body at a time. The body is left in there for a year and a day (the length of time it takes for a body to decompose plus one day out of respect). The body is then removed and the bones are put in a sack and placed in the 3 foot pit below the tomb.

The casket is removed and disposed of and is ready for the next person to occupy the tomb.

We then we went to the Lower 9th ward where a whole neighborhood was under 25 feet of water during Katrina.
There was a barge left in a canal and it broke through the levee and flooded the neighborhood leading to total destruction. The reconstruction is partially done, but there is a long way to go.

Brad Pitt has taken on this neighborhood as a project and is building homes on the sites of the former residents homes. Only homeowners who had property in this neighborhood are eligible to buy the homes being constructed.

We were then dropped off at our boarding  spot and proceeded to walk around the Quarter.
It was an interesting walk to say the least. We noted many restaurants and pubs as well as gentlemen clubs that openly displayed their wares.
We know that we don't want to be there during Mardis Gras as the streets are so narrow and they are jammed during that time.

All in all a very interesting city. We plan to go back and see the WWII memorial as we have heard it is a very interesting place to visit. We are also told that it is an all day affair.

Ta ta for now.

elusive New Orleans

We still have not made it to NO, yet.
We  had planned to go last week, but the weather turned off cold, then Brenda's back began giving her trouble.
It had become difficult for her to get comfortable in any position especially when trying to stand up.
So, we plan to go tomorrow if her back will allow it.

She went to an urgent care clinic yesterday, and she was told that she has arthtitis in her lower spine.
She had been taking Naprosen OTC and had gotten some relief. We were not surprised at the diagnosis.
She was given a RX for prescription Naprosen and Flexeril and we will see if this helps her.
The Flexeril makes her sleepy and she had a hard time staying awake until 9pm last night.

We have stayed pretty close to the house every day, and I have been walking about 2 miles every day just trying to get some exercise.
My Ipod helps with the walk as I have music in my ears as I walk. I have about 16 hours of music so I don't have to listen to the same song twice if I don't want to.

Ta ta for now.

New year

We are now settled in our new home for this month. We moved over to Bay St. Louis, MS on Saturday.
This is a nice small park. It is on a main road leading from I-10 to Waveland and Bay St. Louis, but is is far enough away that we don't hear any road noise.

The kids sent us Christmas presents via UPS. The address was wrong so we had to drive to New Orleans to get it on Wednesday. It was packed with goodies including Heather's world famous peanut brittle.
There was also a metal pink flamingo packed in there which we placed outside our door for everyone to admire.

As I said, we moved Saturday. It was nice because it was New Years day and very little traffic.
The only drawback was it was raining and I got wet on both ends of the trip.
It took longer to get ready to move than it did to drive over here as it is less than a 25 mile drive.
When we got here it was still raining intermittently, and I got a little wet. It was warm so that was a plus.

We had gotten some promotions from one of the casinos in Gulfport, so we went over.
Brenda got $15 in free slot play and I got $10.
Brenda did well and came home with what she took and I came home with $3.
I was not doing too well so I just quit plqying & watched Brenda play.
There were many people there and a good many were smoking. I got such a headache from the smoke that we left after about 2 hours. I just can't stand such close proximity to people that are smoking.

We have met some nice people here in the park and we think we will enjoy our stay.

Happy New Year to all.

Ta ta for now.