Natchitoches

We drove on to this small town after we left the Melrose Plantation. The Name is pronounced Nack -a-thish. This caused quite some discussion in the car as we drove along because there is a town with the same name in Texas which pronounces all the cylables and Mike took some convincing that this town in Louisiana was different. The story goes that the two communities were settled by two brothers from the Natchitoches tribe and the difference in pronounciation has developed over time. The town in Louisiana has two claims to fame. Firstly it is one of few rural small towns which has managed to retain its historical downtown area. The street is still paved with bricks and it is reported that the women of the town lay down in front of the bulldozers to stop them being ripped up and replaced with cement roadway. Secondly it was chosen as the setting for the film "Steel Magnolias". Lou tells us this is one of her favourite movies so I guess it must be a chick flick. We may try to find a copy to view while we are here because I don't recall it ever making it across the Atlantic.
The historic part of town is built along the banks of the Cane River lake which is about 15 miles long. It is a beautiful setting and the town council has made the most of it. An old Creole adobe house has been relocated to beside the river with landscaped gardens around it. The street above had a lively resraurant area with music at a couple of the venues. We couldn't afford the downtown accommodation but drove back into town from our motel out by the Interstate highway to eat. We were drawn into a resraurant by the lake by music we recognised played by two "good ole boys" . The setting was beautiful sitting on a patio above the river/lakeside in the cool of the evening and eating good food. The songs being played did deteriorate into local songs with rather peculiar lyrics but the music remained good. We had an entertaining time "people watching"  and then retired to our comfortable beds.
Mike was raring to go for the homeward leg of the trip the next morning and we set of straight after breakfast. We made the drive in good time and after stopping for supplies arrived in Allen in time to have a delicious dinner that Lou and Mike prepared together. Yesterday we took a stroll around their proprety taking a look at the new "pond" and the foundations of a treehouse Todd has commenced building. A very significant foundation made with old power poles. Progress on this seems to  have stalled. In the afternoon we drove over to Morgan, two hours away to vist Lindsey and Heath. Went downtown to see the Family Medical Centre that they have established in town. Because Heath is an experienced Nurse Practitioner and Lindsey is a radiographer they have buolt up a thriving practice in collaboration with the local GP and the hospital which is 15 miles down the road. Morgan has the distiction of owning its own outlaws. The Morgan Gang or the Hole in the Wall Gang were local rustlers who reputedly came back to this area to hole up sucessfully vanishing from pursuit on each occassion. Their cave was found only in 2004 by a tractor wheel collapsing part of the roof. Three of the five brothers came to sticky ends but two left the area for Colorado and became respected law odfficers. 
Today we fly to Chicago.

New Orleans Day 2

Thursday we drove around the Garden area to see all the old houses in that area and walked around the Lafeyette Cemetary. This was the cemetary for the German settlers and others dating from 1830. All the tombs were the above ground style  due to the marshy ground. The most interesing ones were the large tombs for the Hook and Ladder Firemen of which there were a number and one for the Home for Destitute Boys.
We then went out to the town of Laffitte, named for the pirate who supported the locals and helped win the War of Independance. This was where we hopped on an airboat for a tour around the marshes. This just has a huge fan up behind the "captain" to drive the boat over the top of the water. Our captain is a Creole man who changed to tour guide when the GFC hit business over here in 2008.. He has lived on the marshes all his life and really knew his stuff. He is amazed in the boom in tourism over recent years but for 6 months of the year this feeds his family. Apparently in winter he returns to fishing the waters instead of scooting around on top. Within the first 10 minutes he spotted an alligator and took us over to have a look. He emphasised that they are not aggressive and stories about them snatching pet dogs etc from Florida are related to Florida's  high density population and much warmer year round climate. They are indeed curious and came right up to the side of the boat with a second one soon swimming over to see if we had any food as well. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative tour about marsh ecology and I am glad we went even though it was Mike's pick and not something that I would have thought of doing.
That night we went to one of the popular Oyster restaurants as part of the scene. The food was good but it was in the tourist area and we felt as if we were being pumped through. Afterwards we walked up to a bar and listened to a fantastic group play modern music. We had to stand which shortened our stay there a little but not by much because they were so easy to listen to and entertaining to watch.
Yesterday we turned for home to start the two day drive to bring us back to Allen, Okla. We stopped in a little community on the banks of the Cane River Lake named because it used to be a branch of the Red River but is now a lake due to flooding changes  which built up the natural levies and cut off the water flow. We visited the Melrose Plantation which was founded by the son of a freed female slave. His mother had been a slave and the common law wife of a wealthy Frenchman who settled property nearby on her when he freed her and they parted after 20 years. They had 7 sons and a daughter all of whom were born slaves and were freed as they reached their majority. The house was most recently and finally occupied by the daughter when other family members moved away. She was a fascinating character who had a great personality. Because she was lonely she cultivated a retreat for writers and artists including many famous ones. We had a very enjoyable time with a talented story teller as our guide. The other interesting personality living there was a slave woman who worked on the plantation and then moved into the house as a maid. She picked up the discarded paints of the departing guests to try her hand and ulitimately became recognised as one of America's foremost primative artists. So long breakfast calls.

New Orleans

Mike chose the coastal route for the drive to New Orleans. This was very flat country with frequent views of the ocean of the Mexican Gulf,  two car ferries and numerous draw bridges across the bayous ( large creeks).  All the houses were built on very tall  poles to manage flooding. A long but interesting drive so we opted to over night 2 hours short of New  Orleans so that we didn't arrive tired and disorganised. It was a good call because in the comfort of our hotel room that night we found a bargain priced reservation at the Crown Plaza Hotel  on the corner of Canal and Bourbon Streets in the French Quarter of New Orleans and here we are. It is an older but very gacious version of the hotel chain and located right on the edge of the action. We went straight out for a look at the area but it is still very hot and humid here and after a couple of hours we retreated to the airconditioning for a rest with a high calorie bag of pralines from the reputed master confectioners in town. We did see the market square, the mighty Mississippee and its levee banks, the tourist paddle steamers and an art store run as a cooperative.
Seven o'clock saw us revitalised and retored. We walked up Bourbon Street looking at all the burgeoning action and then went into Frenchman Street because the Visitor Centre Staff had told us that is where we would find the best food and music. Enroute Mike engaged a local sitting on his verandar having a quiet drink and he  advised us to go to Adolpho's on Frenchman for the best Italian Creole food. And it was truly wonderful food with friendly family environment and reasonable prices. Walking home we sat for a while in an open courtyard listening to old jazz favourites played by accomplished musos and Lou and I indulged in Mango dacquries.
Fairly blissful night then home to a comfortable bed. The adventure continues.

Seabrook near Houston

Our goal when leaving  San Antonio was to  visit The NASA  Space Centre. Serious checking of  the accommodation options and figuring distances and directions  brought us to the decision that we didn't need to stay in  the centre of Houston but in  this smaller resort community just down the road from NASA. On the coast with direct access to calm water it is populated with zillions of boats and marinas clustered around a couple of food and entertainment options. The receptionist at the motel directed us to a nearby "mom & pop" operated restaurant for lunch and the local boardwalk entertainment area for dinner and we ate good reasonably priced seafood. For those of you who have seen "Forrest Gump" you will probably be amused to know that we had our evening meal at "Bubba Gump's" where shrimp was rhe specialty.
Sunday afternoon was still the steamy heat that is typical  hear so after sleeping off our lunch we spent a couple of hours at the Mall checking out the shopping. Bob scored a very nice pair of casual shoes and I bought some cosmetics at half the Auatralian prices.
Yesterday we spent the greater part of the day at NASA. The space centre public access is operated by a not for profit organisation and they do it well. The entry statement is just being up graded and is a 747 with the Space Shuttle on it's back. Collaboration with other countries to access the space station means it has been retired as the US presses on with it's Mars project. I was not anticipating being fascinated by the displays but they are extremely well done and I was. Probably the highlight was lucking on a tour around the Applo Saturn 5 rocket (external). The guide was a retired NASA project engineer who really knew his stuff and told stories about the astronauts and the project that were very entertaining.
Over and out.

San Antonio Saturday 8th August.

This morning we set off walking  from our hotel as we are close to the city's historic district and the famed River Walk. The historic district comprises  many streets of beautiful old two  story houses. Some need restoration, some have been restored and some are obviosly loved but I don't think the City Fathers would approve the colour schemes. We had a brief chat with one woman who had been born and raised in her home and had lived there for all of her lengthy married life.
The River Walk is 16 miles of beautifully landscaped river frontage. Lots of the path ,  which is both sides of the river is below the current  street level and shaded by plenty of trees. We were grateful for the shade because it is over 100 F every day at the moment for most of the day, There is also an interesting underground system of drainage pipes which takes water out of the river in times of flooding and is eventually returned once water levels fall. We didn't see it, just read about it.
We followed the River Walk into the city centre where it is lined with restaurants and there are barges for guided tours along the River. We followed a side canal that loops around the the Alamo area and went to visit the famous fort. This was initially a Spanish Mission building which was taken over by the Texas settlers when they were fighting for independance from the central Mexican Government. It was the site of the last stand of Davey Crockett and James Bowie when they and 200 fellow rebels fought against Santa Anna and his 6,000 troups. You will be pleased to hear that Santa Anna was defeated some months later in an attack by General Houston that lasted only 18 minutes due to the over confidence of the Mexicans and the good strategy of Houston. I was surprised to see in the historical display just how much of North America had been Mexico prior to this period. The state named New Mexico should have alerted me but there was Colorado and adjoining states as well that were taken over by the American settlers over the following five to ten years  as they joined the union of American States.
We had lunch at a Riverside restaurant before going back to our cool air conditioed rooms for a rest. We vertured out again at about 4pm and Mike drove us around more of the historic district and down to look at the beautiful old Spanish Church built by settlers from the Canary Islands who were commanded by the Spanish King to upstakes and go  to build a town in the wilderness. There are some very beautiful buildings in the Downtown area including the most enormous inposing Courthouse built out of Red Sandstone. In a city of paler stone buildings it really stands out. Walking around the inner city in the heat reminded us that we needed to replenish fluids and salt intake so we adjourned to the motel again for a relaxing pre dinner session. We have adopted local customs and didn't venture out for dinner until after 8 pm. Even then it was still 100F and the restaurants were busy. We had to while away half an hour with half price drinks while we waited for a table. Life is tough on holiday!

San Antonio USA

Well  here we are. Yesteŕday wàs our first real day of the holiday. Prior to that we  had been simply arriving. The flights went well and I have to say that the little man at Qantas has managed to get the message across to staff that friendly service is important. We managed to fight our way out of the complexity of Dallas airport with a minimum of the usual frustrations and the help of a friendly taxi driver who redirected us to the appropriate shuttle for our hotel.
Yesterday was also our first obligatory trip to Walmart. This was to purxhase an American sim card and for Bob to buy a pair of jeans. We have the sim but don't expect any texts from us until after we leave Lou and Mike bexause it is for 30 days and we won't activate it while  we have access to their phones so that the 30 days lasts until we are nearly due to leave.  We didn't get out of Walmart  with Jeans alone of course but we did keep the purchases to a fairly minimal amount. After grumbling about the price of the taxi fare to get ourselves to the shopping centre Bob was cock a hoop when he found a pair (last one) of his favourite style of Wranglers and then waa charged only $7.  His mood became even more mellow when we went to a needby chain restaurant, Twin Peaks for a cold drink and then lunch. We were greated by a cluster of scantily dressed young  women who had obviously been employed because of their "twin peaks". We watched in fascination as this huge  place rapidly filled with clientele some of whom ordered the local brews but most of whom were there for the food. It filled in an hour and a half of our orningvery comfortably. Typically I managed to eat about 1/3 of the platter of nachos that was put in front of me but  Bob polished off his burger and fries without difficulty.
Mike and Lou arrived to collect us soon after we were settled back in the hotel foyer. Lou had attended a workshop in Ada before they were free to set off and they had had a taste of some irritating traffic before meeting us. Unfortunatetely we were able to empathise all too soon as the traffic on the freeway from Dallas to San Antonio rapidly denied the description of free flowing. There had been roadworks along the way and even though there was no machinery working the traffic became bottle necked every so often and travel was slow. The crowning incident was a major accident just past Austin which absolutely slopped the communter traffic leaving the city. We were luckily diverted to a side road but even here we sat for long periods and only crawled forward until we were well past the site. This added an hour and a half to the expected 4 hour trip. However the very comfortable motel Mike had booked soon had us feeling in the mood to relax and enjoy our  dinner. We were close to all the action and the recepttion staff directed us to one of the towns best loved Mexican restaurants in the Market Place area. Over a delicious frozen Margerita and great food we realised that dining at 9pm had lots of advantages in terms of avoiding crowds and allowing us to enjoy our meal in the cooler evening air outside instead of in the crowded airconditioned interior of the restaurant.
We didn't even have a coffee as the very comfortable king sized bed demanded our attention.
So finished Day 1.

Another test

This is another test.