She's Home!!

Sister Crafty finished her full-time mission for our church today. It's so amazing to have her home.

BEST.DAY.EVER!!

Traveling as Two: Last Day In LA

It was our last day and with a late flight, we could plan a few things. We checked out of the hotel around 10 and headed back to the park. My sweetie really wanted a few more pics of those amazing trees.

They really are amazing. The raindrops began to fall as we headed for the suburbs. Hopefully, our Ultimate Swamp trip wouldn't be canceled. 

By the time we got there, the clouds were winning. All trips out on the water were on hold due to the weather. About 30 minutes later, it was still drizzling, but we finally got on the boat.

We saw several alligators, but most of the other animals had hunkered down to wait out the storm.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash of thunder and lightning lit up the sky almost immediately. "Tour's over!" announced the guide and we high-tailed it back to the dock. If I wasn't wet enough before, I was completely soaked since I was at the front of the boat.

We finished the tour, dripping wet, back at the headquarters. I could hardly wait to get away. We stopped at a nearby McDonald's and bought nuggets. Then we each stripped down in the bathroom and left filled and warm.

Then we were off to the airport and homeward bound.

Traveling as Two: Seeing the City

We got up early because we had reserved seats on a bus that tours the city. I was excited to put all the pieces together.

We stopped twice during the tour. The first stop was an above-ground cemetery. Guys, these are SO cool!

The second stop was the New Orleans City Park. It is the largest city park in the US and it had the most amazing trees!

It even has a bayou!

There is a huge baseball field, dozens of tennis courts, a soccer complex, an amusement park, a museum, a full and a mini golf course, and a Cafe du Monde!

We bought beignets and climbed back on the bus. Our tour was almost over. I learned so much...

After the bus, we decided we could ride the street car.

Street cars are a big deal here, pretty easy to ride, and much cheaper than an Uber.

We were headed to the World War II museum. It is also the largest one in the country.

If you go, pay for the 4D movie, Beyond All Boundaries. Definitely worth it!

We stayed until they closed the doors at 5:00 and then we took a streetcar back to the hotel. I was SO tired. We watched a movie in our room and around 8:00 we walked over to the Streetcar Cafe for dinner. My sweetie didn't want to miss trying the regional food. So he bought gumbo, jambalya, red beans and rice. I tried the blackened chicken.

Then my sweetie decided he wanted to try the catfish po' boy, so I ordered some beignets. We took a bunch of it back to our room, but it was a great way to spend our last night in New Orleans.

Traveling as Two: Cooking School

Sunday morning light didn't penetrate our window shades and my sweetie turned off the alarm so we missed church. That left the rest of our morning open so we got the car out and drove to Jackson Square.

Our GoCity passes had a couple of the Louisiana State Museums on them, so we decided to make a run-through. We started with the Cabildo, where it shared the beginnings of Louisiana history.

It was a beautiful old building that housed all sorts of things. My favorite thing was the discovery of a second version of the "Battle of New Orleans" song. That might seem trivial, but I learned it as a child and it was a big deal for me.

Our next stop was the Presbytere. This was one of the places I really wanted to go. I wanted to know more about Hurricane Katrina and the entire first floor is dedicated to her memory.

Then it was time for our appointment at the New Orleans Cooking School. We were both excited for this one. They taught us (and fed us) corn and crab bisque, chicken etouffee, and pralines.

Then we drove all the way to Westwego for a swamp ride only to find out that our ride reservations had gone missing. They nicely offered us a Tuesday trip that would give us something to do before our flight.

Then we found a nice little Mexican restaurant and had dinner.

This is the view from our hotel room. 

It was a good day.

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