Shirleen & Jerry's Travelogue

Address for new blog 2

2009-01-14T18:10:00.001-06:00

Started another blog and its address is:

http://jerry-alogy2.blogspot.com/

So follow along with us there.

Jerry

Day 41 Thursday, 5,822 mile trip

2008-04-10T19:35:00.005-05:00

Some may wonder why I do this? I sometimes do also. It helps me remember the neat things we see during our travels. As I do the blog writing, Shirleen does the research on the next days activities. Hope you enjoy our efforts and to those who do not follow it, you know not what you miss. jerr

We are HOME!!!! Thursday 7:17 pm.

A couple of things I have forgotten. When in Memphis we finished our eating at Alfred’s on Beale Street. Shirleen and I split a Pig Heaven combo. It was a half split of ribs and a pulled pork shoulder pile with beans. If I were to eat only one place in Memphis it would be here. Duke our waiter liked to talk, he was an old Coast Guard sailor, and an Eagle Scout. Sounded like he was a musician but that is only because he went to South by Southwest in Austin. Just like Jan and Jim’s son Mike.

We also ate in Iowa City at the Iowa River Power Restaurant. We have eaten there often and like the food. Shirleen’s Filet sandwich and my pork tenderloin sandwich. The hard thing was to remember where this restaurant was, we drove all over Iowa City and on the way out of town remembered where it was.

Day 40 St. Louis to Quincy

2008-04-09T21:58:00.036-05:00

Updated with pics still having problems with placement!!!!!!!!!!! jerr

We had read about the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis being the church with the most mosaic’s in the world.

It turns out it has 41.5 million pieces of glass tessera (small squares of glass) with over 7,000 colors. It is truly awe inspiring. The website has more pictures and more: http://cathedralstl.org/intro/

These pages describe the difference between Byzantine and Italian mosaics.

The basement has a nice museum that describes what went into building it. The forty or so craftsman who designed many of the different alters, domes and wall mosaics. This would be a must to see if one came here.

They also show the steps in making the tessera,drawings, process and tools that preceded the actual individual parts of a scene.

Down there they have two pages, 2 by 4 foot, song book used in the 14th century. The size was such that 50 to 60 people could sing from it in the choir.

Rose windows, mentioned at San Antonio.

Next was the Saint Louis Art Museum, this is one of the free ones. It is massive and partially built for the 1904 Worlds Fair. We hooked onto a tour and there was only one other person from Pennsylvania.

Our docent, Marsha, was a joy to be with. It turns out that they go through a three year training program and have to conduct 25 hours of training a year. That sure helps the depth of understanding and information given. The tour started in the ancient art section, looking at statues made of marble that had clothing looking like it was wind swept.

We then went into the Asian and Islamic art. She pointed out the significances of how the statues and rugs and doors were put together and what some of the fine points meant. The guides do tours a couple times a day. We spent an hour with her and her 3 carat diamond ring. The part we like is the impressionists and European and American early art.

One of the striking pieces was a water lily’s piece by Monet, look at the size. It stood against its own end wall, looked to be six by ten feet. There were paintings by Rembrandts, Cézannes and others. We ate lunch here at Wolfgang Puck’s café, Shirleen had a grilled cheese and I a chicken salad that had raisins in the mix, surprising to see his mug at the café.

This is for Abby.

Mansion in St. Louis.

Off to the north we went. Arrived in Quincy and called Randy and Pam S. no answer, called Steve and Julie J. and they were home and had not eaten as of yet. We met at a Ruby Tuesday’s for rib, Shirleen the sauced baby back’s I a new Asian peanut spiced variety. It was not spicy hot but had a lingering spiciness. jerr

Day 39 St. Louis PICTURES ADDED

2008-04-09T08:16:00.034-05:00

Pictures New I still can't get everything placed right?
Day 39 Monday

Today we decided to go on the Budweiser tour. Found it easily.

As we entered, there were a bevy of 63 to 67 Corvette’s. Licenses from around the states, some heavily modified, and one with a 502 HP engine and a couple trailering. Never did see the people.

We went to take the tour which lasted for an hour. Starting with the Clydesdale horses and there accommodations.

Well polished brass on the halters, light fixtures and wagon pieces.

The hay even looked neatly placed.

Clydesdale Stable, built 1885. Home of the eight-horse hitch teams. It is on the National Historic Landmarks.

Cannot take pictures in the actual working areas. We went to the beech wood aging tanks, the wood is used 3 or 4 times before they dry and grind them, they distribute them to the local parks. The barrel held a million bottles of beer, what a thought. Then to the bottling plant. They bottle and cap 1,600 per minute and 1,900 cans per minute. We watched the palletizer place the cases on to shipping flats.

The tour ended at the beer garden. We were hosted to two 11 ounce beers. The glasses we used were specialized glass, nucleated glass bottoms. This causes small effervescent bubbles to flow through the liquid until consumed. We did end up buying a set of 4 of these.

Bud used to make their own yeast and used the elephant as the logo. The picture is for Michelle and her collection of elephants with trunks up.

Just down the block we ate at the Sage Restaurant, we split a threesome, like tapas, crab cake – beef with horseradish sauce - terryaki sandwiches, accompanied by a small salad and house prepared potato crosscut chips.

We went then to the Laumeier sculptor garden, a must miss event for me. They had three girder like pieces similar to the Mankato piece, which is now in storage.

Thank goodness we called Jan as she tried and apparently had the wrong number. We went to see her and Jim’s red C-6 Corvette, he is actually now wanting to get a Z06. we chatted for quite a while and headed for supper. I mentioned I would like to eat on

The Hill, Italian section. She suggested Zia’s, http://www.zias.com/, what a find. We ordered a bottle of Parducci Wine Cellar Pinot Nior wine and Shirleen had the Soto, a filet with a tasty sauce of white wine lemon butter sauce, Jan the special a chicken plate well sauced, and I the Veal Oscar, veal scaloppini with asparagus, mushrooms and seafood pieces on top in a creamy sauce. The meals were accompanied by pasta, red, white or oil topped. Great meal, but the best was in the beginning. The salad was one of the best flavored salad I have ever tasted, Ray’s salad fell to number two. No idea why it tasted so good, it was topped by provolone cheese. Back to the house for more talking. We caught up on the kids and grandkids, Jan’s jigsaw puzzle attraction, Charles Wysocki Americana pictures and other painters, six or seven new ones a week. She does keep the stored neatly in the basement, some in plastic bags. She ended up giving Shirleen four puzzles. jerr

Day 38, Festus MO

2008-04-07T21:22:00.019-05:00

Look who we ran into while walking up the street. He still sounds the same and looked fine.

We went to the Cotton Museum at the old Memphis Cotton Exchange. Nice clean layout and a very good exhibit. Learned some more.

Some old signs of traders, sellers and weavers.

Cotton on the stem.

We then went on a tour of the Gibson guitar manufacturing plant. Here is where the luthier work on the string instruments. The company makes mandolins, bangos and guitars.

The body is glued together and takes three weeks to make the entire process, start to finish,because of the need to dry them adequately.

Finished product

He told us that only 5% of the guitars fail final inspection for a variety of reason, paint, scratch, out of alignment. They take these fails and cut into four pieces, place in a dumpster which is under survellance. When the bin is full the incinerate them.

A couple of things I have forgotten. When in Memphis we finished our eating at Alfred’s on Beale Street. Shirleen and I split a Pig Heaven combo. It was a half split of ribs and a pulled pork shoulder pile with beans. If I were to eat only one place in Memphis it would be here. The food was moist and delicious. Duke our waiter liked to talk, he was an old Coast Guard sailor, and an Eagle Scout. Sounded like he was a musician but that is only because he went to South by Southwest in Austin. Just like Jan and Jim’s son Mike. jerr

Day 37

2008-04-07T09:26:00.001-05:00

Happy 64th B-day Denny!!!!!

Day 37 Memphis

2008-04-07T08:30:00.017-05:00

Memphis Botanical, nice walk.

Double daffodils

Michelle, remind you of anything?

The Dixon Gallery and Garden
http://www.dixon.org/

The picture is a sitting area, the images are raised slightly to give them depth, neat.

Streaked azaleas

The gallery had many famous painters, even some I recognized. Cézanne, Renoir, Chagall, and more.

This picture of Venice was as clear as if you were standing there. It was painted by William James (no relation?) in the mid-1700's.

This was a hard place to find but owrth the effort. National Ornamental Metal Museum.

This is the outgoing director Wally (Mr. Wallace) he was forging a clanker for an old bell.

We viewed from here the swollen Mississippi from high above the river.

Alongside this Museum was an old raised mound, built by ancient peoples, they did not even guess. Tthe local Indian tribe then used it as a burial mound. Then the next group used it as cannon stations, guarding the river and I suppose demanding payment for passage. During the civil war it was used to house the military and its munitions.

Eating on Beale Street at the Blues City Cafe.

Known for their ribs and quaint atmosphere.

Beale street is really only two blocks long or four. The buildings as seen here are supported to keep the street scene. Many second floors empty. See it once just to say you were there, loud music even at 5 pm but louder later.

When in Memphis we finished our eating at Alfred’s on Beale Street. Shirleen and I split a Pig Heaven combo. It was a half split of ribs and a pulled pork shoulder pile with beans. If I were to eat only one place in Memphis it would be here. Duke our waiter liked to talk, he was an old Coast Guard sailor, and an Eagle Scout. Sounded like he was a musician but that is only because he went to South by Southwest in Austin. Just like Jan and Jim’s son Mike. jerr

Day 37 - Spend the day in Memphis, view the flooding.

2008-04-06T07:56:00.003-05:00

Post pictures later, left camera in the car. jerr

Added April 3 & 4 pics

Day 36, Natchez Mississippi to Southhaven MS

2008-04-05T08:40:00.017-05:00

Happy B-day Emily!!!!
More to come. jerr

Day 36, Natchez Mississippi to Southhaven MS

We ate breakfast at the hotel seated by a window looking into the courtyard.

The neat item there was a fire burning through the water spray. A nice buffet of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon fried potatoes and grits. Good grits. The coffee’s brand name was Community Coffee, a delicious flavor. Our waitress asked if we wanted anything, I said is there some bacon out? She looked said a new batch was out and I could get as much as I wanted. I took a couple swigs of coffee and around the corner she came with a small plate piled high with bacon. Really nice, she was as pleasant as ever to talk to. Almost forgot the pears and warm peaches were a real treat.

As we were checking out against the wall was a glass framed forty star flag. It was said that it was the flag that was first draped over Grant's casket, pierced by Civil War bullets and given by a first Sargent. I mention it because Danielle and Abby saw Grant’s house in Galena Illinois a couple years ago.

Now down to see the river. The road we took down yesterday was blocked. We walked down the road, steep road to the bottom. The river had over flown the sandbags of yesterday. They were re-bagging the area around the casino; yes people were still going on board. I suspect they wanted to sell their story about the steamboat crashing into the bridge during the high water. After a slow, slow walk back up the road admiring some wild flowers along the way we looked at a couple of old homes with beautiful flowers blooming.

Off to the St. Mary Basilica, once the first Catholic Church built as a Cathedral. Also had a sign that the first name for the church was “Church of the Sorrowful Mother”, statue behind the priests house had a statue of her. What a beautiful inside, statues on ledges above the peoples heads over the pews,

‘The Crucifixion” a nice painting behind the alter, hanging on the wall are the Stations of the Cross similar in design to the ones in the New Ulm Cathedral.

Through the Melrose mansion we went. It was massive but the people who had lived there had many tradgies that would put gloom into the house. The first floor was for guests and nicely appointed with green drapperies (green was more expensive than gold and red). More nice woods and rugs. The upstairs was more frugel, they did not need to show off up here as only relatives would ever make it this far up in the house. The furnishings was really nice.

This dress was made of silk in Paris for the girls wedding. The wedding took place during bailing cotton and the father would not attend and therefore her mother neither. But she decorated a bedroom with wallpaper of draps and flower wall paper.

This was slave quarters, second floor, the first floor was used for household work. The quarters were called Dependency homes. Actually the Masters house was dependent on them 24 hours a day.

These were a little further off and housed the horse and garden workers. Not quite as nice but better than most. The owners even attended the wedding of a slave couple.

We left town going NORTH stopped for gas and ate at a Bonefish Grill in Madison MS. We split meal of four shrimp scampi with a small filet and potatoes Au gratin, a nice blend of cubed potatoes, mixed with a hard cheese so as nt to make them mushy, coated with panko crumbs and toasted, nice.

We then took the slow road to Jackson on the Natchez Trace. The road wound through the countryside at 50 MPH.

It was beauty at its best. It followed an old Indian trail (or trace) from Natchez to Nashville more than 500 miles long. THis trail was used by wagons early in the 19th century used by traders and settlers. Many people we ran into here were following the full trail We got off at Jackson.

jerr

Day 35, Natchez Mississippi, Eola Hotel, NEW

2008-04-04T17:04:00.020-05:00

The storm you see going on down here is not by us. We had thought we would go to Jackson MS, but made a hard left to come here, not even knowing about the weather. Bright outside, doesn't look like anything coming.

Day 35, Natchez Mississippi

That morning we cut across the top of the lake to go to Memphis that evening. We stopped at the visitor center in Mississippi and picked up information. Here I found out that Jackson was the Capital, knew that once I guess but forgot. Shirleen was reading the info on Natchez and said it sounded neat. I saw a sign that said Natchez to the left, a hard left was made and we went through more scenic sights to the city.

When we pulled in the clouds were heavy and dark but a bit north of us. We picked up info and went to eat.

The Magnolia Grill under the hill was suggested. We got down there and the river is right there. A half block down was a gambling river boat, with a tug against the side and sandbags along the road. We could tell tings were different than usual. The river was running fast and flooding across the river could be seen. There was a Comfort Suites sandbagged over there and I thought we could probably get a heavily discounted first floor room that was vetoed. We went in for lunch and ordered, Shirleen a Samburger with American cheese with deep fried sweet potatoes. She asked for grilled onions and he didn’t know what they were?? I another crawfish Etouffeé over rice, yummy.

We went to the Johnson free-slave house. He was a barber and became a respected citizen but not equal to the white respected citizens. He had a great business and earned the respect. His problem was over a border dispute and the other guy killed him at the early age of 42 he was buried in the town cemetery and was the first black buried there.

With the rain coming we thought lets find a place to stay. A local renovated hotel was suggested; never know what they are like. After driving around and through the driveway but not being able to figure out how to get in, even front door didn’t look right. In this small town they have one way streets like St. Paul and to get anywhere was at least six blocks away. I went to the desk of the Natchez Eola Hotel http://www.natchezeola.com/ and saw that there was a physician meeting was being held there, figured out of my price range. I was able to get weekday rates with a queen balcony room, small but adequate and lovely. We had to get a suitcase in because we needed warmer and more respectable clothing. This is where the clothes I left on the bed at home would have come in handy. We also decided to eat there, they had some neat little biscuits that I liked; Shirleen a six ounce filet great tasting and I three pieces of catfish, although I ordered a fried catfish Etouffeé suspect my accent got things mixed up, he was also a little slow, glad we got there before the crowd came.

We took our car to a town presentation ‘Historic Natchez Pageant’ it has been put on for many years about 16 times a year. It depicts scenes of the Antebellum South of long ago, recreating the diversity and grandeur of historic Natchez, the oldest town on the Mississippi River. Young people played most of the parts, hoop skirts and handsome gentlemen.

A four piece orchestra, with two violins and piano and something else?? played before and all during the event. Children from around four and up played parts. They a skit with 10 to 14 year old girls and boys do a ribbon dance around a May pole, braiding the strips down the pole, neat.

A ballerina made us think of Abby.

Poor picture but the best part was when one of the town blacks came out and sang ‘Old Man River’ what a powerful voice, hesitations in the right places emphasized the plight. It struck us, as yesterday when we were standing along the river in New Orleans I said; it just keeps running, meaning the water goes to the gulf. Much like the song implies. It just keeps rolling along. Toward the end the confederate flag came running across the stage and the band struck up the confederate song. The crowd rose to there feet, three of us remained sitting.

A little later the flag came out and all sang the Anthem together. During the presentation the rain and thunder struck with flashes of lightning. We did not know that the cities Vicksburg and Jackson were getting beat up by the storm. We went to the car and it was a light drizzle, but warm. jerr

Day 34, from New Orleans to Slidell LA Sleep Inn,

2008-04-03T21:47:00.008-05:00

We now had another day to do New Orleans!! Once off Bourbon Street it gets much cleaner. Seeing that there are no laws against drinking in public, this street has the bars and yuk. A side comment we ran into two gals we talked to yesterday twice today.

This is the hotel with Shirleen sitting on the porch.

We started off at Café Du Monde for our morning coffee and beignet.

Today during coffee there was a street group doing gospel type music. The banjo player was the straight man and the trumpet player was the comedian. He fleeced the crowd for tips and cd sales, but did it with a twist of humor. He held up a cd and said these are on sale but please don’t stampede, of course no one got up, then he said, OK go ahead and stampede. A roar goes up, much applause, I even tendered up as we left.

In the alley of the café we could watch them make the beignets, the guy I suspect ate many of these. Fun to watch, they have a device that flattens and cuts the dough.

He then carefully pulls the partially cut triangles with all the flour falling off and stacks them six deep and throws, yes throws them into hot oil, BEHIND him without looking. The oil splashes against the back and off they fry. He turns them once and after that side is brown he pushes the entire batch under the hot oil for the final cook. He takes them out and hands the off to a gal who places three on a plate or in a bag for take out and dumps a full cup of powdered sugar on top. Here is where a small amount becomes crystallized and gives it a great taste. I can still taste them.

We walked to the National Parks exhibit; they have a tour in the afternoon to come back to. We then walked around the streets and back to the hotel, sitting outside taking in the warmth of the sun. We then went to eat and found the Omni hotel’s restaurant Rib Room. They, as Brennan’s, buy the bread from a great baker in town, it is a soft inside with a semi-hard crust and gobs of butter not spread. Shirleen’s half roasted chicken with garlic flavored mashed potatoes and asparagus were great, my lightly fried red fish with ratatouille was superb.

The National Park tour was nice as we visited many of the places down by the Mississippi. The depth of the river at this point is 230 feet and ¾ of a mile wide, much deeper than I ever would have thought. Before the tour we had a special talk Lagniappe (a small gift) about the Barataria battle more at http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab6.htm by Ranger Harold on the 1812 Battle of New Orleans, where the local pirate helped Jackson win the battle.

This is where we headed SOUTH along the east bank of the Mississippi River, most of the time you are beneath the levee and can’t see a thing. But the drive is slow and country-ish, with bayous and small lakes abound. After the 30 miles or so we made the turn back up to the ferry. We went all the way to the end to go through Bohemia, it no longer exists, may be Katrina blew it away. The ferry is subsidized by the local Parish. I got out of the car and befriended the engineer, Harold. We talked about the engines, 2 of them 1,200 HP, hydraulic and air systems. He talked about his dad, 91, had his clothes ripped off him but saved by Harold’s brother. There was not much there but there was not much left.

A couple sets of stairs but no house behind them, many FEMA trailers well kept but out in now-where’s-land. Sure these people have been forgotten but are they happy, YES.

Hunter said that they can live off the land and river, by catching, fish, oysters and crawfish. His pronunciation of oyster was off the chart but Shirleen caught on. The waves were rough and just as we were talking off from the dock, I noticed that a ship was coming up the river and the bow had just passed us. We went downriver a bit and swung behind the steamer.

From here we swung a hard left and continued down the levee toward the end of the road and river outlet. Past much destruction and trailers, again well kept. I really suspect these also will never see another home again. We did pass past the town where the center of Katrina passed, Buras. Now we get to the end of the road in Venice Louisiana and the GPS road quit but I didn’t. We drove toward some of the shipping port and fish boats. As we progressed Shirleen said, that water is to close to the road, a little, enough for the guys to park there trucks and do some fishing.

The view was at sunset and the big birds and pelicans were roosting out on the dead trees.

Turned around and went the other way, here we could see the Mississippi, which at this time was fogging with a ship headed out. This is what I wanted to see the end of the river where not many tread. Wish I had took a picture of the GPS at that time but thought of it later. Follow the river on the picture and see where we went to the end.

Now head north and find a place to stay, up the 70 miles or so to New Orleans and up to Slidell on the northeast side of Lake Pontchartrain. Luck was with us and we found one, Friday the air show had them taken. jerr

Day 33, New Orleans, a street off Bourbon Street, Cornstalk Fence Hotel

2008-04-02T22:12:00.015-05:00

The car is fixed? Well we got it back at 6:05 this eve.

We just got back from Brennan's. jerr

Post for Michelle G.
Brennan's, the restaurant where banana's Foster was invented. Among the many we have had, these were exceptional.

This statue reminds me of the German-Bohemian statue in New Ulm. It shows the immigrants as a family, this in marble.

Commemorates the components of this area, Indian, religious and French.

Café Du Monde, the originator of the beignet, (ben yay) and flavorful chicory flavored coffee. A French donut without a hole and tons of powdered sugar.

YUMMY, says Jerr!!

Flowers reminded me of mom and her love of the petunia of the pink variety.

This hour program was a hoot. The piano player put on a good talk and tickled those keys quickly. The clarinet was also a joy to listen to, he looked caught up in the music beat and maybe something else to make his eye's buggy.

Café Amilie as we were walking by we thought, this looks like a nice place to eat lunch. As it turned out it was the courtyard of the Princess of Monaco court years ago. Shirleens roast beef sandwich on ciabatta bread was great, I had a cup of crawfish gumbo and a muffaletta sandwich, comprosed of ham, provolone, red pepper, green and black olive compoye on toasted ciabatta bread.

This shot from the front porch of the Cornstalk Hotel.

We took the St. Charles streetcar and went through the mansion quarters as you can see by the house below.

Shirleen had a filet mignon with a crispy potato wedge mashed potatoes, carrots and a cabernet reduced orange sauce.

I had a filet mignon accompanied byfried bananas in a warm creamy horseradish. Both great, not many better.
jerr

Day 432 Tuesday

2008-04-01T08:05:00.012-05:00

Have a fine April Fools Day.

Also the favorite flower of Shirleen's of two days ago was not an azalia that the lady identified it is a Tung Oil tree: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/tungoil1.htm

Off for a tour of the city by trolley and then tackle the car thing. Then who knows what. jerr

Well to start the day we took the tour of N. O. Anther couple at our hotel went also, they from Ottawa vacationing in Florida and SC. The van was partially filled with guests of other hotels. Off we went through the French quarter into Ward 9. Katrina is much better understood through ones “minds eye”. It is the massiveness of the destruction, that part of the town with its many now open lots, few to ever be filled. The Fema trailer next to a dilapidated home is being rebuilt. To get back into the house they have to remove everything down to the studs. Then the family has to treat the black mold, according to city law, with a chemical at $8 per square foot. The hardest hit are those who are middle income and have traditionally paid there bills. There is little help, they have to eek it out on there own. The Cad dealer service guy owns a lot next to a levee. It was taken by the Corp of Engineers, but not paid for nor can the owner sell the house without jumping through hoops and the two in the Cad shop have taken hits. The guy sold his lot for $88K, before Katrina his lot alone was worth $250. His father had two lots worth about a half mil and he got $66K for the two. No rhyme or reason. My car troubles pale in comparison.

We went down St. Charles Street, garden areas. The houses on the front street were massive mansions with cared for gardens and shrubs, iron gates and a beautiful setting. The house adjoining it behind was run down or boarded up. This has always been typical and unseen by the people living here. That street is also the one that Mardi Gras goes down, all along the street, on the trees, lamp poles and anywhere they can hang Mardi Gras beads are wrapped on them never taken off.

We stopped at the local cemetery! They bury there dead above ground. Many of the markers have no names and are uncared for and when the cemetery needs a opening they can confiscated it. Not sure what they do with remains.

He showed us a marker with many family names on it and 88 bodies within. The families own the site and a yer plus a day after they died they take the little remains, suitcase full and wrap it and place it into a chamber in the front or behind the marker.

You may wonder how they retrieve the body, behind the center marker with the names on it can be removed. Behind the markers is a brick wall, this they brake through and remove the slightly embalmed body. They only embalm for the funeral, this aids in the quick decomposition, sure the heat doesn’t hurt.

Now for the event of the day, taking the car in. When we got there they said they would take care of us. They are paying for a 07 DTS Cad at Enterprise rent a car. Ours is somewhere inside the service area. Stopped by at 5:30 pm no ideas yet, I said not surprised. Stopped for a quick bit to eat at a Steak and Ale, just a chain but nice people.

We did go to a Mansion and Garden during the afternoon. As we went to it we passed a cemetery where the originating owner of Popeye’s Chicken and now Copelands restaurants was being laid to rest. The man found out he had cancer last December. Around the area was his #13 race car, motorcycle and racing speed boat, all painted yellow and black, flashy. He did have the ceremonial 5 band members play the tunes for the funeral dirge and then the jazz.

The setting is again in a large open area with many live oaks lining the way. The gardens were being spruced up for the weekend activity. Flowers blooming, neat stone work on the walkway and manicured lawn. We then went through the mansion. The original owners were Sears owners and another rich family. The matron of the family wanted to leave the mansion to the city of New Orleans for a place to exhibit her art and style. Homes walls from England and German. They would remove the walls and reconstruct in America.

Pretty

Rock work and adjoining brick.

We brought 8 inches of snow to Denton Texas and street flooding water to the streets of New Orleans. Do you want us to stop by, what should we bring? jerr

Day 31, New Orleans, 2 blocks off Bourbon/Canal Street

2008-03-31T20:35:00.012-05:00

We stayed in New Iberia so that we could tour an antebellum mansion, built prior to the Civil War. Shadows-on-the-Teche is a brick antebellum home constructed between 1831 and 1834 by sugar planter David Weeks and his wife, Mary Clara Conrad. Now a museum and property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Classical Revival-style. It features eight white columns across the front facade, over 17,000 paper documents, original photographs, and furnishings. http://www.shadowsontheteche.org/

The bricks of the house were made with the clay by the bank of the bayou and one could see the window glass slump. Again, big 150 year old live oaks were scattered around the grounds.

Angie, this is there cistern. no curved bricks. All were flat sided and laid at angles.

Shirleen's favorite statue in the adjoining gardens.

These are pedals from the Chinese wisteria fallen on the round and int the pond where gold fish are nibbling at them.

We found this an interesting home, the first floor rooms can only be entered from the outside, not room to room. That is a marker of the style; she said French classical revival. The second floor has interactive doors between the bedrooms. The furnishings are rich and decorative, horsehair chairs, original paintings from the family. A couple taking the tour with us asked if the portraits had there clothing done before the artist saw the person and when he came to the home painted the persons head to the prefinished body. Can’t remember what he called the procedure.

We headed on the back road LA 182 to take in the real land. The homes ranged from the antebellum home to the small, I mean small homes. These had two front doors, so you would think that it housed two families with probably a sleeping room and an open room, small like the shotgun houses you see scattered across the nation in the poor south.

We ate at The Forrest restaurant in Franklin LA. What a nice buffet, southern fried chicken, shrimp Etouffeé, sausage, beans and rice to name some of it and the items we ate. Shirleen had one of the biggest freshly baked chocolate macadamia nut cookie.

This is an appropriate shot with the cities name.

As we walked to dinner we passed this shut down religious store's sign.

Here is the street scene everyone thinks the city is made of. Actually the streets stink and are messy, much like everytime I have been here.

Michelle, found a neat old store, as you can see on Canal/Dauphine street. The neon lights must be some of the oldest around.

We then entered the city and pulled up to the Comfort Inn & Suites two blocks off Canal and Bourbon streets. I shut off the car and thought I should leave it run the AC for Shirleen, I went to start it and yes dead as a door nail. I pushed the OnStar and no response, tried the car again and nothing. Thank goodness we were at the hotel. I called the Cad assistance center and they arranged a jump start or pull to the Cad garage. I went out and thought I may as well try it, yes it started. OnStar connected me with the local Cad dealer and tomorrow we will give it another shot.

We walked over to Deanie’s Seafood close by for dinner. They serve as an appetizer potatoes boiled in cayenne and crab oil, complimentary. Shirleen’s cat fish Po Boy was spicy for her and she got my shrimp, me the fried oysters and some of my cat fish. We left a large amount of fish, I told the waiter I was sorry we had. He said his cooks put it in a large box and set it out for the homeless at the end of the night. Jerr

Day 30, New Iberia Louisiana, Comfort Suites

2008-03-30T20:15:00.005-05:00

I realize many have visited Avery Island and the McIlhenny’s Tabasco sauce factory. But we started off our day crossing onto the Island by stopping at the guard shack paying a dollar to proceed. What was cute was the way the information sheets and our dollar were handled. Pointed towards us and slide through the passenger window was a stick with a small board and a clothes pin attached to it. You took the information and clipped your dollar to the clothes pin and the transaction was completed. To the right were the gardens. Through a dusty windshield.

The Jungle Gardens is a 250-acre botanical garden and bird sanctuary located on Avery Island. We walked the entire sanctuary of 2.5 miles plus some trails, in the afternoon we drove through the garden to see how far we walked. We saw no others walking the roads as we did. Or as they say: Four miles of gravel roads are lined with live oak trees and Spanish moss. There are also many walking paths.

The gardens were created by Edward Avery McIlhenny, second son of Edmund McIlhenny, the inventor of Tabasco sauce.

An alligator eyeing us, but we both parted company.

Shirleen's favorite blossom until the next one.

Elephant shot for Michelle, notice the change laying on the top of the dish. I even shelled out. A nice Japanese Garden in the interior of the gardens. Close to the picture of us on the bridge.

Shirleen's favorite blossom, until the next one. An azalea tree blossom.

One of Jungle Gardens' primary attractions is a bird sanctuary called Bird City. It provides roosts for snowy egrets and other wildfowl species.
In 1895 McIlhenny raised eight egrets in captivity on the island, and released them in the fall for migration. They returned the next spring with other egrets, and have continued to do so over generations. Today thousands of egrets inhabit the island from early spring to late summer.

What a neat tree trunk, there were many like this one, some even had brick or concrete patching up the holes.

Shirleen's favorite flower, a Camellias, beautiful form and color.

One of the 200 types of bamboo the garden had.

Here is the lake I reference below.

This noon we drove to The Rip Van Winkle garden for lunch at the Jefferson Restaurant. It looks out to Lake Peigneur its main feature of the location and site of a major disaster. Lake Peigneur was formerly a 10-foot deep freshwater lake until a 1980 disaster involving oil drilling and a salt mine. The lake is now a 1300-foot deep salt water lake, having been refilled by the Gulf of Mexico via the Delcambre Canal. A short movie with real on-the-spot movies of the happenings showed houses buildings and semi-trucks being sucked down the ever expanding hole and later the lake. The people working in the salt mine were able to flee, as the implosion took 45 minutes to reach the 1,000 foot level of the mine where they made their escape via the elevator. There never was a settlement about where the fault lied but I have my guess, if I was drilling I know who they would blame.

We ate at the Jefferson Cafe, named after the original owner of the properties. A glass of cabernet each with Shirleen's hot panini grilled ham and cheese, i a cup of chicken and sausage gumbo with a quarter of a muffeletta.

Tabasco Sauce - What a neat place to visit.

Avery Island is one of five salt dome islands rising above the flat Louisiana Gulf coast. These islands formed over the eons when alluvial sediment covered a vast plain of salt left behind by an ancient saltwater ocean. Surrounded by the swamps and marshes of south Louisiana, Avery Island stands the highest at 163 feet above mean sea level.

Surrounded by swamps and marshes, Avery Island is a mysteriously beautiful place where the pepper fields grow, the factory hums, and the McIlhennys and their employees continue to live and work much as they have for generations.

The diet of the Reconstruction South was bland and monotonous, especially by Louisiana standards. So Edmund McIlhenny decided to create a pepper sauce to give the food some spice and flavor — some excitement. Selecting and crushing the reddest peppers from his plants, he mixed them with Avery Island salt and aged this “mash” for 30 days in crockery jars and barrels. McIlhenny then blended the mash with French white wine vinegar and aged the mixture for at least another 30 days. After straining it, he transferred the sauce to small cologne-type bottles with sprinkler fitments, which he then corked and sealed in green wax. (The sprinkler fitment was important because his pepper sauce was concentrated and best used when sprinkled, not poured.)

“That Famous Sauce Mr. McIlhenny Makes” proved so popular with family and friends that McIlhenny, previously a banker, decided to embark on a new business venture by marketing his pepper sauce. He grew his first commercial pepper crop in 1868. The next year, he sent out 658 bottles of sauce at one dollar apiece wholesale to grocers around the Gulf Coast, particularly in New Orleans. He labeled it “Tabasco,” a word of Mexican Indian origin believed to mean “place where the soil is humid” or “place of the coral or oyster shell.” McIlhenny secured a patent in 1870, and TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce began its journey to set the culinary world on fire. Sales grew, and by the late 1870s he sold his sauce throughout the U.S. and even in England.

The pepper sauce that Edmund McIlhenny created in 1868 on Avery Island is much the same TABASCO® Sauce that is produced today, on that very same site. 139 years later, TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce is made much the same way, except now the aging process for the mash is longer – up to three years in white oak barrels. Labeled in 22 languages and dialects, sold in over 160 countries and territories, added to soldiers’ rations, and put on restaurant tables around the globe, it is the most famous, most preferred pepper sauce in the world.

Edmund McIlhenny was given seeds of Capsicum frutescens peppers that came from Mexico or Central America. And he first planted them on Avery Island, Louisiana, over 130 years ago. Today, just as then, when the peppers reach the perfect shade of deep red and are at their juiciest, they are carefully picked by hand. (Young peppers are green, then turn yellow, orange, and, finally, deep red as they age.) When in doubt, pickers can gauge the color by comparing it to a small wooden dowel, “le petit bâton rouge,” painted the preferred hue of TABASCO® red.

After the peppers are picked, they are mashed and then mixed with a small amount of Avery Island salt, extracted from the salt mines that lie beneath the Island. The pepper mash is placed in white oak barrels, and the wooden tops of the barrels are then covered with more Avery Island salt, which acts as a natural barrier to protect the barrels’ contents. All done in one day. The mash is allowed to ferment and then age for up to three years in the McIlhenny warehouse.

The mash is inspected by a member of the McIlhenny family. When approved, the fully-aged mash is then blended with all natural, high-grain vinegar. Numerous stirrings and about four weeks later, the pepper skins, pulp and seeds are strained out using 3 different-sized screens. Then the “finished” sauce is bottled by modern methods, labeled in 22 languages and dialects, and prepared for shipment to over 160 countries and territories around the world.

Salt cultivated from the salt mines that lie beneath Avery Island plays an integral part in the TABASCO®- making process. It is used to seal the top of the white oak barrels that they buy from Jack Daniels Distillery where it is fermented in for the 3 years.

Neat sign on this highway.

Tonight we had little to choose from, many eating establishments were closed. We ended up at Chili's and split a rib eye.

Day 29 New Iberia Louisiana Comfort Suites

2008-03-29T19:24:00.040-05:00

"Bilbo's Final resting place discovered"
For those that have not followed “The Hobbit” and have no interest in it, maybe you should. It’s surely is sad to report that I have found the graveyard of Bilbo. I suspect that is why my car left the main road and spotted this old cemetery at Lake Charles Louisiana. One never knows what one finds when you snoop around. What a find, pass this to those who care!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did find this website by checking the correct spelling of Bilbo.
http://www.tuckborough.net/bilbo.html

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We walked through a Botanical Garden in Beaumont this morning, a nice walk with a small breeze, no alligators. They are rebuilding the shop and only a handful of people were there.

Exit 880 on Highway 10 is the longest stretch of Highway in the nation of course in Texas.

Great Restaurant judged #1 for 14 years!

While at Lake Charles I gave a call to a lady that Angie thought I should contact. As I do not try and use last names those who know what I am talking about know the abbreviation. Patricia P. was brought up as a step child to a Klink. I asked her to e-mail Angie that I had called her, her and her husband were recovering from an influenza and did not want to pass it on, nor did we want to contract it. My question to here about the Klink’s was whether they ever talked about being in Canada. As when we stopped at the Louisiana visitor center they mentioned that many in this region came from Nova Scotia and surrounds. As we have found Klink’s in Canada I thought there might be a connection as to why he came from Minnesota to Louisiana. She had found memories of him and also of meeting Angie and George, well who wouldn’t? Patricia and husband Don suggested for us to eat at their favorite restaurant, Steamboat Bill’s. http://steamboatbills.com/ With her fine directions we arrived there with no trouble. This is true gold for Cajun foods; Shirleen’s shrimp salad had some spicy shrimp, which I inherited. My Crawfish Etouffeé on rice was really good, not spicy but a nice hint after it went down the back of the tongue.

We then drove on Louisiana highway 14, a back road, it gave us a flavor of the real people and not the freeway vision.

This guy must have just got back from fishing, not only did he put up the sign, he re-sprayed the Fresh Catfish. He as really well tanned and sunburned.

Along the crawfish raising area we saw boats like this churning up the shallow water clay fields. Will have to see what this industry does. But remember at the place we ate it said the best crawfish in Louisiana!

Here is a house, see how they are raised above the ground on cement blocks?

Rip Van Winkle Gardens

Look carefully, there is a peacock in the tree.

A scene of the garden beauty,

a fountain, busy doing its thing for us.

The road lining the road to the garden is lined with miles of live oaks. We can never get over the beauty of these trees.

Wish this showed up better. It is a rook of pink Rosetta spoonbills a bright pink wading bird with a long, flat, spoonlike bill. Found one on the net with Answers.com.

This evening we walked to eat at Ruby Tuesdays, Shirleen chicken breast, she said she has had enough fried foods, me some ribs and Cajun shrimp. Tomorrow Avery Island and its Tabasco sauce and its making. Jerr

Day 28, Beaumont, Texas at a Sleep Inn and Suites

2008-03-28T17:19:00.007-05:00

"An Ode to Trees" without words. This is for Mary J. who misses trees. This is a live Oak in the Houston Garden, it has leaves and no snow on them. A live oak's wood is three to four times as strong as a regular oak. Mary writes a blog and lamented about her missing tree's down in the Arizona desert outback .

This is one of the best bronze statues I have ever seen cast with a real resemblance.

Guarding the Pres

Spent a couple hours at the Bayou Art Festival. Many exhibitors, with many nice art booths. The picture shows a booth in the middle of the pix, it had neat bold rich colors to the Italian type paintings. They had Bud available!

For Michelle

The rooster at the front of the restaurant we ate at. Pronto Cucinio Mandola's Casual Italian on 1401 Montrose Huston, Shirleen had a roasted chicken leg and thigh with garlic mashed potatoes and Italian green beans with tomatoes.

Abby, I had Fettuccine Alfredo, one of the best, accompanied with a grilled pork chop with caramelized onions, melted caprino cheese with sun-dried tomato. We ate outside.

Recommend this place!!!

Missed the shift again, that Maserati went on by.

We arrived at Beaumont late afternoon, only thing left to do is eat and write the blog.

We drove around and found an old part of town that had a neat street set-up. Country western music and small groups of people. Knew we had a place to stop and eat. We ate outside at Spindletop restaurant, Shirleen had a half ribs roasted over mystique, I two fillets of cat fish fried in a fine crunchy corn meal, heaven. jerr

March 27, Houston, SpringHill by Marriott

2008-03-27T20:05:00.019-05:00

Museum of Natural History by Hermann Park

Butterfly chrysalis some gold colored and some opened. At a butterfly exhibit, one of the best we have seen. A good teaching aid for school lids, many were there.

A 70 by 78 inch piece of petrified sequoia tree.

Sam Houston statue, sorry for the angle, the sun did not cooperate.

A nice - long - walk and well done.

Ate here, Shirleen a BLT and I a burger with blue cheese, both with sweet potato fries, yummy.

More walking.

The lower black element is the walkway, the center blue and gold is the end of the hall, the bracketed soft white is the end of the room just before you walk out of the hall. The walkway is under a street between two buildings. It changes color and did to a purple but the photo was still blue????

A Charles Umlauf piece, we toured his Austin Texas garden.

More walking!

An Islamic Quran dates back to the 1100's.

Ice cream serving set, silver and gold. This would work well for Shirleen's ice cream eating.

A beauty of a picture

Georgia O’Keefe

Louie Comfort Tiffany window

We looked high and low for this Garden and finally found it on the second day here.

More walking!

Untitled piece, it looks like a leaf for Michelle.

Had popcorn for a night snack, no dinner, just like last night.

Day 26, Houston, Comfort Suites

2008-03-26T08:38:00.015-05:00

It was another windy day when we got up in Galveston. Off toward the Houston - Johnson Space Center. http://www.spacecenter.org/ I’ll get it off my chest right away; we pay for NASA with our taxes but we still pay $20 each to get in the Center.

We took the Tram around the sight and saw the training center for the astronauts; they practice on full sized shuttle parts. A couple pictures will show the immensity of one building.

Then off to a mock-up of the Saturn V what a giant of a spaceship. You walked along the massive rocket and saw the parts of the craft, piece by piece.

Now we went to center it this has many exhibits. It was fun to see the space vehicle mocked up on the moon.

We sat in a mock-up of mission control. A lady briefed us on the present mission STS 123, where it was when we stepped in to the room. It was headed off the east coast of South America about mid-Brazil. When we left it was 7,000 miles further, over central Europe, around Czech Republic. Maybe I am partial.

We headed into town and for a lunch spot. We were around Rice University campus. We found Hungry’s café & bistro since 1975. Shirleen had a burger and fries, I a Poblano Chicken Breast, grilled chicken breast with poblano, mushroom cream sauce. Served with garlic mashed potatoes & French green beans. http://www.hungryscafe.com/ in Rice Village. Good taste, fries home cut, poblano sauce tasty.

Shirleen had read about the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum around Rice U. This Museum displays the dome and the apse of a small Byzantine votive chapel of the thirteenth century. We are always interested in frescos since our first Italy tour. http://www.menil.org/byzantine.html From the handout: the Chapel Museum is the repository in the United States for the only intact Byzantine frescoes in the entire western hemisphere. These masterworks from the 13th century -- a dome and an apse -- were ripped and stolen out of a chapel near Lysi in the Turkish occupied section of Cyprus in the 1980's, cut into pieces, and smuggled off the island by thieves prepared to sell them piece by piece. The fresco fragments were rescued from the thieves by The Menil Foundation with the knowledge and approval of the Church of Cyprus, the rightful owner of the frescoes. The Menil Foundation then funded a painstaking two-year restoration of the paintings. The wall surrounding the chapel was made from the stones of the original chapel in Cyprus.

The Lysi dome represents Christ Pantokrator, “All Soverign”. It defines space with no beginning and no end. Absolutely frontality has driven time out of space. His gaze is transworldly: not looking but seeing all.

In the apse the Virgin, flanked by archangels Gabriel and Michael, stands in the ornate posture.

We then took a stroll through Hermann Park, by Rice. Many beautiful BLOOMING flowers, yes they bloom in March. They had a small Oriental garden.

Peace Garden with statues from all over the world memorializing those who tried hardest for Peace. No GW here. - jerr

Mahatma Gandhi

Dr. Martin Luther King

Happy 70th Birthday Uncle Pat!!! Day 25, Galveston Island another Comfort Inn & Suites on the seashore

2008-03-25T21:43:00.013-05:00

Moody Mansion

Today was touring houses day. We went to the Moody Mansion Museum, built at the turn of the century by a woman whose husband would not built one for her and he died. http://www.moodymansion.org/. It is four levels of 18 inch brick walls inside and out. Over these walls is built the inside of the house. The outside of the house has a nice arrangement of verandas to sit and watch the poor people go buy. It is made of sandstone and brick with a lot of metal fence work. The interior is furnished with oaks, cherry, mahogany, and other exotic woods. She mentioned that children were not allowed to eat with the parents except for Sunday’s, Mrs. said that they eat together each day. The bolsters around fireplaces were hand carved, much as the dining room table legs, buffet table and china cabinet. There are the normal luxury items, the windows that slide up and out of sight so you can walk through the opening out to the stairs to meet your invited friends. The tables are set with the finest silver and dinner plates with huge silver serving bowls. This house took 20 people to staff, all of whom lived on the ground floor, looked like nice accommodations to me it had gold leaf ceilings in the dining room. The food was made on this floor and a dumb waiter carried it to the serving floor, where the butler would service the guest and places it in the pantry because food platters were not allowed to set on the table, you had to request more to eat. The house also had an intercom system, voice pipe tubes and a flag device. The mansion was also fit with gas and electric lighting, when the electricity went out the help would light the gas jets. The stained glass window which greeted the visitors said, “Welcome ever smile” from Shakespeare, now I will have to figure out exactly what he meant?

Louis Comfort Tiffany lamp

These two elephant pictures are for Michelle!!

Bishop's home, white glass area is an conservatory in the side of the house.

The second home was the Bishops residence Galveston’s grandest and best known building, a Victorian castle. It had been owned by the Gresham family and sold to the dioceses for the Bishop. He lived in it from the age of around 50 and died in his 80’s. He did change the house by adding a chapel where the little girl’s room had been now has statuary and pictures of blessed events. Again the woods were exotic the one most liked was the curly pine, no longer a harvested tree; you have to find it in another house and use it in yours. The house didn’t have many original furnishings but the structure had colored stone, intricately carved ornaments, rare woods, stain glass windows. What was interesting is that they had like fifteen fireplaces. It was funny because he had a grand balcony staircase made, took 3 guys a year to make it. Then he found a fireplace he wanted and put it underneath this staircase and had no chimney area. This fireplace became the first gas fired fireplace in Galveston. The house even had air conditioning and the rooms were situated so that the gulf breezes would draft through. The structure is one the 100 most important buildings in America. Both these structures are worth the visit to hear their history.

Neat rock work!

Entry into the Bishops home.

A tug boat passing a head portion of a platform rig being overhauled.

At noon we ate at Fishermen’s Warf Shirleen had a fine spinach salad with grilled shrimp, I a Poor Bo with crawfish.
We then went for walk at Moody Garden’s, of which they were not; it was flowers that decorated the area. Nice walk.

John, this is one for you. A model at the Museum.

We headed downtown to go to the Railroad Museum. This was a nice place to look at old trains, cars and memorabilia. There was a large display of silverware and place setting. The train station had plaster cast statues by Schwartz of New York, done in the mid 80’s. The people breathed through their noses with straws and then had the clothes layered with plaster. When dried they cut them off and plastered them back together.

I could not hitch my hip the way I used to be able to do, much like this young sailor.

We ate at The Steakhouse in the San Luis resort. It is a nice layout, to be different it is in a curved layout with nice room between tables three deep wide all done in rich dark woods. We split a Kobe rib eye steak, a massaged, beer feed animal. It was tasty, a little gristly for Shirleen, but a real delight. The only accompaniment was peeled asparagus with a smooth white sauce. We followed it a dessert, eruption, a freshly baked chocolate cake with warm chocolate inside, accompanied with raspberries and vanilla ice cream. We walked bake the two long blocks to wear this off. jerr

Day 24, Galveston Island, view toward gulf at Comfort Suites

2008-03-24T09:00:00.014-05:00

Shirleen's e-mail is working. We are headed to Portland, Rockport, Freeport (where Aunt Vi tied up the shrimp boats). Then to Galveston Island, city. jerr

Late arrival will work on update soon. Look at last picture.

Yes we are still in the State of Texas, good waffle.

Just my type but the question still exists, which is full of more bull?

Today we started out toward a sanctuary way out of Portland. We traveled through four miles of road work over packed gravel, never did figure out what they were doing but a lot of activity in one spot. We turned down the back road and looked for the place. I asked this one man raking hay if he knew where it was, he could only speak Spanish. Down and further down the road we went. It was two miles past where they said it should be, now turning around and low and behold there back those two miles was the sign. This is where we ran into the bull and his gals, so it was worth it. It was just a trail with no parking area so off we went to Rockport, right on the gulf.

These are the gals.

This parrot is for Michelle, look no snow!!!

This is an artsy area; half the shops were open on Monday. Most museums and artsy places are closed Monday’s we are finding out. This is a really neat place, pictures in water color, oils, acrylic and mixed media. Some real nice paintings of the waterfront, shrimp and fishing boats, wildlife and more. One we both thought was neat was a crane with a small fish in its beak. After an hour and a half we passed through the open galleries.

Eating at Rockport, shrimp boats coming in.

Off to lunch we go, we headed to an Island a couple miles north of the town but a heavy fishing area with mansions lining the drive. We did not find the restaurant we were headed for but opened the window and asked a couple with child where a good place to eat was and they just ate at Charlotte Plummer’s Seafare Restaurant and recommended it. We sat upstairs and watched the deck hands arrange their nets on their trawlers. We split a large platter of blackened fish, deep fried oysters – yummy, grilled and boiled shrimp with fries. Good eats.

Shrimp boat Mystery in Freeport Texas

We entered Freeport, not much left of the town, a lot of big manufacturers, acre’s of equipment to make olefins and other chemicals from the natural gas. We found the shrimp boat that made this area popular and the deserted downtown area. Saw some more trawlers and off we went.

Fountain in Freeport which I am sure Aunt Vi had seen.

More trawlers and shrimp boats alongside the berm.

We then meandered up the coast along the off the major road route we developed.

We got to Galveston Island as the sun was setting, light wave action.

This is off of our GPS, we are the arrow in the circle, we will be turning right to the hotel. If I turn left we are in the blue, signifys the Gulf. I posted this because I can't take a picture of the waves gently washing upon the shore.

We ate at Landry’s again because of the gulf side view and got a seat right up front. We had a glass of wine (Glass Mountain chard) with a plate of Calamari and a Landry’s Gold Burger, a hamburger with broiled cheddar on top, this we split. jerr

Day 23, Tonight at Comfort Inn, Ingleside Texas

2008-03-23T20:34:00.008-05:00

I started the morning about 2:30 am, as the young peoples nightclub was getting out, loud Mexican music, cars revving up their engines and people talking really loud for me to hear on the 5th floor.

We started the morning by going to the 11th floor for the complimentary breakfast. What a view of the Gulf, it was windy so waves were crashing onto the rock boundary, and cloudy.

We then debated either going to the 11 o’clock Spanish mass or wait till 12:30 for the English one. Well we went to the early one in order to get on up the line. We went to the Cathedral, this mass was sparsely especially compared to the one that was getting out before we went in. the church was re-built in 1940 and is on the historical register. The inside is as one would expect big, with the alter in front but the Eucharist was at a side alter and was brought to the main alter for the mass. The side alter was for the Virgin Mary and as people walked toward the main alter they turned toward the side alter and bowed or genuflected to it, as one would expect. We read the parts on the left page that was in English, Spanish on the right. What was said during the homily is up for grabs; staying awake was difficult for me, as the 2:30 wake up call didn’t help. At the end of the mass, the priest came down the isle and shook each of our hand and said a couple words, he was shocked when he realized we didn’t understand Spanish, but recovered well.

We thought a good meal was in order, not much on the waterfront but saw an Omni Hotel, they generally have good eats. We went there for their buffet lunch. It was unremarkable, and there was no ham either, except for the fresh shrimp there was not much to talk about, after fleecing each of us for $36 that really made the experience hard to swallow; at Las Vegas it cost more but were well worth it. They must have got phone in requests for seating the day before and realized they needed to have more space than there dining room. So there were tables set in the ballroom, now you can see how many people were there. Ramon, our waiter said that the hotel was not prepared for the amount of people. He had worked there for the last 5 years and a number of times before, even living in Rockford IL for a while, then coming back for Mom. He was missing out on a family BBQ, He has a brother in law who cooked up a mean rack of ribs on the grill.

Now off to the South Texas Institute for the Arts,

http://www.stia.org/. The post Lewis and Clark exhibit was in its last day. There were many paintings, sketches and artifacts. Some of interest to us were those of George Catlin and Sully, they sketched paintings of Midwest Indians and Fort Snelling. Many nice paintings, and as we were walking in the room at our own pace, I was standing in the corner and thought, if these people didn’t do these paintings and sketches, we would not have known how things looked and events of those by gone years. Shirleen came to that spot and said the very same thing as I have just written, spooky. As I was looking at another picture of a cowboy on a horse, the lady next to me said to her male counterpart. See how the masculinity of the horse shows through the picture, to the beholder. Yes the muscles were well defined. She then said, it is similar to Remington’s works. I butted in and said that now I understand the difference in his and C. M. Russell’s works. When we saw their works earlier Dallas I asked Shirleen why do they always make the horses in these dramatic poses. Now I know why, to show masculinity. The lady said that is what’s missing in art now a days. We then went up to the Collectors Club Collection, that is a space put together by people of the area that buy art for the museum, there were two Rembrandt etchings, what detail. But as we walked into the room and turned right there in the middle of the room was a young lady laying on a table. She was covered by a sheet but looked so real I was embarrassed, as I had walked into her room. That is how real this sculpture looked. It was a live figure bronze cast painted in oil. It looked so real that it had light moles, veins in her hands, to bad we could not take a picture to show the detail. The sculpture was by a famous sculpturer, whose name I did not remember.

We then headed to the coast, down North Padre Island, nice looking homes and many dug out boating areas behind the homes. We went to the National Park and Shirleen got her stamp for the park three minutes before they closed.

We headed back up North Island onto Mustang Island. We ended up taking an access to the beach, as you can drive on it for miles. The waves were still strong and splashing heavily.

As we drove along we saw these jelly looking things washed up on the beach, I got out and looked at them and said they are Portuguese Man-of-War. We saw a couple walking and confirmed this. We got a charge out of watching the birds trying to get something to eat without getting wet, fun to watch. This went on for miles and Mom wondered if we would ever get off, I must admit, I was hoping that the gulf waters would not get any higher myself.

You see where we are this eve - jerr

Happy Easter Day 22

2008-03-23T08:28:00.003-05:00

As close as we have come this trip to a picture or statue of a bunny is this jack rabbit!!

Day 22, Corpus Christi - Holy Saturday - Best Western Waterfront

2008-03-22T08:39:00.011-05:00

The gas down here has been good to the pocket book. The Texans give us all a break! Or was this a defunct station?

She will love me for this!!!! Looking out the window of our room on Corpus Christi, nice view.

Kings Ranch Store.

We started the day visiting the King Ranch store. It had some nice looking chairs and benches made of cow hide and some with hair on the back. It had a lot of clothing with the running W brand on it. The neat part was the saddle making area. They had a number of saddles in different states of being built.

Off to Corpus, we were headed to the South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center. We again had a no cost tour; we belong to U of MN Botanical Society. This is just south of the city. It has an orchid house with over 2,000 plants, Cattleya, Phaleonopsis, Pathiopedlum and Dendrobium. What beautiful colors, orange, white, purple, white with many different colored trimmings. The rose garden was in full bloom for the second time. Then there were tropical collections of bromeliads, cycads, cacti and succulents. The colors of the hibiscus, oleanders, and bougainvillea bloom nearly all year round and today were just beautiful. We walked the graveled paths around the pond with its wildlife, indigenous trees, especially the different types of mesquite and ebony trees. A nice place to visit for an hour and a half.

They recommended Andy’s restaurant, they are only open from 6 am to 2:30 pm. Turns out it has a railroad train motif. Two tracks above the eating area, train memorabilia abounds. What a neat place and I was wearing a T-shirt with a locomotive on it, by chance. The food was great, Shirleen had too much of a vegetable omelet with hash browns, I a chicken fried steak with white gravy and French fries. What a great meal and place. Rachael Ray back in 1993 did her meals on $40 dollars a day segment at this restaurant.

Now we went to the downtown area of Corpus Christi, not a lot to look at. Found a nice hotel, Best Western, five floors up overlooking the gulf and sand islands. We then walked down to Landry’s Restaurant. A nice seafood place to eat, we had shrimp scampi, fried shrimp, fried fresh catch Pontchartrain, stuffed shrimp and sautéed scallops with a delicious orzo pasta. The shrimp were over done but the flavors were just great, would not eat there tomorrow but would next month. Nice harbor area, tomorrow a historic home tour, looked nice and some other areas of the arts. We also found the Cathedral for tomorrow. More to come tomorrow – Jerr

Day 21, Tonight at Comfort Inn Kingsville Texas - Good Friday

2008-03-21T18:33:00.016-05:00

A note I meant to put in a couple days ago - Texas Mountain Laurels are better known to us as Lilacs, like Texans they like to have there own thing.

http://tx.audubon.org/Sabal.html This is Sabal Palm Audubon Center and Sanctuary. We arrived to late to view the many birds this sanctuary offers. But we did the entire walk. The first two miles was on the trails below. It was where they filmed many of the Tarzan movies that I watched when I was growing up (or have I). This area was used because of the Sabal Palms made it look like Africa.

Another Rio Grande shot, one over the sign and the green water shot with the water hyacinths washing along the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. This route was a mile walk.

This Audubon Sanctuary would be a must see. It is a nature walk in nature, the trails are not groomed nor are they covered with anything but dead leaves, palm branches, or hard packed earth, seems the only ones that can use the path besides us were red ants. Can't say enough about this area, after three hours of walking we called it over.

In the Sanctuary, there were flowers and this prickly pear was in bloom, this one although not in full bloom has a nice color to it. The other is a tree with red finger like blossoms.

Thought seeing that this is Good Friday we visited an old mid-1800 church now a Cathedral the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, and the next picture memorializes the day.

This was a 1886 cemetery at Brownsville. Right is Born 1792. The area had many old grave sites. There were many markers tipped over and broken. Vandals probably, as the monuments were on solid ground or flat concrete bases, what a shame. few had people tending after them.

Stayed even with him until I missed a shift at 70!! It is a Ferrari 512 M.

This was right before we had to go through a Border Patrol stop, he asked are you American citizens, I said yes and he said go.

We ate mid afternoon at Vermillion Restaurant and Watering Hole, a Mexican style place. Shirleen had her old stand-by BBQ pork sandwich, I fish taco, they had a nice pico de gallo sauce, nice bite with the peppers. Before the meal she offered us a taste of Ceviche, marinated fish cocktail, with fresh cilantro, diced onions, tomatoes in fresh lime juice. The fish is sliced thinly placed in the marinate and placed in the refrigerator overnight, never cooked by heat but cooked by the lime juice.

Tonight we had little choice, Chili's, only place for a wine. We had there appetizer, three small hamburgers, cheese, bacon bites with fries and fried onions. Worked out fine.
jerr

Added Tonight at Holiday Inn Express Brownsville Texas

2008-03-20T20:52:00.009-05:00

Tried a border run again. Out in the boonies we had an electrical incident which caused minor concern. Now we are on TX highway # 4 east of Brownsville, looking at the last battle of the Civil War plaque, turns out it memorializes the battle a month after the end of the war.

On the way back we stopped at the border patrol and called New Ulm at that stop. New Ulm Jensen's said if they did not put a new battery in, have it done and they will take care of it. Well we got directions from OnStar, they gave us directions to a Cad dealer. Then they called the Cad dealer and hooked me to him. When we arrived with the MN plates the group jumped in the car and 35 minutes we were on our way, no cash changed hands. I pulled in behind a Viper, blue and when started it snorted, neat car. The service guy had an 81 Vette, we hit it off fast. We were seated in the visitor room and then they brought in two calendars, one a GM super car and a 08 GM car's one. They sure treated us well, much like I feel when I go to Jensen's.

Here is for Sheryl and the girls. The first was a sand carving at South Padre Island visitor center, next is a tortoise by Wyland on the Whaling Wall of the convention center, the last is in a sea turtle rescue park on the Island, specie Hawksbill, the upper shell has a beautiful rich reddish brown or dark brown mottling. At the center we walked out on a board walk and looked at the many birds in the waters and mud flats.

We walked the shore for about a mile, again I was washed by the waves washing onto the beach. Reminds me of Door County with the Grand-daughters on those rocks.

This is NOT Jerry, but they invited me and had it been 40 years ago, I would have.

So where did we eat? At The Palms Resort outside by the beach on the Island. Shirleen had a nice piece of red snapper with Caesar salad, I deep fried oysters, shrimp and fish, scrumptious. The evening was at a restaurant across from the hotel, Cobbleheads Bar and Grill, we split some enchiladas, tacos and a flat taco. jerr

March 19, Pharr to Harlingen TX, Day 19, Wednesday, at a Econ O Lodge

2008-03-19T21:10:00.011-05:00

It is starting to get hard to find places because of spring break and Easter and the Mexican families come north.

The following was sent to me and I think it describes the Rose window in the church of San Juan in San Antonio: The term rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The name “rose window” was not used before the 17th century and in all likelihood stems from the Old French word roué, meaning wheel, not from the English flower name, rose. Not sure this description fits the window you saw. Love, Mary

Yesterday I forgot to include the restaurant stops. When we were having the Cad looked at, we had to eat as it was 2:30 pm. We stopped at a Danny’s Restaurant, a chain from Laredo, but this one in Alice has been open for four months. The chips and salsa were good, the chips were thicker than usual but well done. Shirleen’s BLT and fries was good, my Enchiladas Rojas special – Enchiladas de Picadillo, was great. The meat filling had small pieces of potato and carrots, rice had some carrots also, refried beans and salad. It is a restaurant I would go to at lunch again. The evening was at an Outback, we split the Blooming Onion and a glass of wine. The fun part of the meal was watching the Orientals across the way. They brought there own deep fried peanuts, placed there plates on their napkins as there was no table cloths. The napkins were triangle up and half the napkin was on the table the other over the edge. Fun to watch customs of others.

Today we started the car and headed to Mission, Shirleen wanted to look at the pictures on the wall of a store with the hand and footprints of Tom Landry the coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Before we left the room Shirleen called her cousin Rosemary and Jim who live in Donna TX. She gave us some really good ideas and we did most of them.

We took a couple pictures and off to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, we appreciate the hard work these poor people put into what they believe in. This is the floor, like the geometry.

We went to another old church but it was being refurbished, but to our luck we found a place to eat. Pepe’s on the River (Rio Grande). It was an immense pole with thatched roof. We grabbed lunch, Shirleen a chopped pork sandwich with fries, I a half rack baby back ribs and BBQ polish sausage. There were eight tables of 4 to 10 people, retirees down south. We noticed the guys got there golfing irons out and hit golf balls across the Rio Grande into Mexico. A couple of them ended up over the river. Looked like a good crossing area to me.

We went further down the line to the Los Ebanos Ferry Crossing. The crossing was used by explorers and colonists in 1740’s. it was also a salt trail from Mexico. Used by Mexican war troops, 1846, by Texas Rangers chasing cattle rustlers in 1874 and smuggling in many eras. The crossing is named for the ebony trees here. This is known as the only Government Licensed, hand pulled ferry on any boundary of the US. The men that do the work are hard working, as it is a dirty job, no nice concrete or tar road; it is sand to the entry point. The men have to pound in five inch stakes and sandbag the entry points as the ferry hits the banks to stop. There are a small number of people and three cars at the most on it. It looked about three house widths at the crossing, 200 feet? The marker is an International Boundry between the United States and Mexico placed on the US side by the ebony tree and marker.

Next to San Jose to look at the ‘Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto’. The Virgin Mary is seven foot high and purchased from a studio in Paris. Nice stop.

Then on to our next stop ‘Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle’ in San Juan. Absolutely beautiful it is hard to describe, but if you get close, stop in. They have an alter with carved figures in it and centered with the Virgin in a purple cape. When we walked around to the alter it turns out that there are hundreds of 2 X 6 inch lite candles, as more are put behind the alter where people sit and pray, Yes a room specifically made for the candles, hand carted in flats of 18, four or six flats pushed by a little old lady where they are put into a candle room to burn out. There is another room that has the clothing of individuals who have died, some with pictures on them some with names and dates. Really a different display

We then headed for the shed, we ate at the Marriot. Nice and quiet, split a rib eye with fresh fried mushrooms and veggies with fries. They gave us complimentary Margaritas, nice of them. Jerr

March 18, Kingsville to Pharr TX, Day 18, Tuesday, at a Comfort Inn

2008-03-18T21:25:00.006-05:00

I posted the verbiage for yesterday this morning but the web connection was to slow and it botched it.

We are 8 miles south of Edinburg Texas where the State of Emergence has just taken place because of the raging brush fire. When we went though three hours ago, there were many emergency vehicles posted along the road. The sky's to the West were bellowing smoke, orange sky and smoke smell. Glad we got through before that as they are closing the highway. 17,000 acres are burning.

Another Announcement, from Mike and Connie B. who we had dinner with in Wichita KS. Here is a pix of our new grandson born last Friday. Roy and Miriam's son in Colorado Springs.

We are 8 miles south of Edinburg Texas where the State of Emergence has just taken place because of the raging brush fire. When we went though three hours ago, there were many emergency vehicles posted along the road. The skies to the West were bellowing smoke, orange sky and smoke smell. Glad we got through before that as they are closing the highway.

We started the day at the King ranch – running W brand, an 850,000 acre ranch. http://www.king-ranch.com/ look in Wikipedia for more info. From the beginning 1853 the owners worked hard for being kind to there employees and to the environment. Even the fencing is raised a foot to leave small wild animals transit the area. The area has also been designated a national wildlife area. They have nature tours that get you to the best areas, we didn’t have time. We did see wild deer, turkey’s and coyotes on our tour.

The Santa Gertrudis, which were recognized as a breed in 1940, was the first American breed of beef cattle. The Brahmans — which were bred specially to thrive in South Texas' hot climate — were crossed with the ranch's Beef Shorthorns to produce this trademark stock. They do have another stock, Santa Cruz cattle along with world famous quarter horses, cutting horses and sheep and goats.

The first cattle were brought up from Mexico, the long-horn cattle. They were not fit for this land but many are still found along the road. He also brought the Mexican people that were raising the cattle he brought north with him because he was afraid that they would die without the cattle. These people came to be called "kineños," or "King's men." King's, some of those descendents still work the ranch.

Captain King was first a hide and tallow operation but found after the civil was that the cattle brought two times the amount of money up in Kansas City. He drove many hundred of thousands north for the better money. This is a must see. This is an old cowpoke talking about life on the range, living, branding and his family working together.

Well we had a problem with the new Cad. For the four time we had a dead battery. Couldn’t even call OnStar because it was dead dead, nothing no lights nor any door opening. Called on cell phone and they got a guy to jump start within 30 minutes. Then we went to Kings Ranch and then back to Alice TX. Turns out you can’t go to a dealership that doesn’t service Cad’s as the Chevy dealer in Kingsville. Again they found nothing, comforting thought. Later - Jerr

March 17, San Antonio to Kingsville TX, Day 17, Monday, at a Quality Inn

2008-03-17T21:15:00.013-05:00

Someday I will understand how these pictures go in, tonight I tried all to the left and this is what I got, with the problem at the bottom.

What a waffle!
I started the day with the waffle made in an iron in the shape of Texas. We sat with some people from northern MN. The hotel had some interesting happenings their. It was known even up to the mid 1920’s that hangings were done in the prison (our hotel), they were conducted on the third floor and bodies dumped through the second floor (our floor) to the first and removed. It turned out that so many people would come to watch the hangings that they closed them to the public.

San Antonio Botanical Garden, The garden was in bloom, colors abound, bun poppy’s, tulips, and much more. It was a nice walk and would enjoy doing it again.

Clover for St. Patrick's Day.

After driving by a couple of the Missions yesterday, we went to visit them today. Back to the mid 1750’s, they are neat to see, the craftsmanship of ages in them. They have a real reverence innate in them and people respect it as they visit. The Rose window is a fashion statement in town and came from San Jose, but no one knows where the name originated. A must to see.

Rose Window at San Jose Mission

Good Friday's Easter Symbol, fresco on a side alter wall

Flat Stanley with a young boy at the Mission with brothers and father

Aqua Duct in use since early 1750's, they used this to water thousands of acres of plants which made the area useful.

We ate at a Bill Miller Bar-B-Q, good fried chicken, I two chopped pork sandwiches, next time I would get the ribs, they looked great. Down the road we went the land went from a hilly tree line road to low shrubs and a flat look to the land, ranch land. We are in the King’s Ranch area and probably going there Tuesday. So we ate a Chili’s, not much to choose from in Kingsville. Split a rack of ribs, original and a chipotle flavored one.jerr

March 16, San Antonio TX, Day 16, Palm Sunday, at a Comfort Inn three blocks from Riverwalk

2008-03-16T21:42:00.007-05:00

Did I mention two days ago at LBJ’s Ranch it was 93 degrees.

We were 30 miles from downtown and the Alamo. We found parking lots a block from the Alamo and off we go. The line to get in was wrapped around the block as it was early. Across the street was the trolley. It is an hour tour of the city highlights. If one has never been there before take it if you have been here and to the missions don’t bother. The guide mentioned that the cattle drives went from here up the Chisholm Trail, now I-35, up to Kansas City. This area still produces more cattle than any other state.

So it is time to eat again. We were right next to the Menger Hotel on the Alamo Plaza built 1857 so we decided to eat there. It turned out to be a buffet; I think I ate my weight in boiled shrimp, Shirleen three desserts. If your there on a Sunday take it in and what good coffee. http://mengerhotel.com/

From here we went to the San Fernando Catherdral for the Palm Sunday service at 2 pm. What a nice 1.5 hour service church was built in 1758. The paintings and murals were good enough to visit again. While walking around the church after the service, I noticed a plaque which designated that spot, center of alter area, as the center of San Antonio, declared by the city father's. They sang the Passion, had an Oboe accompany the choir. Makes one think, we are thanking an individual wh sacraficed his life for us, we should think about honoring those who serve us in all capacities.

Lady with a woven palm, there were many items for sale around the Cathedral.

We then went through the Alamo. Another old thick walled building, 187 Texans killed, women and children lived through it. A nice shrine for the event, much like the USS Arizona in Hawaii. a 138 year old live oak in the center of the compound with large twisted branches, one was supported by two 3 inch pipes.

Now off to find a hotel. We found one in our Choice Hotels book and we asked for directions from OnStar, a mile away. This hotel is a converted jail, five stories high neat idea and blocks from the river walk.

Off to the River Walk for dinner. If you have never walked this, it is worth the time. We strolled down the walk. People of all types, many baby strollers, teens texting, people attending conventions, like the time we were there. We looked for a restaurant that had Mexican and American foods, Zuni Grill met the menu. We were seated outside for people watching, took about an hour to eat, Shirleen a filet presented on a mound of mash potatoes and grilled vegetables and a cabernet. I a Shrimp Quesadilla – see Abbigale, it had shrimp inside with cheese and five grilled large shrimp, black beans, Mexican rice and tomatoes with cilantro, just delicious and accompanied with two Margaritas one a blue one a regular. They actually dye the river green the weekend and day of St. Patrick.

After this we walked down the walk and found the off steps to Houston street and back to the hotel. jerr

More pixs to come - March 15, Fredericksburg to New Braunfels TX, Day 15, Saturday

2008-03-15T20:00:00.016-05:00

Today we explore Fredericksburg. We start at the Nimitz and Pacific War Museum. Well it took 2.5 hours to go through as it is broken up into many parts. The first surprise that I had was that back in 1913 Nimitz was in the submarine force and had changed the power from gasoline to diesel, this was a first for me. Then to my surprise in the mid 50’s he back Rickover to change the propulsion from diesel to nuclear power.

It brought to mind the e-mail I received this last week, the loss of a shipmate from my USS Tecumseh 628 SSBN era, Chief Henry Espinosa in Albuquerque NM. He was a quiet man these Dolphins for him. Back in the mid 90’s I attended a meeting in Albuquerque and so did the subvets group. It turned out I meet Henry there and we had a good time reminiscing. Now he is on Eternal Patrol, we wish him smooth sailing.

The Japanese built a nice outside Garden, quiet and peaceful. It was a gift to Nimitz for his the Japanese commander he fought against but was in recognition of his help to mend the nation.

There was a garden that recognized the fallen men who’s family or loved one put there. It surprised me that there were 52 submarines and 6,000 people.

Then time for lunch at Wheeler’s – Real Cooking, Shirleen had the smoked sausage, a tender juicy sausage with kraut and red cabbage, I the brat, hers was better, mine good. Accompanied by a good piece of caraway bread.

Then off to Comfort Texas, for a mission for Denis W. We were headed to New Braunfels but made this side trip, then back through Fredericsburg through Blanco and then Comfort. What a nice ride through the hills.

We arrived at a picturesque small town. Full of activity with a main street three small blocks long. We found Ignatius who guided us to the two sites,

The Founding Freethinkers and Denny W. Double click on the picture for a big picture then right click and print or save it, if you want me to e-mail the pic I will.

It turned out that the man who did the monument for the Freethinkers died a couple years ago and the store he owned next to it burned down. There is a Historical Society, even though the town has about 1,500 people.

the Monument of the Union, the only Union monument in Texas. It had as one of the names Schreiner, like the ones in the JP's.

We stopped at the Wild Flowers Garden, Shirleen bought a neat purse hook to let the purse hang from the table at a restaurant and not on the floor, we had seen one in Dallas Art Museum.

Now cross country to New Braunfels. We ate at Montana Mike’s close-by, Shirleen a filet, sweet potato and I a small sirloin, half order of ribs and green beans. Ok but nothing different. - jerr

March 14, Austin, Crawford LBJ Ranch and Fredericksburg TX, Day 14, Friday

2008-03-14T21:46:00.006-05:00

Today looks like a easy day. We went to Umlaf Sculpture Garden http://www.umlaufsculpture.org/ , this man was a teacher at the University of Texas. It has about 130 sculptures in outside walking path. Many nudes, both sexes, and a heavy bending toward religious, two Pieta’s and a couple John the Baptist. Some of the sculptures are lifelike, some drawn with terror, some rough textures. He mentioned in a short tape that he did not believe in the organization of churches and religion but he thinks highly of the people who believe. Is statues are in Turkish rose onyx, white marble, stone, woods – mahogany, redwood, bronze, one bronze piece electroplated with gold, bronze covered in clay and terra cotta, chiseled limestone and concrete. Sure I missed some. Besides the people, he did a number of animals. As you can see I really like this exhibit. Flo, the lady that volunteered today was recovering from the removal of blood clots, in her legs and somewhere else. She is on Coumadin and is having a rough time putting things together, she had a couple lapses when we were there, hope she gets better.

We then headed a couple blocks away to the Zilker Botanical Garden is located in the center of Austin. http://www.zilkergarden.org/. As you enter the parking lot, they have a large stone image of the state of Texas. This place is a must see. The rose garden, other flowers galore and in bloom, beautiful color. There are some sculptures in the garden, one the top belfry of a local school, the front entry of a mansion of brick with a large eight foot hole in the center which looked to the town, and the old city aluminum street lights mid 30’s. Adds character to the garden, as Shirleen says and I agree.

In the garden is another garden The Taniguci Japanese Garden. http://taniguchigarden.org/. A multilayered garden with intertwining paths. Much to look at, my biggest find was 18 to 24 inch Koi, whites, gold, orange and light blues. A unique water garden that spells AUSTIN with each pond. It is stylistic and hard to see because it runs for 40 feet or so. We walked the trails and took in the beauty of it all.

We stopped at a Jim’s Restaurant in Bee Cove outside of Austin. Shirleen had a ood tasting cup of cheese soup and half a grilled cheese sandwich, I a 3 Cheese Enchilada’s covered with Carne (Chili without beans), a side of refried beans, chopped lettuce with a spicy tomato, jalapeño pieces for a spicy accompaniment. There were two flour tortillas and I didn’t know what to do with them so I asked for butter not spread and ate them like bread.

Off to Fredericksburg with an intermediate stop at Stonewall Texas at LBJ’s "Texas White House" Ranch situated by the rippling waters of the Pedernales River, and shaded by a massive 400-year-old oak trees. it is now being cared for by the National Parks and State Parks in tandem. The property has been given to the US after the death of Lady Bird.

The 700 acres or so, has Hereford beef cattle, around 140 of them now from the original blood line of LGJ. There are deer and antelope running on the ranch. We took the bus, as you can’t get to the ranch with out it. The house he was born in has been reconstructed and has a breeze way through the center width of the house. The formal house that they lived in until he died had 28 rooms and 9 bath rooms. Again there were the two old live oaks around the front of the house.

We visited the Johnson Family Cemetery where his settler grandparents, parents, sisters and Lady Bird and he. It is fenced in by a low stone wall, canopied by three or four live oaks. The Presidents gravestone is the largest and Lady Birds is marked by a bouquet of flowers until the stone arrives in the next couple months. Must be a Government job. What a serene setting under the shade and river running close by.

We did find a place to stay this evening, at an Econ Lodge, not bad, expected worse. We ate at Friedhelm’s Bavarian Inn, suggested by a volunteer at LBJ’s. She was an ex MN and knew Kaiserhoff in New Ulm and mentioned a couple of volunteers from NU. We were settling in on Vienner Schnitzel, turns out it was pork schnitzel, Shirleen had broiled Shrimp and Spaetzles, I had the Jaeger Schnitzel with the mushrooms on the side and an order of sauerkraut. First a cup of cabbage soup followed by an enormous salad and two Bitberger’s and a cabernet, now came the food. We were surprised the spaetzle were run through a press that made them the same diameter as spaghetti? But only a couple inches long and braised in butter. It was there way not what we were used to. Food was good but will look for a real Vienner (veal) not pork. Till later - Econo Lodge Fredericksburg for this eve. jerr

March 13, Austin TX, Day 13, Thursday

2008-03-14T19:38:00.007-05:00

Today we start at the LBJ Lyndon Baines Johnson Museum. This museum is on the campus of the University of Texas. The first two levels have collects of the office. We strolled along the items, a lot of movie clips, plenty of paintings. The neat one, I thought was a Norman Rockwell painting of Lady Bird Johnson. Her name was given to her by a nurse maid of the house and stuck throughout her lifetime. But, the president was born in Johnson TX, yes named after his grandfather who built his home there. There are five floors of historical documents and above them another floor of exhibit. The most impressive item for me was a gold, diamond encrusted with emeralds on a sword and scabbard. It was given by a Saudi. This had a massive staircase of limestone that was really impressive, I suppose it was made after the man who was massive himself.

They steered us to a neat café, Hoover’s Cooking at

http://www.hooverscooking.com/ .
It is located in a small strip mall, heavily frequented, looked like 120 people or so could eat there. The tables are lined with brown butcher paper. Food comes out on a plastic serving platter and was rated by Zagat as a Soul food restaurant. Shirleen’s Spinach Salad had other vegetables and smoked mushrooms. I, a Catfish Po’ Boy, more like a Lobster roll, it had finely chopped lettuce with a light mayo, chopped pieces of tomato with a nice sized portion of fish. Coffee was a good good cup to sip on.

Off to the Capitol. We could see it but it was not easy to see where to park. Let’s start at a different letter of the states name TEXAS, I pick A as ASTEX, this comes from the many things they have the word encircled on, many items and that’s when I came up with the idea of starting with a different letter. The most different item at the capitol was the door hinges. They were about 8 X 4 and had the words Texas Capitol.

The use of marble, rich woods, pecan, oak and walnut plus others refinished Senate tables and chairs, nice to see the keep the old philosophy. The couple next to us asked where we were from, I said Mankato, and she said I go to school at the College, small world. Bob our guide has been doing it for 6 months; another guy was following us with a pad and pencil. Ask if he was auditioning for the job, he said yes, he liked to volunteer. They talked about the six flags that flew over Texas and the battle of San Jacinto with Sam Houston. Shirleen reminded me that we had had a luncheon with Ann Richards who was governor of the State at that time, of course there were hundreds of others.

A lot of history I never learned and now too much at one time. As we were sitting in the senate chambers, I noticed a neat tattoo on the arm of the guy sitting down next to us. I gently got up and took the pix, everyone that sports a tattoo should have their state outline on them somewhere, preferably on there exposed arm like him.

Well we had time to try and squeeze in another activity, Lady Bird Johnsons Wildflower Center. She, as we remember was famous for her push in Beautifying America. This was a nicely put together stone structures and pea gravel paths. I noticed a couple plant beds that had pea size glass bottle fragments. This reminded me of the time I was at Texas A & M in 1974, they had just made a tar road with a glass similar to this size in it. John K. and I went to look for the road as it had just been mentioned on TV before we left Mankato. There were a number of wildflowers blooming, the state flower Bluebonnet, a ground cover. And one tree which we found out was a mountain laurel tree, purple flowers on the picture.

Then the Texas Land and Cattle restaurant again, Shirleen the Cowgirl rib eye, I a half order of Ribs. Decent meal but enough I enough. I had wanted to find Austin Land and Cattle Co. missed it this trip, sometime later. Jerr

Anouncement

2008-03-13T20:07:00.005-05:00

I have saved this spot for the following announcement of my loving sister Mary's grandson.

Henry William was born at 10:45 a.m. this morning! He weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz and was 20 3/4".

We welcome him to the great human race and our family. As I don't use last names, I must admit, he is also from one side my great great nephew and from the other my great nephew, I think. Anyhow as you see there is a connection between the two families besides Mary's marriage to Dan.

Our Love to Him, Emily and Luke,

Jerr and Shirleen

March 12, Dallas to College Station and Manor (Austin) TX, Day 12, Wednesday

2008-03-12T21:41:00.010-05:00

We had heard about a suspension bridge in the heart of Waco. It was well kept and had lights strung over the cables. The company that made the cables for the Brooklyn Bay bridge made these. In the beginning, mid 1870’s it was a toll bridge for people, wagons and herds of cattle for about 40 years. Later it was opened and another bridge built alongside this one without fees. We walked across the wood planks of the bridge in the sunlight and new warmth of the day. A couple other families were there also. Two other memorials were there also, one to police officers who had lost there life protecting the populace. The other one for the Vietnam Vets who had given there lives for us.

What a nice surprise to find Dr Pepper soda’s home place at Waco also. There is no period after Dr because when they went to the present script it looked like a semi-colon behind Dr. The external of the building is just antique looking. There was many pieces of memorabilia shown, old bottles, a capping machine made in Milwaukee WI. The night before we went to see it, I noticed that Cadbury Schweppes was going to form two companies and all beverages were going into the Schweppes Company. Guess chocolates and beverages didn’t go together well. Actually they were worried about the banks who were putting together another company with them; there must be a better explanation on the web. It is fun to see the old stuff.

We ate at IHOP, Shirleen egg’s and sausage with hash browns, I a migas, a scrambled egg with jalapeños, green bell peppers, onions and fried corn tortilla. Must have been Mexican, but hot and spicy and good for a Northerner.

Across the street was a cemetery, so why not stop in for a look around, yes it was old, back into the late 1700’s for birthdates. A couple of markers where the tree stump design, some mid-1800’s where old brick built up to a height that looked like the body was on the ground. We saw a long double row of markers that had CSA on the bottom of the marker. The next day we found the true inscription meaning Confederate States of America, found this at the Capitol in Austin. The cemetery was called “The First Street Cemetery” first cemetery in Waco.

So where now, change of plan, to College Station to go through the President George Bush Sr. Museum. We pulled in mid afternoon and as we entered we had to go through a shakedown, but not at Truman and Eisenhower’s museums? More history through the eye’s of the followers, nicely laid out, but they tried to shake us down for a picture of us in the oval office’s Presidents chair. It is a nice museum, housed on Texas A & M University (A&M, Agriculture and Military) I had been to the campus in 1974 and don’t remember where we even stayed but yes we stayed on campus. The gifts from other nations is fun to look at. Quilt is "Vase of Flowers"

I have included a pix of elephants for Michelle to see, most with trunks up. We then took a stroll around the pond leading to the grave of Barbara and George’s daughter; it is also the spot where they will be buried. A quiet place a little away from the hustle and bustle of the campus. We saw a family fishing at the pond, first time for them. He was teaching Spanish at A&M. the little girl said that after we walk around we stop back to see them. She sure was sweet, well most are when they are young.

Off to Austin we were guided by OnStar through the countryside, as there is no direct route. Sure was glad of that, as we saw the real people of the land. Besides cattle and oil derricks, we saw cattle right in the front yard of the broken down but lived in house. Many poor people living in the area. Sun setting and that made the colors pop.

Yes, we ate, this time at the Café 290 in Manor. It was a couple blocks down and the gal at check in said she had ate there since knee high and it was good. It was also good by our standards, Shirleen had a BLT, I had the biggest and best country fried steak, thick and crispy with fried okra and a bowl of white gravy. Good Night! jerr

March 11, Dallas TX, Day 11, Tuesday, Comfort Inn and Suites, Waco TX

2008-03-11T20:28:00.026-05:00

Updated pictures with full size. Having trouble getting them in order trying another way.

We started the day in the fog, really, outside and the clocks were set for last weeks time so an hour late. We headed to the Dallas Art Museum and found a parking space close by it is right downtown by historic square. We enjoy the 17 to 20th century art both European and American and headed right to it. Today there must have been ten buses with school age kids from kindergarten to high school.

Monet - - Chihuly

Quilt Flowers Pouring from Vase

We decided to eat there among the 5 restaurants. We chose the Seventeen Seventeen Restaurant on the second floor. We were close to underdressed for the seating. Shirleen’s salad was a Port Poached Granny Smith Apple Beignet with Maytag Blue Cheese, Smoked Bacon and Arugala; I the Bourbon Glazed Berkshire Pork Loin (5 oz) and Savory Bread Pudding (with walnut pieces) with Pear Slaw (Julienne sliced pears, red and orange bell peppers with chives) and Maple Demi. Both were top shelf presentations and taste. Salads from $6 to 13 and Entrees 16 to 25, for a noon lunch. But worth every dollar of the kids inheritance.

Across the street was the Nasher Sculpture Center. They had Gauguin wooden sculptures and Matisse metal ones also. There was an outside water garden with big pieces, thought I saw the Mankato Piece there. A peaceful afternoon look at art that was not at all times understood.

Down the block we went to view The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza, the sight of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. This brought back the memories of November 22, 1963, Shirleen working as a bank teller in Minneapolis, I at the Idaho Falls Nuclear Reactor Test site walking between two buildings and the loud speaker came on informing us of the death of the President.

We headed out of town during late afternoon rush hour, a lot easier than coming out of Minneapolis. We arrived in Waco for the evening and noticed back 5 miles was a home style steak restaurant, Heitmiller Steakhouse. They used a different style of ordering, you were each given a long one page menu that you would circle the item, Shirleen a beef tenderloin circle 6 oz and circle medium rare, circle baked potato and potato soup. I circled a schooner of Bud, 16 oz rib eye, medium rare, with baked potato and fried okra. Yes each item circled with how to prepare it. Shirleen had to circle water for 0 cents. Food was prepared quickly and to desired doneness and flavorful. With the meal comes the original circled ticket to take to the counter and pay from it. Nite - jerr

March 10, Mesquite TX, day 10 Monday, Shirleen can again send e-mail, she can always receive it.

2008-03-10T19:22:00.006-05:00

We had a abundant rain and thunderstorm last night. Looks overcast today but we are headed for the Dallas Botanical Garden. Having the Minnesota Arboretum pass we again enter cost free. What color was had at this exhibit. The entire scope of the garden is land from two wealthy people. 44 acres from one and 22 from another. This makes them the smallest Botanical Gardens in the US. That is the reason it looks so nice, they don't have to cover a large area and have this special exhibit for March. http://www.dallasarboretum.org/

We took the trolley around the grounds, ferried by a retired volunteer. He said he had a garden himself in Desoto where he lives. We then walked the grounds and headed for the DeGolyer estate, they had food. Large live oaks line the walk ways, dark green boarder plants, like heavy grass lined the paths. Sculptures were abundant, people, animals, and fountains and reflecting pools. A real place to see.

We ate in the DeGolyer home. They had a cozy room with close table settings. The coffee was delicious and strong. Shirleen had a Quiche with mushrooms and with a spinach salad, I a King's Ranch casserole - chicken, carrots, celery and onions with a smooth white tangy sauce. They had given us corn bread, soft rolls and Mary Ann (Steve) a banana bread sandwich with cream cheese. This cafe is also a place often used as a tea room, when we were there a group forgot to come.

We wondered if these were sculpted after the grand-daughters?

We then headed to Dallas looking for a place to stay. We were so intent on finding a place to stay that we drove past Dallas, you wonder don't you. We turned around and found a Comfort Suites in Mesquite TX a southern suburb. We ate at Spaghetti Warehouse, sauce was mild, good tasting noodles Shirleen had meatballs, manager said a mix of hamburger and pork my chicken parmigiana. Tomorrow - jerr

March 9, Ft. Worth/Arlington TX, Day 9, Sunday

2008-03-10T09:48:00.004-05:00

No high pressure sales at Robson Ranch, nice touch. After saying good-bye we headed to Ft. Worth.

As we were trying to find the water park we saw th old Santa Fe railroad station, what design in the brick work.

It is mid morning and we found a water garden in downtown. This is really a nice garden, many flowers, remember them? With three different gardens. One with 40 spray nozzles making a fine mist with a couple of rainbows. The other a 40 foot high slowly dropping water over the walls 250 gallons per minute. The last was a large, ¾ block long and half wide water cascading down all side.

In 2004 there were 3 deaths in the bottom of this pool, just recently opened. There was a walk down stepping landing to the bottom a young man walked down. This person was accompanied by his mother on spring break. She gave us a couple ideas to do while here, they were from St. Louis.

Ate a breakfast lunch at Gloria’s by the art museum area. Mexican and further south items. I had a pupuas tamale, instead of rolled and steamed it was flattened with cheese and chicken in side and fried. The chips and great salsa with bean dip accompanied. The meals were Shirleen’s had Huevos papas fried potatoes in scrambled eggs, along side was black beans and lettuce salad. I had Huevos Argentinian, litely fried Argentinian sausage and scrambled eggs with same sides.

The Café coffee was delicious look at saucer - neat. Carlos our waiter was a joy to talk with, lived the last 20 yeas in the same house. The restaurant was neat, it was an old warehouse split in half with a small street and the parking slant wise but a shallow slant, looked like you parked on sidewalk.

The support columns and internal walls were limestone with seashells pressed into the rock. We left for the Amon Carter Art Museum, contains old 1850 European and western paintings, along with sculptures by Remington and Frederick along with paintings by them. Nice to see and would recommend it. Georgia O'Keffe pictures also.

Then the Ft. Worth Botanical Garden. Oh what a splash of color and late spring. We walked the entire area, taking in the Texan trail, rose garden and Japanese Garden. What a pleasant walk through a garden watch young kids and adults taking in the free environment. There was a butterfly exhibit this month, about 400 flying around at any time and 12,000 ordered for the event. Saw the largest moth, the female was laying eggs. After laying eggs the moth dies and the baby lives on. Humid and lots of people taking pictures they will never print. I’ll post some later.

We had an hour left so we took in the Cowgirls Museum and Hall of Fame. This showed the gals in the many activities, cow roping, horse riding – wild and tame. Dale Evans and Annie Oakley were well shown. Shirleen had a cousin in LA who used to clean Dale and Roy’s house, neat connection for her.

Down the road toward Arlington/Dallas with dark clouds following. We jumped off at Six Flags a mile from Texas Ranger’s baseball stadium which is being built. Sleep Inn was right by Six Flags but low cost, nice room. Ate down the line at the Texas Land and Cattle restaurant, kind of like Grizzlies in Mankato. We split a 1883, 20 oz bone-in rib eye, this is a special cut from old time cattle lines, utterly delicious even though they had to re-grill. Shirleen had the Trenchero cabernet and I the Red Diamond merlot, had this before a good stand-by.

Off for a good night sleep, but whew filled up with gas. It is running from 3.03 to 3.19 per gallon. Ours was Shell (5% discount for our card) at 3.09. Sure it will go up because we have no input, just pay. And why would you build more refineries? They are making a bundle this way by George. jerr

March 8, Robson Ranch Denton TX, Day 8, Saturday

2008-03-09T08:31:00.001-05:00

Today was Ranch exploration day. We toured the model homes. Always nice to do, it has many nice homes. A special lot has an up price of a quarter million, we are think of it but can’t decide on what house to put on it. I was surprised to find that they build to your spec and that 15 to 20 % add-ons is normal. It takes 7 to 9 months to build and you select lot exposure. Patty drove us around the expanse, saw a nice yellow C-5 convert black top, she said this guy was getting a new one and that there is a club on site.

We picked up lunch at the Grill, Shirleen’s sliced beef sandwich looked great and so did my catfish poor bo. Accompanied by onion rings and beer batter – light – French fries. We went back to home and washed our week’s clothes, nice thing to do without plugging quarters.

Off we went to Southlake mall for dinner. We went overland and saw many really large trophy houses and expansive overlooks and acreage. We got turned around and what should appear behind me is a cop. So I hit the flashers and got out to find out if we had to turn back, which we did. Glad we did this as when I climbed back in the car a Masserati buzzed by, a nice four door with a distinctive roar of an engine.

We found the Steakhouse but 930 was earliest reservation. Went to Brio’s Tuscan, Restaurant the Italian one our guide tolds us about. We had an hour and a half wait but took seating in a non-smoking bar. Great food I would recommend. Shirleen had medallions of pork tenderloin with a reduced demi glaze with mushrooms and stuff. I had lobster risotto, just fine. Would recommend this place. It reminded us of a open street mall we went with Michelle and Mark around Milwaukee.

Probably going to Fort Worth today. Jerr

March 7, Robson Ranch Denton TX, Day 7, Friday

2008-03-08T07:49:00.002-06:00

Today we started late. We took off for the restaurant at the Ranch, yes it was closed because of the weather?? We stood there and a couple of women also had wanted to eat there. They said we eat at Mom’s Café in Justin, a little south of here do you want to go with us? We wanted to look at the area and said we would follow them. What a nice local place to eat, Lou and Adrian, first from Texas and the other from Long Island New York. The food was fabulous; Shirleen had a grilled cheese sandwich with tater tots and I a fresh chicken fried steak with fried okra, coleslaw and pea salad. The two gals ate a special fresh catfish fried in corn meal thin batter, wish I had ordered that, mine was delicious but there’s looked really good. We talked about why they liked Robson’s, it was the people and activities. Bridge, duplicate bridge and dog group. It was fun to talk with them, the first had a husband who worked for a company in Joliet IL and the other from New York and a teacher of high school adults. Had a great meal and conversation. The town can’t be more than 2,000 people and is the home of Justin cowboy boots.

We went back to the home, really nice pictures to follow. We drove around the complex and looked at different homes. We then went back to the home and went out walking. We walked for an hour or so and in that time the sunshine went to cloudy and cool; again the clothing I forgot was needed. The housing was nice to look at; the plantings were what made the house. We picked up many brochures for sale homes. They were more costly than the new ones bit they had plantings and some furnished.

After relaxing we got ready for the evening outing. We were to meet with a group of people who lived at the Ranch for awhile. We meet the hosts Darla and Fran who were really fun and had a lot of what we were. The host couple was from Montana and she from

She was employed as a high school counselor and he a math and IBM background. The other two were from Omaha; a couple Janel and Tom R. It was a fun evening talking about our lives, pretty open, daughters sons grandkids and life in general. The meals were a special menu; Shirleen and the ret had the Citrus Glazed Atlantic Salmon with Pomegranate Chutney, I the Surf (two grilled shrimp) and Turf (two beef medallions) with a Port Wine (Demi glace) over done or their medium. Food was well served and the accompanied cabernets were fine. The fun of the activity was to find out what people wanted for life’s end and how we wanted to accomplish by our retirements.

Before the host couple we met a couple from Kenosha, the lady had relatives from St. Peter small world. We also ran into a couple who came from Rochester and Albert Lea and for their 60th wedding anniversary they were headed for Hawaii Tuesday. They again seemed to be a great couple at 80.

Tomorrow we spend time with saleslady Pattie T.. Jerr

March 8th

2008-03-07T21:33:00.004-06:00

Happy XX Birthday Mary!!

Of all the moments I remember in life, I remember exactly were I was when I heard you were born!!
Love Big Bro, Jerr

2008-03-07T08:28:00.006-06:00

Happy 12th Birthday A b b y !

You are as colorful as these vases. Love Grandma and Grandpa

Shirleen's e-mail does not work from here. Jerr

March 6, Robson Ranch Denton TX, Day 6, Thursday

2008-03-06T19:14:00.004-06:00

Up and at it, off to Gene Autry OK. This meant we went north for ten miles then east for eight miles, past a massive Dollar Store distribution center. We then followed a well marked trail, we soon found out why. There are some rundown homes and you think you are off course. We climbed a hill and there it was. An old school converted in 1978 to a Post Office and free museum. The place was an accumulation of old cowboy posters and memorabilia. Nothing really new, some of the enclosed materials, like a couple books laying flat had refuse from the shelf above layered on it. Looked outside and you guessed it it was snowing. As we pulled out of the parking lot I noticed that the other couple going through the museum was from Iowa. Sucked us northerners in. Unless you want to look at an area which needs help, pass this by.

Heading south, now we run into a strong snow squalls. Some of the largest flakes I have ever seen. Slow moving traffic except in my outer lane with the accumulating slop. The Ranch was out of town to the west, looked all white, hard to say how it normally looks. We found the check-in center and met Patti. We exchanged some small talk and she filled us in on the happenings. Now that we have 3 to 5 inches of heavy snow on the ground and the restaurant shutdown because of it we were escorted to our home for the three days. Turns out they don’t even have a snow shovel or snow scraper for the windows. We have been here for two hours and it is still snowing. Watching the travel channel and we have more snow in Texas than the Musk Ox’s have in the Artic circle, that we are watching.

Because of the snow the restaurant in the complex was closed. We went downtown and picked up gas, still 3.09 per gallon. As I was filling I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me turned out to be, Kellen Winslow Jr number 81 of the Cleveland Browns play ball he said he played ball with Adrian Jackson of the Vikes. Onward for food.

We went to Burgundy Steakhouse, close because of weather, went to Gillespie Italian again closed for weather. Well Hooligans downtown was open had a couple glasses of wine, onion rings, Shirleen’s deep fried cod and my two beef taco’s. Picked up a bottle of wine for later, in case we get snowed in for the weekend. Tomorrow here to look around and rest. Jerr

Happy Birthday Dan!! Click on pictures for bigger displays.

2008-03-05T20:21:00.001-06:00

March 5, Ardmore OK, Comfort Inn Day 5, Wednesday

2008-03-05T19:41:00.007-06:00

Off this morning from the Sleep Inn, one of the best we have slept in and throw in some of the big chains, few surpassed this one. We headed to Oklahoma City with the help of OnStar, got right downtown to the OKC Art Museum for the Dale Chihuly exhibit, over 1,500 glass pieces and other art work. http://www.okcmoa.com/exhibitions/dalechihuly-theexhibition and we sat for an hour watching a movie of him and his work. This is one of the biggest exhibits due to the fact that his wife came from a small town up the line on I35. The administrator of the museum has known Dale for 20 years, this explains why so much. We ate at the museum – Museum Cafe, it sits right in the center of town and has many city and Federal buildings in the area. We had a good glass of cabernet, hamburgers with caramelized onions and mine with swiss cheese and mushrooms. The fries were presented neatly, in a cloth funnel in a metal frame, neat. I would recommend this place anytime.

We hoofed it over to the Myriad Botanical Gardens. It had a different layout, leading you around the exhibit with its many orchids and greenery. Don’t go out of the way for this one. We then hopped on a Trolley and took a 20 minute drive around downtown, not much to see.

We then went back to the car and drove to the Murrah Federal Building that had been destroyed in 1995. http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/ These are always depressing exibits for me, we walked the reflecting pools and looked at the empty seat markers. There were a goodly group of people attending. Some looked like high school seniors on a field trip, they acted pretty decent.

Off and out of town, down I35. we saw a sign for a falls ahead. We went off to investigate it. It is handled by the city? Not sure where the town was but it was Turner Falls, a small falls with a meandering creek that flows over the bridges you cross to get to the falls. I then did not listen to either Shirleen or OnStar and turned back toward the highway and when I got there it did not have a south ramp, turn around and listen to both my advisors. Yesterday it gave us a new message, “a complicated intersection ahead”.

We saw a sign that mentioned Gene Autry and will go back in the morning. So we stopped at the next town for the evening, two doors down was dinner, at The Two Frogs, a rib place with a big menu. Shirleen saw her shrimp scampi with green beans and a baked potato. I grabbed a glass of Bud, Small order of catfish with red beans and fresh cut fried potatoes. Good all the way around. Off for Denton, tomorrow. We are staying until Sunday morning at Robsons Ranch, a place to look at houses to retire to and the three nights $93 for all three nights not each. Actually not looking either, we know a lot of people who have stopped there. Not sure if they have web connect? jerr

March 4, Guthrie OK, Day 4, Tuesday

2008-03-04T20:41:00.003-06:00

As we had decided yesterday, we stopped in Abilene KS to go to President Dwight David Eisenhower’s Home, Meditation Hall with tomb for Ike, Mamie, and young son Dodd, Library, Museum and visitor center. We rolled in about 10:00 am. I had remembered that an old friend of mine ran a feed plant there. I called Keith B. and he was able to meet with us after his dentist appointment.

We then watched a 24 minute movie on Ike’s accomplishments. He was quite the soldier, statesman and president. His Museum was based towards his military accomplishments, other Presidents, many of those whom would never have one themselves. I really appreciated that recognition. There where many items, statues from many countries, plate settings for guests, Presidential gifts to many to number. I did take a pix of the menu for PM Charles De Gaulle. Wish I could get it off the stick with the new camera but that’s in the trunk right now. Mamie had a good display of jewelry, hats – over 105 of them and a note from Elizabeth Arden that was accompanied by 6 or 7 drawings of how she should style her hair for ease of day to day styling. If you can picture her that is the style she wore. There was also two shoulder capes that she wore as she had breakfast and wrote correspondences in bed in the morning. It said she then dressed for her afternoon guests and activities. The military displays were pointed, this was a war we did not start but one that we finished. Doesn’t sound familiar today by George.

We then went through their little two story house that accompanied 6 young boys of which Dwight was one. It was a modest house set right where it was built in the middle of 22 acres dedicated to him. The library had some busts and an exhibit of schools for many of the recent presidents.

We then met Keith, it had been many years but the same old good boy Keith. We went to M & R Restaurant and had a burger and BBQ for Shirleen. Keith and Jane have 3 boys, all quite scholarly. He asked how Roy S. and Cathy R. were doing. Saddened to hear Joe M. had passed on but happy Nancy M. was doing well. He works with old Doug at ADM buying midds and says he the same guy he was at Hubbard purchasing. Sure glad we stopped to see Keith and catch-up. After a couple hours we left for Oklahoma City and made it to Guthrie, OK 22 miles from downtown Oklahoma City tomorrow to view Chihuly glass at the Art Museum. Heading toward Denton TX at Robson resort. Jerr woops we ate at Pizza Hut – Italian Bistro, neat menu items but we split a medium thin crust half pepperoni and sausage. Jerr

March 3, Junction City KS, Day 3 Monday

2008-03-04T07:58:00.005-06:00

Today we drove back through KC and went along Ward Parkway to see some of the old mansions. An old friend from Mankato has a daughter living in that area. They are both physicians and are redoing an old mansion. Not sure if we saw it but we did see the Dobb’s, lawyers, $20 mil house. Theirs was right by that one and they were all bigggg.

As we drove towards Topeka we gave Mike and Connie B. a call. Spent many campouts with him while I was working in scouts. He was home and available that eve. When we arrived we headed straight to the state capitol dome. What an enjoyable tour by Larry Wills the singing tour guide. Along the way he sang ditties he had researched of the times in Kansas. We ended up singing Home, Home On The Range, the state song. We did this as a threesome in one of the corridors. The capitol is undergoing renovations since 2000 and will be done 2012. Sounds like government work to me. The murals were plentiful and showed the state highlights. Along with there part in the civil war, which was new to us. The granite, marble, and gold leaf. Being downtown we drove around and found no place to eat but fast food and stopped for the last time at McDonalds. The rest of the afternoon was spent visiting the Brown V Board of Education, Monroe elementary black school. This was interesting as we found that the suit was picked for here because the state was sympathetic toward the blacks. It is a National Park site, well done. It like President Harry Truman’s legacy said, he integrated the blacks into the service and that is when it all began, 80 years after the civil war. With Presidents JFK and Johnson carried on the law.

Now to dinner with Mike and Connie. We OnStarred their house or close. As we got close we could meander by GPS screen to where they lived. We heard about the Topeka Steakhouse and off we head. Gave the address to OnStar and they had trouble finding it and so did we. We laughed as it told us to do things we didn’t do and gave use ‘make a legal U-turn. We finally stopped for directions and seeing it was a tough area, one Mike had worked around when in the Salvation Army in Topeka. Well it was with two blocks from where we turned around and came back to the gas station. It was in Tecumseh, name of the submarine I was on. We had ribeye’s and KC Cuts, baked potatoes came with ¾ stick butter sticking out of them, the hash browns crispy with fried onions. Great time was spent together. We dropped them at home and off we are headed west on 70 to Eisenhower’s Presidential library in Abilene. We went another 70 miles out and stayed at the Comfort Inn, poor internet, hope I can post tomorrow.

You know where we are headed today but not sure tonight. jerr

March 2, Sunday, Independence Missouri Day 2

2008-03-02T20:15:00.006-06:00

Friday

We had Danielle stay overnight after eating with her mom and dad, her sister was at another overnight. When we got home, no TV, we put the account on inactive supposedly Monday. Another Hickory Tech thing. The DSL was still active, good for us. I asked her if she wanted me to call and see if I could have them put it on for the eve, she said no and grabbed some books and started reading. After an hour of that she played the webkidz thing with Grandma. By 9 we were all tired and off to sleepy land we went.

The next morn Saturday we got a call that Abbigale was throwing-up all night and to sneak Danielle into the house as we left. So at 8:30 we were off on our spring adventure.

By the time we got to Ankeny it was time to eat at Chip’s restaurant off exit 90. This is one of our favorites, fresh potato chips as a beginning course. Shirleen had a quarter dark meat roasted chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes and gravy, and I a bowl of white chili. They also give us a nice basket of fresh French bread. Wonder how long they’ll do that with $20 bushel wheat. Back in the 70’s Hubbard paid a buck a bushel and were given 75 cents by the government, what a change.

Well it was getting close to a tank fill and we are 10 miles from Missouri boarder with Iowa, which has the higher gas price?? Well we stopped in Iowa for 2.99, the first exit in Missouri, you didn’t guess it it was the same and got higher as we approached KC. We checked into The Savoy hotel, the oldest one in Kansas City. We went to the room ditched our bag and went to the Country Club Plaza on 47th street. We found a parking spot on the street and people all over. Grabbed a couple glasses of wine while sitting in the sun, why not, it is 71 degrees. I still was not feeling good so we decided to eat at Buca’s, we split a lasagna, really tasty. We stopped in a ladies shop and they asked where we were staying, I was reluctant to tell them because we were embarrassed to tell them after checking in and seeing the hovel. But I did, I said I am sure that through the eye of the owner it looks nice and that the description is fine. They were just talking about the good food at the restaurant and were surprised about the accommodations. I said all we could get were a base room, didn’t want one for another $50. The gals said you ought to just tell them and cancel or ask for an upgrade. As we drove back I said that I would try that, Shirleen agreed with the idea. So the guy that checked us in checked us out when I told him I was disappointed. So as we pull out of the parking lot we find we have no token and need a $5 bill to get out. I noticed when I walked back to the car that the gate was weak plastic. So I asked Shirleen to see if she could pull the gate up and to the side, magically out we went, as did the guy next to us. Now we don’t have a place to stay at 7:30. So we had intended to visit Truman’s house and library the next day we headed in that direction. Not knowing where we were headed but going. We got out to Independence MO and noticed a bunch of hotels on the GPS. Well the overpass of Hiway 70 was torn up and we had to go around through the neighborhoods to find them. The GPS got us to that side and we ended up at a Red Roof Inn, don’t stay there unless like us we had to. Bed was nice need a lot of upkeep.

Ate at a Denny’s, and believe it or not that was the only restaurant we found. Went to President Truman’s house, small modest, old fixtures and furnishings. It was hard to believe that a person of his stature would end up living here in Independence in this modest house. We visited the library the rest of the afternoon and had a delightful time. Where Oh Where did the good men go.

We are at a Comfort Suites in Independence, out the back window looking up the hill are 8 deer grazing. We then decided to eat at The Herford House Steakhouse. A spin off of the one in Kansas City that we had eaten at many years ago. A great filet Mignon which we split, accompanied with a fresh spring salad, a hearty beef soup with enough meat to fill me up. The fries and baked beans filled us up. Shirleen had the Steak house red wine and I had to have another glass of one I had on our Med cruise, St. Francis from Sonoma.
Starting to feel better, hope tomorrow is normal. jerr

A Day Late in Starting

2008-02-29T20:47:00.003-06:00

More to come tonight Sunday Mar2 ---- Because of a lingering cold we will be leaving tomorrow Saturday morning about 8 am. We plan on staying at The Savoy hotel downtown Kansas City for at least that evening: http://www.savoyhotel.net/home.html

We had been told about the restaurant by Andy Williams when we were in Branson. We will have to decide if we eat there or Lydias??

Jerry

Feb 2 2008 Weekend Sussex WI

2008-02-11T20:46:00.000-06:00

Well we had a good time at Michelle’s as expected. We arrived early as Shirleen drove from Rochester to Sussex. We ate at a restaurant close by her house. It was a Friday-night-fish fry. The cod was nice and thick, owning to its good taste, Michelle had a steak sandwich, she doesn’t like that smelly fish. The accompanying potato pancakes were great along with the French fry’s.

The next morning we ate an early lunch at the Delafield Brew Pub. The Ruben sandwiches with the thick pastrami were delicious, Shirleen with a BBQ pulled pork and Michelle with a mushroom Swiss burger, I’d get that anytime. We the went to Gagliano’s grocery and picked up some vittles for tomorrow, fine Swiss cheese, Badger ham and the finest bread crumbs (talking about grind), we bought Panko bread crumbs and Italian cipollini onions that we had in Vegas. I spotted a neat looking home furnishing’s place close-by and we went in. Well, it was a design to install place. Nice stuff and you could partially order things. Michelle found a nice granite dinner table, 4,000$ or so, I think she is looking for it, as she mentioned it the next day.

For the evening adventure, we ate again at Jacks Steakhouse. As we were seated I said something about the seating in the bar area and that may reflect if we eat here again, (as we didn’t wear furs). When we sat down, an order of onion rings appeared, after the meal we were offered a complementary dessert and given a take home cheese spread. The steaks were just great, the creamed spinach yummy. When we left I stopped by and thank her for the extras and apologized for my comments. She said she had not heard them, Nice touch.

The next morning we watched a couple hundred pictures of our Christmas trip. Then we ate a late breakfast at Maxwell’s restaurant in a Best (worst) Western hotel in Brookfield. We had eaten their once before and it was good as it was this time. The Made-to-order omelets and pasta dishes were yummy. Again the potato pancakes were best under the eggs Benedicts without the English muffin using the pancake as a base, Jerry’s Egg Benedict. The peel your own shrimp reminded me of Aunt Vi’s in Key West. The buffet was decently priced compared to many others. Oh yes, did I mention the nice champagne, my glasses were just fine.

Yes, again to the Fresh Market grocery store, can’t remember the name. Mark picked up the chicken breasts and hash browns for the evening meal. We returned home for the big day. We gave up on the pictures as we discovered we had looked at the run to Florida and Nova Scotia before. We then went to the pre-game and Mark to his cooking. He made a delicious Chicken Cordon Bleu, sinful potatoes, and fresh Brussel sprouts Yummy. First time for the Brussel sprouts that way. Then came the wine opening, or should I say a try. As Mark tried to pull the cork from the bottle, the opener broke. We tried to open it by pulling the opener from the bottle, twist the cork from the bottle, and pull the cork by bending the piece of the opener, to no avail. We did take the bottle home with us. With my second not third opener I was able to pull the cork. The moral of the story, you need more than one type opener. We then watched a movie with Mark, Not Bruce Almighty, but something similar with a congressman building and Ark for a flood in the DC area.

The next morning we took off. Found a new neat deal for the car. When in sequential mode for the wipers, when more moisture was on the windshield the wipers went faster. Neat feature, may be one of the best. One other thing on the car, when we called OnStar with the Wisconsin address they commented about the N70 W23238 Homestead address. They did find out they when they put it in it worked on their system even thou they had never seen anything like it.

It was an uneventful trip for us going west. We took our time and it took 7 hours this time.
Jerr

Maybe Last Update

2008-01-09T22:47:00.000-06:00

December 24, 2007 Monday Las Vegas Nevada Day 6
Our 41st wedding anniversary! We watched the water show at the Bellagio twice, different shows each time. We ate at the MGM Wolfgang Bar & Grill. Shirleen loved her hamburger and fresh French fries. I found a gnocchi made of ricotta cheese and a light Bolognaise sauce, tasty. We walked through every hotel close at hand, looking at their Christmas decorations. I made a note WALK WALK SAT SAT, really fun.

We did go to the M & M Store to look over the four levels of merchandise. We picked up a couple pens for the grand-daughters; they would glow in different shades blinking on and off. I saw a neat 32 Ford hot rod with a blown engine and M & M decorated.

Stopped back at Mandalay Bay to see if the baccarat tourney was still on. Well we arrived and it was just wrapping up. Again many most on the winning table were Orientals, but the winner did not look Oriental, and won 300,000$. The pot was not real money; it was chips to be played. That way a player could lose and report it to the IRS? Fun to watch but wish I understood the game.

Now was time for our Anniversary dinner. At the Luxor Steakhouse which is highly rated. We were treated to a corner spot to be by ourselves. The wait staff was extremely helpful. Brett was the host, he gave a nice show. He told us about himself and that he came from South Carolina and had worked in Vegas for 20 years. Raul, came from Mexico twenty years ago and did the order taking. He gave us the life story as we showed genuine interest. What a large selection of beef, the normal and dry aged. Shirleen’s filet mignon was really tasty and done to her liking; it was garnished by a cooked and caramelized onion accompanied with asparagus. When she ordered it, Raul warned that they make it on the rare side. It was slowly roasted on a fired grill. When I mentioned how good her onion was, Brett went and gave us a plate of three more. We finished the meal with a delicious cheese cake. I did have something different, can’t seem to resist that. I had a buffalo rib eye, one must remember that it is not beef and will not taste like beef, and it didn’t. Nice taste.

Well we watched a story unfold that we wished we knew the ending too. At the next table three couples sat down and quickly we knew it was a wedding party. We overheard that the bride was there but the groom was in the room. One of the guys had come from England but could not determine any other place. Well one man took over the ordering of the drinks and appetizers. There was mention; I wonder when he is coming down. Well after 15 minutes or so, the bride went upstairs. We had already stayed at the table to long and took up residence at the 2 cent slots outside the restaurant. After a couple minutes the bride came bustling back to the restaurant, looked like a mad wet hen. Would like to know what happened. Well the slots treated us well, another 5$ ahead. We saw the night before at the one and two cent machines that when betting all 5 ways you hit more.

December 25, 2007 Tuesday Las Vegas Nevada Day 7
Of course one must eat, as you probably think that’s all we do, well close. We had been told by our wait-staff last night that we should make the Bellagio Buffet. So today is that day. We walked over to the hotel and stood in line for and hour and 15 minutes. We were seated close to the service bar. We opted not to have champagne, good choice, it was a free refill and that would have cut down on the trips to the food. The food was quality type, had lamb and prime rib next to each other, took some of each. The king crab legs were plentiful and in two different stations. The legs were cut in half and made it easy eating. I found a new friend in the crab legs. I tried some quail but tough and not like the pigeon I am used to and thought this would be the taste. A jerk chicken, good flavor will have to try that again. Shirleen hit the desert bar pretty heavily. It was almost mid afternoon by the time we left.

That evening we went to see the play, Mamma Mia at Mandalay Bay. What a great night that was! The music, costumes, color and changing scenery along with the fast moving plot was fun to watch. I would have never figured the play would end as it did, but it was fabulous. It lasted about an hour and a half.

We walked around the gambling spots and watched some strange games, never did figure out what was going on. One was a poker game with two other cards and a bonus dragon. Orientals like this game. We would just look at people losing their monies and once in a while some made some. We also lost the 5$ we won the night before and I seem to remember another 5 from my pocket?

December 26, 2007 Wednesday Las Vegas Nevada Day 8
Off to Circus Circus, it is an old casino but has the circus flavor. It also had a McDonalds in it and off we went for coffee. We had time to get good seats to watch a contortionist do her thing. She could bend her body in places where I didn’t know I had a body part to twist. With the nice seats we had we stayed for the next act – acrobats - we watched the group doing flips, triple flips and backward catches. Fun to watch.

As we were watching the acts we noticed a game being played across the way. It was catapulting monkeys into buckets. You could win by getting one in the bucket or get a neat fish stuffed toy for eight buckets. Fun to watch as people of all ages, except us AARP people stayed away.

From there we then went to the top of the Stratosphere Hotel & Casino for lunch. Shirleen ordered her favorite, filet mignon, I a eggs Benedict with King Crab legs instead of bacon. It was all accompanied by unlimited champagne, or bubbly, as it was not made in France. Here we are 800 feet above the city revolving around the panorama for and hour and ten minutes, we made the whole trip. Don’t miss this, the world’s most insane thrill rides. Or for the faint of heart go up two more flights and ride the three thrill rides. They are all for youngens, all of them belt you into the seats; one goes up 30 feet on a rod and drops you again and again; the next puts you into two seaters and pushes you out over the edge and jerks you back up again; then there is the octopus or close, you strap in and it moves out over the edge of the building. Then you start to go around and around over the edge. 10$ each ride.

From here we again parked the car and walked the town, now I know why I didn’t gain weight. A great sight was the Mirage fish tanks behind the check in. what nice salt water fish. We visited the Tropicana, it is an old casino. We walked in the back doors through the hallways, at this time we noticed the doors were steel as were the frames, the carpeting was not wrung out that day as the oil was still in it. The casino was cool with old glass arched windows over the gambling area.

What we missed was a Cirque du Sole show, of the 6 shows in town; they were only available after January 6, 2008. Next time Michelle and Mark! From the looks of it the next time we will order tickets early! jerr

Missed postings

2008-01-04T09:13:00.000-06:00

I had missed a couple days and may add them later. jerr

January 3, 2008 Thursday travelled 534 miles to home

2008-01-04T08:43:00.000-06:00

It was a bright clear cool morning on our last leg of the journey. We have generally gone through Fremont Nebraska to Sioux Cit and angling (not fishing) on highway (hwy) 60 through Iowa and Minnesota. This time we followed the cars directions. From Salina Kansas straight north on hwy 81 to interstate 80 into and around Omaha on 680, onto I 29, through Sioux City and back on hwy’s 75/60 to home. I have not checked out the miles difference but easy riding.

Lunch was needed as we were headed into Omaha, a Cracker Barrel was chosen. Again, Shirleen had a pulled pork sandwich on rye and I my normal at the Barrel, fried catfish with macaroni cheese. The hwy through town has been drastically changed; we passed along Omaha’s Westroad’s Von Maur store in the mall on this route. For us it was a flash back to when we stayed across the street and shopped at that store. Nice clothing.

Along the way we passed the Fred Thompson campaign bus, it needed a wash job, hope they stopped for one in Sioux City, that’s the direction it was headed. Shirleen saw a field full of pheasants feeding in a field, why didn’t I? I was sleeping at that time, I do that well when she drives.

We slipped into town at 6:11 pm, nice to be home but had a great time looking at Christmas decorations in Vegas and Disneyland/Adventureland; a great time reliving times with Tom T., Kitty and their family. Tom was my baby sitter, yes I was small once. Back when I was in the Navy and stopped by their house I was there when Cheryl took her first steps, this was something I had forgotten but flashed back when mentioned. Then swinging over to Phoenix to visit Pat and Dave for lunch. Also following Mary and John’s blog on their trail to Black Rock in “The Coach”. We figuratively passed each other on hwy 40 within a day. All for now, thanks for watching, stay tuned for our travels to Texas and surrounding - jerr

January 2, 2008 Wednesday travelled 636 miles to Salina Kansas

2008-01-02T21:27:00.000-06:00

Started the day with a cold overcast day. After a wrong turn to the highway, because I had not updated our OnStar destination, we at least hit the right road and direction. Good roads till we hit a bumpy section of I40 and then it was like dodging potholes. We take Jim H. route of NE out of Tucumcari on NM 54. time to eat agin so we stopped in Logan. The town looks like it has a couple thousand inhabitants and four restaurants. We by-passed all the nice looking ones to go to the oldest looking one around. Well that’s where we stopped as there were a number of cars in front; little did we know most were the employees. The light blue painted wallboard, 30 year old chairs and painted table tops set off the décor. There was a Spanish speaking family where we choose to sit, as the waitress was busy on her cell phone. As it was 11 am we had a choice of breakfast or lunch, we split the difference, Shirleen had the cheese omelet with sausage on the side, I had to try the fried ham and cheese instead of the grilled one, choice made because of tater tots. I sure hit good sandwich, it was a fried piece of ham with American cheese on top with lettuce and tomato nestled between two pieces of toasted bread, I made a good choice this time. Struck up a conversation with the family behind us, turned out he was raised there but lived in Tucumcari. I said it was nice to hear little kids voices again as we have not heard that for a while. He said mostly they get stares from 30 eyes, and he said it with a smile. The reason he was in town was to see his family doctor, neat.

Shirleen’s turn to drive while I write this. On this highway we follow the speed limits carefully as t seems we have seen speed traps on the stretch. The road is used by Midwesterners and truckers. Along the side are many trains, passed one with four locomotives and one with one pulling empty hopper cars. The shy has opened up and the sun is shining brightly, patches of green dot the landscape between the browned grasses.

Back to the grind of driving. We drove past many cattle feedlots, one I used to do Vitamin E on the animals meat, dust bowls, oil pumpers and there tanks, some wheat and milo piles, many cattle trucks and many miles of desolation. We pasted through Greenburg KS devastated by a tornado what a sight, most houses gone, a few remained but damaged. Many mobile homes for people and store fronts – wow.

We found a Comfort Inn, turned out nice all the way around. We ate at an American – Mex restaurant, Guterry’s, I finally found my tamale and Shirleen had a Taco Salad that was really tasty.

Bye for now – Home tomorrow - jerr

January 1, 2008 Happy New Year Albuquerque NM travelled 588 miles

2008-01-01T23:15:00.000-06:00

We left Blythe to visit Phoenix and Pat and Dave S. Sure had a good time with them but way too short. One little caution, if Dave offers you a slightly peppered vodka, be prepared, it is stout. We spent lunch with them Dave and I macadamian nut/panko breading fish and chips, fair. The girls had a pulled pork sandwich. Shirleen said that this was the best she has ever had and she eats these quite frequently. Then off to our trip home. Shirleen drove the last 255 miles and this gave me a needed rest. What a dive of a Comfort Inn off exit 167 – stay away. We ate at a Chili’s to finish the night. Off for McPherson KS tomorrow eve. jerr

December 30/31, 2007 Sunday/Monday Long Beach CA

2008-01-01T00:35:00.000-06:00

December 30/31, 2007 Sunday/Monday Long Beach CA
We arrived at cousin Tom and Kitty’s in Long Beach. We found there place with the OnStar system, drove us to their front door. What a welcome we had, they thought to have their kids and spouse to be there to meet us; met at the door by Steve, then Cheryl and Valarie’s with Steven her husband and their twins, Grace and Adam also were there playing and having fun. We then began boring them with tid-bits of past times, well they appreciated our good relationship with mom and dad. Kitty then remembered the picture of Aunt Em and Uncle Sammy, there in the middle of the wedding picture was our mother at the age of nine as the flower girl and Aunt Vi as an attendant with another male. Back in the old days I had stayed at there house when in the Navy and had helped Cheryl take her first steps. And going way back Tom was my babysitter, that was a long way back!!

We carried on the conversations and at noon left for lunch and had been given a couple restaurants to choose from. We decided on the neat old lunch spot of Joe Jost Sandwiches, what a quaint spot. A very limited menu, Polish sandwiches, neat presentation, split down the middle with a slice of pickle and cheese in a caraway rye piece of bread. These are individually wrapped in a cellophane paper and all four were wrapped together, along with a pickled egg heavily peppered and a crusty yellow outside to the egg lay on top of a bed of pretzels. We needed salted peanuts to go with our large schooners of beer. The peanuts are roasted on sight by an old time roaster right in the back with the pool tables. The bar has many stuffed and mounted deer and elk heads, shelves lined with beer bottles and cans. Tom will try to get a Schell’s can or bottle on the shelf. Great old wooden oak booths and what a great time - recommended.

Back to there house for an afternoon of reliving old times and people. Shirleen and Kitty added much to the conversation as Kitty has retained much of the New Ulm culture and Shirleen knew many of the same people. She knew Uncle Sammy, because her dad visited her Uncle John S. whom lived close to Sammy. A couple houses down was my Aunt Margaret and Sketter, who Tom also knew and remembered. He had worked for Margaret’s husband Leo B. delivering barley pop and booze to local bars.

I then brought out the pc and showed him all of the Klink genealogy stuff I had. Stories just poured out of all four of our mouths. At about 5 or so, they asked if we would stay over, as we had missed our 2:30 leaving time. I broke down and said yes, as I could tell they really meant it. I was able to look at the Model A’s in the garage, with the 450 SL Mercedes. They had added onto the house a couple of times, one could hardly see it. All of a sudden it was 6:30 and time for dinner again, we decided on the Fish Company restaurant, on and in Los Alamitos. What food, we walked by the fresh seafood that can be purchased and brought home to prep yourself. Kitty had scallops and shrimp in a butter sauce, this was a most difficult order to convey to the waiter, it ended up that she had to order a Scampi without garlic; Shirleen had Shrimp Scampi and Tom had Calamari steak and I had to try it, it is the body of the squid, about a quarter inch thick, quickly fried in a fine breading accented with a béarnaise sauce. Oh yes, we had free flowing wine by the carafe. We were able to sit outside under some gas heaters to ward off the chill in the air – recommended.

Back to the house to see their hibernating Toni the tortoise, in the garage. Yes it is a 20 inch long tortoise in a box in the corner of the garage. It lies in state from Thanksgiving till Easter or when he starts to move around a bit in a box the size of a beer box. During the summer it is in the back yard, eating Kitty’s flowers, loves grapes and greens. What a neat pet.

More family discussions and I bored them with some of our vacation pictures. About 10:30 we left for a good night of sleep. Up in the morning and over coffee more stories.

Ended up in Blythe, Ca this evening. Now again time to eat, recommended was a Mexican place – Maria’s – and it was a down home restaurant. As we ran the strip and saw a Sizzler restaurant but couldn’t get in the driveway as a cop was standing in the way so we wouldn’t hit the ambulance that was picking up a client. Hope it wasn;t the food or worse. So off to Maria’s. it was a small cozy place eight tables. I figured the food was going to be good as the cook was well rounded, I was sure from good food. Shirleen had her enchilada and I a beef chimichanga with a couple of beers. I used the spicy dip with the fried tortillas, it had a firey edge to it and I caught a piece of a pepper that brought tears to my eyes. I would recommend this place anytime. – jerr

December 29, 2007 Saturday Disneyland Adventure Land

This was a day when we had no idea of what to expect, as we didn’t research the place. We headed left to a couple an area where there were to be a couple shows. The first of interest was Aladdin’s, the set and clothing were brilliantly colored and the play well presented. The genie was a real standout, with his green body and quick wit. The story line was the poor boy ending up with the princess. What a joy to watch. Then off to another presentation, this was an exhibit of how the cartoons are put together. There was a picture of Sleeping Beauty, this was the first movie Mark and Michelle saw. We then went into an area where there was a drawing board and on stage there was an animator who helped us draw Donald Ducks face, the trick was making circles and making small to large C’s to bring the features together. What fun. It now was time to go to a fish character, Crusher, who would interact with the attendees. It was fun to watch the fish ask to talk to certain kids in the audiences and responding by repeating there names and answering their questions. It most likely was someone viewing the audience and making the responses.

Then a 3-D presentation, we wearing our bug eyes. This was neat as the character would jump right in front of you clear and crisp. It once hosed us down and to make the feeling real they squirted us with droplets of water. 3-D has come a long way.

“it’s Tough to be a Bug” this was held under ground, we twisted through the earth as bugs and worms do. We were seated on a flat plastic seat of weird design, I think to look earthy. We were again wearing 3-D glasses. The bug introduced us to other bugs who, backfired – passing stink gas at us to smell. Again we were showered with water to accent being spit on. The most dramatic part was when they gassed the audience as we gas bugs to kill them, the lights went out the clod gas, water vapor surrounded us and it was a real strange feeling. As the event wrapped up the voice said we would exit but before us the cockroaches and worms must leave first. Then screams came up from the people sitting in the audience, in that strange chair you had a feeling as thought bugs were crawling on your behing. What great fun.

Well like everyone else we had to go to the restroom. When I came out I saw a bunch of kids, 4 to 9 year olds, gathered around a square garbage can. The kids were screaming at it and it was moving and talking back to them. What extisty they were in, here is a garbage can talking to them. It would talk to one kid that was wearing a blue coat and ask him questions, they talked to each other. But as you guessed in the background was a young man with a large bag which he operated the movement of the garbage can, it could swing around and move back and forth. We just stood there and laughed at the concept. Turn out this guy does this six times a day, so he has many routines. They played hid and seek, kids pushed the can where it said push and the name of it was, you guessed it – Push. There was a couple there who had twins around 9 and a younger 6 year old boy; these kids ask to see push every time they come to Adventure land and think it is real. What a hoot.

We dined in a sit down Italian restaurant there. A nice plate of rustic lasagna, thin pasta and soft tasting sauce with Italian sausage, of course we had some wine. Then through a tortilla manufacturing spot, where they gave recipes and tasty fresh tortilla’s. Then next door was a sourdough bakery exhibit, with a small crust of tasty sourdough bread. I noticed they used spring wheat for the dough, gives the stringiness and toughness of the crusty bread.

We watched the light show, much like Hazeldazel in the cities, but much more colorful with the large quantity of lights.

As we had no idea of what to expect, and I the doubter, we and I really enjoyed this day. jerr

December 28, 2007 Friday Disneyland

Once arrived we parked, turned out the following day we parked within 10 spots of where we parked today. The train in to the ticket areas was full of people wow. The lines at the ticket booths were even larger but one just rolls with the punch. We got the two day passes, no senior citizens discount but I tried. Into the fray we went. Today the park was loaded and some of the working people said they were understaffed because they were caught off guard by the number of people.

We were headed to “It’s a Small World”. We went there by horse drawn carriage. We got in line and wrapped around and waited about 15 minutes. Later in the day it was over an hours wait. We boarded the boats and sat in the back seat. Why the hurry to get to this kiddy ride??? It turns out 42 years ago or so, we were here on the opening day of this exhibit and were in the first couple of boats to go through it. It was decked out in Christmas splendor. Bright colors, Christmas music, just the reason we were here to view the glitter.

We road the 3 mast Colombia and the Mark Twain paddle boat, fun but cool. We ate once at the New Orleans restaurant, good fried chicken but way too much.

We attended the afternoon parade, we were in a sit down area. So I sat on the cold sidewalk for way to long. We were treated to the USC marching band, always highly spirited and colorful, then the Kamehameha High School band from Honolulu, beautiful Hawaiians, with that certain look of the Island. During the parade we saw the Virginia Tech band, dressed in the early army uniforms of the 1700’s, they sure had a tough year. The parade was really Christmas oriented, with reindeers and Santa showing up. After the parade, now was the time of truth, could I get up? Well thank goodness there was a stationary post to grab hold of, I made it but it weren’t easy and the cold stayed with me all the rest of the day.

Now was the formal lighting of the castle, the lights in all of Disneyland were dimmed and a spectacular lighting was to come. The castle was covered in lights and the towers were lit then the lights that looked like snow on the towers and walk ways came on. Then came the snow effect, the shimmering of the lights on the trees and towers of the castle, hard to describe but beautiful to see. Again the reason we were there was to see the Christmas decorations and this was one of the best.

We walked through other exhibits waiting for the fireworks display put on by Honda. We found a roped off area and stood there for awhile when I asked a cast member where the best viewing of the fireworks was, she said in the center toward the castle, as they go off in front of and behind the castle.

The rockets started the fireworks, streaming up alongside the castle. The many colors of red white and blue. The high fired rockets which burst into gold rays and spiraling gold color. Loud booms, and more colorful rockets and bursting color. There must have been two billion digital camera pictures taken and few developed. But a great display. Jerr what I have forgotten I wil add later, as I have been writing for 2 hours now.

Dec 27, 2007 Anaheim Calif

2007-12-27T23:58:00.000-06:00

Dec 27, 2007: Without a decent costing internet connection until tonight here in Anaheim California I have been unable to post. Will write up the missing days over the next couple days, when we are not in Disneyland.

December 24, 2007 Monday Las Vegas Nevada Day 6
Happy Anniversary Shirleen!!

December 23, 2007 Sunday Las Vegas Nevada Day 5
Started out looking for food, seeing it was around 10:30 am and n coffee as of yet, we went to The Banquet Restaurant right in the Wynn. It is supposed to be the best in town according to Shirleen’s reading. The hanging chandlers were loaded with fruits and vegetables. The foods were more than plentiful beef, seafood, Italian, Spanish. The one most remembered by me was the horseradish that went with the prime beef. It brought tears to my eyes, and I have tasted strong horseradish before, at St. Elmo’s in Indianapolis. Wow.

Shirleen went to find her free 25$ from the Wynn. We finally figured out how to operate the red card given to us. She hit a 50$ 7’s. Walked out with 65.75$.

We visited all the adjoining hotels to look at decorations, most minimal. We had a nice time in The Venetian, brought back memories of Venice. We strolled through a number of stores that had Murano glass and Venetian pictures. So we moved hotels. The Luxor was south of us and the traffic heavy to get there. The pyramid was neat looking and immense internally. The check-in fellow directed me to Starbuck’s for free internet.

Went through the gambling portion in the Luxor and saw a 500,000$ Baccarat invitational tournament. It was towards the end of the games and high stakes were evident. The highest was 76,000$ final bet, won by him and he moves to tomorrows quarter final. Off we went on to see different registration areas. Walking was the way to go. We ended up eating a pizza in the New York - New York hotel. The wine and pizza was great, wish I was hungry enough to eat the main meals. The Il Fornaio a highly rated Italian restaurant. Back to the hotel for the next day, 41st Anniversary Day. - jerr

December 22, 2007 Saturday Las Vegas Nevada Day 4
Reason for not posting, the hotel wants to charge me 12.95$ for 24 hours.
Off this morning at 9 degs, looks like we didn’t leave the cold and snowy weather behind. As we had small drifting along the high lands of Utah, crossing from I-70 to I-15 south. It was a straight 77 mph all the way. We arrived noon and the navigation system took me to the driveway of the Wynn. We were off to a quick noon lunch, but where? End up at the hotels Sugar & Ice restaurant. A nice view of a waterfall. The hamburgers and French fries and potato chips were really good.

Time to check-in but where is the front of this place? We found the slots and figured we were getting closer. Here we found a nice Christmas exhibit of highly white light decorated trees and multiple arches. And here is registration, we were gently ushered to an open smiley clerk. A quick check of Shirleen’s drivers license, she made the reservations, think I found a clue here. He said there were about 9,500 people who worked at the Wynn and more to come as they were expanding on the north of the building. We asked and received a Vegas strip view of the downtown. The highlight of this hotel is the Ferrari and Maserati dealership is housed in the Wynn, they sell at least one Ferrari a day, it is also a garage to do work on those cars for people who drove here. To the room shed our bags, I put my Vegas clothes in the Disneyland suitcase.

We are going to meander down the strip to look at the sights Michelle and Mark told us to see. Well they have done 9 trips, we are trying to do it in one trip and four days. First the Bellagio to check for tickets for O, Circus du Soule. All sold out till Jan 6th. But we were there and found a spectacular Christmas display. Will post the welcome Christmas sign later. It just glistened with highly decorated trees, immense ornaments, deer which were covered with whole walnuts for the brown skin texture. Around the back of the display area was a Chihuly shop, one of a few. We moseyed around the small shop and struck up a conversation with the sales lady, who drew our attention to a special item for the Bellagio store. It was what I was looking for in the glass blowing Island of Murano, Venice Italy. This was a piece made by Chihuly and the master glass blower from there, saw a program about this a number of years ago and that’s where I saw my first Putti, this one in a dish both infused with a light coloring of gold. Cost, 12,000$ another 970$ shipping. Would someone check our door step to see if the package arrived? The saleslady showed us the Christmas card from Chihuly’s family. We went around the corner of that shop and found a chocolate shop, Jean Philippe. It has a six stream cascading white and brown chocolate waterfall. We were tempted to buy some neat chocolate Christmas houses, Santa Clauses and other trinkets to melt in the car on the way back home. The top off to this hotel is the registration area which has a multiple saucer, multiple colored wavy saucer Chihuly work. we walked through many other Hotels and viewed their decorations, next best was Caesar’s Palace with the decorations being dark red blown icicle ornaments hanging from leaf and bark-less tree branches. This decoration followed throughout the hotel. Here we ate supper, not very hungry so we ate in their café at the registration area, nice place to watch people, many talking on cell phones. Shirleen had here French onion soup with a glass of cab and I wonton soup with pork and shrimp wontons, thin noodles, mushrooms and cabbage. Accented with a saucer of highly spiced red sauce, this I used a couple times. Most of mine was eaten with chopsticks, soup with spoon and a pino region wine.
Walked back to the hotel and watched the waterfall exhibit in the Parasol room, really neat highly parasols twirling in the air, the water fall has a colored display with statues in the small pool of a man half submerged and a women walking and visa versa with the other two. Neat display, can be seen from three of their restaurants.

December 21, 2007 Friday Richfield Utah Day 3

2007-12-21T21:54:00.000-06:00

Covered 676 miles yesterday, gained an hour and drove late. Today we woke up with 3 inches of snow on the car. Not what I would say was a good way to start the day. Seeing we stayed at a Ramada there was no breakfast included, seeing we had that good meal last night we opted out till later. Off we went and the first flying object we saw after getting on the snow packed hwy was a mature bald eagle flew right over us. Up and down the mountains we went. We stopped at a visitor center and found the Arches National Park were right down the road. So we stopped at Thompson and filled up.

Down 191 we went and got stopped by a semi trailer tipped in the ditch, luckily it was up righted quickly after we arrived. Couple of the guys ahead of us were out and looking through field glasses and were right on top of the accident and said we will move soon. And soon we did.

We stopped south of the park at Moab, neat name, for lunch. Going down the main street I spotted a restaurant to the right, thank goodness the guy behind me was quick on the brake and I made a fast corner. There was The Broken Oar, the parking lot had a couple cars in it and it looked inviting. Inside it was big furniture; Shirleen needed help moving her heavy wooden chair to get in. Randy said to seat ourselves where we wanted. As there were only two other people there it was easy to sit close to the gas fed fireplace. We ordered two glasses of wine, Randy informed us that we could have pop, beer but the wine would have to wait 10 more minutes as they could not serve that before noon. Shirleen’s grilled cheese was a blend of Swiss cheese between two caraway rye pieces of bread and nicely grilled and a side of sweet potato fires. I jumped on a fish and chips, the chips being the sweet potato fries. At the strike of noon Randy delivered our cab and chardonnay. He said that the sweet potatoes are cooked, sliced to a 1/8 inch thickness, rolled in rice flour and sugar, then quickly frozen otherwise they get mushy.

Now up to Arches National Park to view the arches and topography of the region. The area is made of sandstone, they had a couple named. This area was once a salt bed, many times flooded and evaporated with areas with a thousand feet of salt. It takes about 2 hours to do the short visit. The colors were more orange and gray than Sedona or the richness of Hawaii. Shirleen did not see the Bighorn Sheep yesterday and there was a possibility to see some here. Up the hills we went, taking every side road, looking at every shaft of rock and arch in our path. We rounded a corner and Shirleen said look at those three nuns or Monks that was three big rocks close together, they called them Gossipers. Same difference?? Shirleen’s constant comment was, This is awesome!! I found the viewing just great, the snow covered Meant that it was a light snow and outlined the shapes of the following: rocks, shrubs, trees and dead branches was just spectacular, for me that’s a big thing. We thought we would take a look at the Delicate Arch many timed photo’ed by professional’s and us others photo bugs. To get a good photo we took the trail that went up a, what seemed to me, my last trail. Up and up it went, I stopped a couple times and caught my breath. We got to the top and took a couple pictures. There were three, turned out Aussies who were visiting the states. He was taking pixs and the ladies said they had done the two hour trip to the arch. It was ice packed and hard to walk on. We started back and re-viewed the formations.

Back up (north) 30 miles to catch I-70. Nice riding until more snow at the passes, 7500 feet or so. Travelling was 50 MPH or so and many cars behind me. One 18 wheeler went around me but later I flew past him. As the storms were in twilight we decided to stop for the evening at Richfield Utah, Comfort Inn. The gal recommended Steve’s Steakhouse, which I would also recommend. The steaks were well prepared but, only in Utah, we had to place our dinner order before we could have our glass of cabernet. That’s the law. Shirleen went small order 5 oz filet, looked like at least 10 to me in comparison to my 10 oz rib eye. Shirleen’s cauliflower/broccoli and my, for the first time in years, a baked potato. We met the owner, 35 year old guy, who said our waitress owned the place, his wife. He asked where we were headed and he said he spent two weeks in Vegas. Off for Vegas tomorrow. jerr

December 20, 2007 Thursday Glenwood Springs Colorado Day 2

2007-12-20T21:24:00.000-06:00

We had a late start this morning, wanted to leave before 7 but with the fog we waited till 8 and more daylight. Had a good waffle, seems these are my favorites! As we headed west we began seeing unit trains, coal going east, freight west and passing trains each way. Just out of Fremont I saw a field full of pheasants eating beneath a coating of snow, suspect wheat field as no rubble left, when I say a field full there must have been a swarm, no herd, no covey of 45 or 50 of them.

Stopped at a restaurant gas station to fill up on both. It was on hwy 80 off exit 164, town of Hershey (NE). Shirleen’s grilled cheese with French fries and hot chocolate took care of her needs, my country fried steak with hash browns and gravy with two basted eggs and a super large diet Pepsi. The waitress was pleasant but the food was mediocre, in other words stop there only if you are caught in a snow storm and haven’t ate for two days.

About a hundred miles before Denver I thought, let’s try this OnStar thing. I called and bought 100 minutes of extra call time from the car. Along with that I gave them a destination to Glenwood Springs from, yes she knew where I was. It turned out she was sitting in Toronto, wonder if she knew how fast Shirleen was going? Shirleen passed through Denver with those directions. As we climbed towards Vail we came upon snow flurries. We were glad we were on the side going west, on the east side semi’s were backed up for miles, some putting on chains others sitting. We passed Vail during early evening, the Christmas trees were lite and looked great covered lightly with snow. As we passed Golden Colorado I caught site of a Big Horn Sheep, then a herd and then a single male looking at the traffic about eight feet off the hwy. The ruggedness and snow cover of the mountains was beautiful to look at. As we came into the city where we are staying, off in the night coming toward us from across the canyon was a diesel locomotive pulling coal cars. It was hard to see but the snow behind the train made it visible. What a missed photo, thank god it was to dark, otherwise I would feel bad.

Glenwood Springs Colorado 5740 foot elevation. Tonight we ate at Juicy Lucy’s Steakhouse, may as well, we found a open parking spot right in front of it otherwise it would have been an Italian meal. The onion rings went well before the meal with sourdough bread; Shirleen had a 6 oz Filet with Lucy’s au gratin some of the best we ever had served, and I a 10 oz sirloin with handcut French fries all done perfectly. The wines were a Grayson Cab and mine a E. Guig Cote du Rhone. Great stop which I would recommend without a snow storm or even if you ate an hour before. Tomorrow toward Las Vegas. jerr

End of Year 2007 Travels -- December 19, 2007 Arrived at Fremont Nebraska Day 1

2007-12-18T17:27:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow we start our trip to Las Vegas. After Shirleen's bridge we head for Iowa and hopefully into Nebraska. Take off is around 2:30.

Today: Dec 19

We left North Mankato at 2:40 pm. On the way to Worthington using Hiway 60 we saw nine pheasants, one hawk and two deer along with much flat land covered with white. The navigation system followed along with us, as we didn’t try and proram since our hands on class. The temperature was in the lower thirties all the way down. We stopped in Sioux City for a Burger King treat, Shirleen had a Whopper Jr, onion rings and milk; Jerr had a chicken sandwich.

Off we went, down the two lane dark road of Nebraska, Hiway 77. I wonder how many times I have taken this route, too many. We thought we would get a tank of gas and right next to a station was a Sleep Inn, so instead of going to Columbus we stopped here. Decent price when I call Choice Hotel’s from their lobby. Saved 7$ by doing that.

Think we did about 265 miles. Looking at getting a bit past Denver tomorrow. jerr

Monday July 30 Milwaukee Day 17 also read thru July 27

2007-08-15T21:15:00.004-05:00

New Today we went to Waukesha to research the Jam.... surname. I had found a reference to some in this area. We found a number of items and one on a Gul's... . Not much of anything else. I had felt that I may find a reference to my great-great grandmother Wilhelmine and son William Jam..... and maybe great-grandmother Margaret. We looked through the state census for 1855 in Waukesha, 1860 Federal census for Jefferson county. We found some Jam... and one Gul's... . We reviewed the local paper of the time “Waukesha Freemen” for all Jam..., Guls..., Kramb.... and Klink's......; some Jam..... entries found and recorded. I was not prepared to research it at this time maybe in a couple weeks when we are back here again. jerr

Sunday July 29 Milwaukee Day 16 - New July 27

2007-08-15T21:14:00.001-05:00

New A 349.8 mile day to Milwaukee to meet Michelle. But we had some time so stopped at the Chicago Botanical Garden on the north side of town even though we had been there before. It’s a Sunday and everyone was there, the melting pot of the town was evident, a mixture of languages and ages. We noticed today they had special presentations on Italian cookery sponsored by Barilla; a friend of mine is the QA manager at their Ames location. At that location they bring in durum wheat from Arizona and North Dakota, they mill their own flour for making the pasta at that location. So we decided to take the show in. As we were walking through the colorful gardens, one neat thing was floating planters in the ponds. They were anchored but slowly spun. They were filled with pink petunias.

The Barilla presentation was in a nicely sheltered area with a set of benches. They were all taken by the time we got there but, directly up the center was a walkway and at the top were two places to stand. Now for two people who have sat for the last 14 days this was our spot. At this time we have no idea of what to expect. A Barilla spokesperson gave a nice song and dance about the activities which were to happen along with the chef’s who were going to present different topics. After a scheduling problem the show came on about 30 minutes late, thank god we were late arrivals. The first chef was Art Smith; he has been the chef for Oprah’s birthday party. Apparently they fried chicken for it as he said he felt and smelled like chicken when the day was done. Art had just cooked for Barack Obama the day before. He cooks for many celebs and has a new restaurant in Chicago at 52 W. Elm, Table 52, and seats 30 people.

His preparation for today was Spaghetti with Olive-Pine Nut Tomato Sauce or in the language (Spaghetti con Olive, Pinoli e Pomodoro) for those whom may have an interest in this recipe just e-mail me. He went through the prep of this dish by adding a small quantity of olive oil to the hot pan and roasting the pine nuts. He then crushed the garlic and adding pepper flakes, slow cooked them. He added crushed tomatoes to the sauce mixture and added washed and diced black olives. He made the comment, always stir in the same direction; he had heard that from many chefs. We looked at each other and said I stir in both directions. The pasta was Barilla penne cooked for 10 minutes, check by taking out one and squeezing on the table, if it rebounds, it is cooked, if it is smashed go out and buy Barilla. He combines all and tops with freshly torn basil, as a knife blade can give a metallic taste to the herb and meal. That is why Shirleen tears her lettuce when she makes salad. What was amazing they served a small cupful of this entire to the entire group as he was taking questions? I asked that I noticed he had used partially cooked pasta for the crowd, how do you prepare it? He basically said he would advise not to do it. I then said how my wife and I had a tour of the Ames Barilla plant and had noticed the professionalism.
He had recently been to Africa to teach 100 girls on how to cook; this is at Oprah’s school. He talked about his mother, he would tell her that he had cooked for someone, and she would counter with, you’re looking pale or something totally different. His emphasis was love of family and people close to you. Share your experiences with others and preparing meals for them shows they mean much to you.

He has written a couple cookbooks and his philosophy is to get the families to eat together again. His first book Back to the Table, on the New York Times best sellers list, sounds interesting but not available there. His Back to the Family, subtitle “Food Tastes better Shared with the Ones You Love”, was available and of course we got an autographed edition. It was dedicated to Oprah. As we were standing in line a lady tapped me on the shoulder and asked ‘was it the Ames plant you went through?’ I said yes it was as we knew the QA Manager and I was selling laboratory services. She mentioned that she was the wife of the president of the company and knew Jerry P. she said she would say Hi the next time she saw him and I gave her our courtesy card. She was going to thank Art for his presentation but stood in the autograph line for her turn. When he signed ours I asked if he would like a copy of our German-Bohemian Heritage cookbook, he said he sure would as his mother was Bohemian. He then wrote his address on the bag we put the cookbook into.

To each person who filled out a questioner was given a big cloth shopping bag, much like the Europeans use daily. The bag has big pockets on the sides and of course the name Barilla on it. They had it stuffed with a box of farfalle pasta – the girl’s favorite, a box of Plus penne – multi grain pasta, a large bottle of tomato & basil with imported olive oil and a spaghetti stirring spoon.

At Michelle’s home I had their black cat, Basil, swirl around my legs. Michelle asked me to let it do that as the cat has not befriended anyone before. I stood there with my eyes closed saying, ‘I am doing this for my beloved daughter’ I must have said it 6 times or so. What an accomplishment for me. jerr

Saturday July 28 Waterbury Conn to Maumee Ohio Day 15

2007-07-28T19:52:00.000-05:00

Again after 649.8 miles from Waterbury to Maumee Ohio it has been a long day. Staying at the same Comfort Inn we stayed in when we came back from Florida. jerr

Update Aug 15 Friday July 27 Orleans Cape Cod Day 14

2007-07-28T19:49:00.001-05:00

Will update Sunday when we hit Milwaukee. We ended up going from Cape Cod to Waterbury Conn heavy traffic, much worse than our Mankato Friday traffic. jerr

NEW Aug Update
This morning we are headed up the Cape to visit with a mutual relative and the beauty of the Cape. As we head down from Boston and hook northeast I noticed the sign and it said Plymouth. Figured out it was not a car I had Shirleen see if it was where Plymouth Rock was? Right on, so a detour to see it, as we had time to spare, we thought. We parked our cars close to the rock and National Park person. The rock sets inside a granite portico and metal fenced in area. On the rock is chiseled 1620. The park lady said that the rock was used as a drop off area for the pilgrims. They could only do this when the tide was up. The longboats would approach the rock and the pilgrims would step off onto it and then the beach. She also said the rock is now one third the size it was when they landed here. The government okayed the chipping off of the rock for personal uses. That was stopped in the late 1800’s. When one looked around the area, that was the only rock on the beach, supposedly laid down by the glaciers? We then saw a replica of the Mayflower. Another three mast ship, small but made it to the US anyway.

As time drew nearer to the time we were going to the east coast I began to think about Uncle Lew. He was a vague memory of mine. He was another of the relation that died when I was in the service. We had found the obituary when we visited Key West and in it, it reminded me of the fact that he was buried in Orleans Mass. I went on the net to look up the historical sight for the town. Low and behold there was one, no e-mail contact but a telephone number, I called a recorder and the next day a lady called me. She asked who I what I was looking for, I said I know that my Uncle Lew M. was buried around Orleans. She said M., I said yes, she said I know a lady by that name, Sandy. I said in the obit it says that he had a nephew, Bruce; she said I think her husbands name was Bruce. I noticed past tense. She said she would contact her and that she may be calling me. 45 minutes later I get a phone call and it was Sandy and yes she had married Bruce, he died in 2000. She remembered Aunt Vi and said that she had kept in letter writing contact with the M.’s for many years. We then set up a time and place to meet and a contact e-mail address. I do not use last names to protect confidentiality.

Off to Orleans for our meeting. We just about didn’t make it, I pulled into a lane and a pickup narrowly missed us. Had I not taken a wrong turn and it became 30 minutes past meeting time. Needless to say we were glad to see Sandy sitting on the bench with her green top on for recognition. Shirleen had on a matching apple green top on. It was nice to see her waiting for us. Sandy‘s husband, Bruce, was the nephew of my Uncle Lew M.. We went into the restaurant to have coffee and the New Englander her tea along with the dropped r’s in her speech. Can you believe I ordered a roll and no one else did. But de ja vu, she asked did I want it grilled? This is how Mom would do her couple day old rolls. See it was meant to be. We chatted for 15 minutes or so and I had some things I brought along for Sandy, hoping that there was a historical society that would hold the memorabilia? She was not sure where it will go but she will look over her M. materials and if there is something about Aunt Vi in it she will forward.

Sandy had worked as a shellfish biologist, working in the area of mussel and clams, and became the conservation administrator of Orleans’s Massachusetts. She held that position of shellfish biologist for many years; this eventually gave her the right material for her first book, “Rowing Forward Looking Back”. The book was encouraged by people in this area. Here is her books forward in its entirety and demonstrates her character as we saw it. “In memory of Bruce, a master at practical applications of ideas, who taught me many things. Among them, he taught me to love this place in different ways than I already did, enriching my life immeasurably in the process.” Oh what powerful words and memories this meant for her. The cover of the book has a picture of her white 16 foot row boat, reading her book it turned out to be a sailboat that Bruce had bought. Now she asked, do you mind if we all drive in my van and I will take you tour you around and visit Lew’s grave. Sandy is a wealth of information about the M.s but has little written, we tried to recreate some of what she said but missed much. Another item that I noticed and it also showed her environmental concern, her license plate, it had a tail of a whale, two seagulls flying overhead and the words Preserve the Trust.

Off we went. What a neat way to tour the back roads of a busy busy area of tourism. She took us to a number of harbor’s starting at Fort Hill. This area is to the Atlantic Ocean side. President JF Kennedy designated Cape Cod’s Atlantic side as our National Seashore. Where the beauty of the shifting sands of Nauset Harbor, make the outer bank sands move. This causes the opening of the bank to move and it becomes navigable during high tides possible otherwise but not as easy. We could see the Nauset Light, salt ponds, fisherpersons and lobster trap bobbers. What a sight to take in.

We came to another beach area and parked close to the beach. A man came forward to ask us to move, he then noticed who she was and they talked. He walked away and suddenly she jumped out of the car and went to him by his boat and two dogs. The dogs just sat there and would not get out of the boat, even though they wanted to. She talked to Mike, he has fished for lobster, mussels and other shellfish. His van gave his company name: Stony Is. Sea-Farm, Orleans Mass. Mike has fished these shores for many years and she would like to interview him for her next book. He will add insight to the fishing and decline of that industry. Again many fishing boats, some folk’s harvesting clams and another peaceful setting. I took a picture of a Historical Marker at that beach it said “Snow Shore – Stephen Snow 1644 overlooks Champlain’s July 1605 anchorage: first white man killed by Nawsetts on the beach – his carpenter Malouin of St. Malo. Home Port, Nausets early fishing fleets. Cable landing – direct wire, Orleans to Brest, France.” This is where the telephone cable ran from the US to Europe. Off again we went.

We visited Rock Harbor on Cape Cod Bay. Again a spectacular overview of the seashore or is it bay shore, you get the drift. More fishing boats, people enjoying the nature feeling away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Communing with nature, what a deal. Here we go again. It was interesting to hear how the Cape iced in from the North. This makes for a short spring because the winds blow the ice to the seashore on the Capes bay side and keeps the area cooler. The summers are mild with the winds off the water. The falls are just spectacular with the changing colors of the leaves.

During our transit we visited the cemetery where the M.’s are buried. The M. plots were close to the roadside. Lew’s father James and his mother Agnes was buried in the next row. All gravesites were marked with footstones. Sandy really felt close to a couple of the family, she felt a fondness for Ginny (Bruce’s mother) and Ida (Freddies (officially known as Norman – Lew’s brothers) wife these were the ultimate women and held themselves more aristocratically than others. This reminded me of Aunt Vi also. Lew’s marker had moss growing on it. I had brought along a couple hosta plants from his wife’s grave, those were from the family Klink's..... grave, with a white fringe and medium green inside. I had taken off the dirt and wrapped them in damp paper towels, much like I did the ones from the Czech Republic in 1995. I unwrapped the plants and spotted new roots growing even though the plants had been in the trunk and had not seen the light of day since we left Minnesota. I planted the hosta’s and felt I made a connection for the two.

We now went to see Portanimicut Landing to see Pleasant Bay. It had a boat launching area and a scenic overlook of boats, big houses and a channel to an inside bay. A sign said Fragile Marsh – No Crossing.

Many homes were decorated with flowers and shrubs, some just beautiful dark blue hydrangeas were evident, again, all over. The Cape Cod home of double windows on each side of the door, half Cape’s with a set of doors on one side and three quarter with two windows on one side and one on the other. Salt boxes were square and the north facing roofs that went almost to the ground. We drove sandy single lane back roads and made sure if we were to make a turn it was headed right, so as not to go against traffic as I had earlier. Her home is set back from the road and covered by trees. She was given this house from an intricate set of circumstances. Bruce’s Aunt Ruth, my Uncle Lew’s sister, and Uncle had lived in the house, he dies, she marries another man, she then dies and the man one relative removed, not related, gave Sandy her Aunt’s house, and this is the one she now lives in, what a generous man he was. Sandy and her mother and four sisters used to have their summer vacations in their Aunt’s rented cottage on Cape Cod, at that time she said the place had no running water and no inside bathroom. She remembers how they liked getting back home for the conveniences. This cottage is currently the storage shed set back from the highway.

Sandy had to get us back to the cars; she had a memorial service to go to early that afternoon. In this short period of time we grew together because of our commonality, we hugged each other and said Good Bye. She indicated she had wanted to come to Minnesota and the surrounding states. If she does I certainly hope she stays with us so we can return the hospitality she had given us.

We headed north; she said a nice place to look at was Wellfleet Harbor. We decided to eat there; we pulled into a, what looked like a restaurant and a group of people told us to go to the Bookstore restaurant. They said it might be full so we just headed north. We saw a restaurant that looked semi busy and yup it was the Bookstore & Restaurant. Did we luck out, there were no tables open outside on the first floor and were seated on the second floor veranda. A clear look into the harbor, many fishing boats came while we were seated. I ordered a appetizer of Oysters Rockefeller, spinach and a white sauce covering the oyster and shell and baked. Not bad a 7 out of 10. Shirleen ordered, you guessed it a lobster roll, Jim a Clam Strip Special and I sole and chips.

Off to the west, wanted to find the house, Wing fort house, Pat S.’s great??????-grandfather built in Sandwich, Mass. We did not see the house as by the time we realized it, it was long gone and back behind us. We drove through some awful traffic, of course, it was Friday night. We came to many dead stops and it carried on for many miles. We found a motel room advertised and pulled into Waterbury Conn. We decided to get a couple of beers and as it was in an Italian restaurant, Nino’s Trattoria, we ordered a Margareta pizza, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil. Look at the order of the ingredients, the color is from the Italian flag for Queen Margareta. Our waitress, Laura - an older lady and making a little pin money, gave us the ok to drink beer alone, as she has too. When she brought our second beer over, they were really full, she said she sipped a little out so it wouldn’t spill. Neat lady.

Off for the west in the morning, destination unknown. jerr

Thursday July 26 Boston Day 13

2007-07-26T20:13:00.001-05:00

So what did we do today? Off to the MBTA – subway- via the van from the Comfort Inn. We take a round trip pass to the trolley. It costs 3.40$ for one. We board the red line at JFK/UofMass, the orange to state and finally the exit at the aquarium where the trolley homeports. We take it to stop 3 to view the ship.

We thought the best thing to do was go to the USS Constitution “Old Iron Sides” for a tour http://www.oldironsides.com/. It is still an active Navy vessel built in 1797. It was built to defend the American shipping interests in the Mediterranean Sea.

A white hat gave the tour, a nice young man whom truly loves his duty. You look at the full three mast vessel. The sides were built with two layers of white oak and one layer from a live oak, the sides were two feet deep and pined every six inches or so. I learned during our southeast trip this winter that a live oak only grows to around South Carolina, the leaves fall during the year not all at once like ours. This growing pattern causes a density to this wood that approaches three to four times the strength of oak alone. The ship can run 13+ knots, highest mast 220 ft., displacement 2,200 tons and a length of 204 ft. I noticed it drew 21 feet of water below line. The masts have rolled canvas sheets that weigh 1,100 pounds and 25 people to roll but 4 to 5 to unroll. We walked around the deck admiring the well polished brass, well coiled rope and cannons. Everything you look at is just plain thick and big. There were two 24-pound “Bow Chasers”, 20 – 32-pounders called “Carronades” crew of 4 to 9 sailors.

We went below deck to the cannon deck. 32 – 24-pounder “Long Guns” each taking a crew of 6 to 14 sailors to man. The shell could travel about a mile, the recoil was about 9 feet; this allowed them to reload the cannon.

The sailor talked about the famous battle the Constitution was involved in. It involved the British frigate HMS Guerriere. The English were firing cannon balls at the Constitution but they we were said to bounce off or embed in the side. When it came alongside, the Captain said ‘hold aim’ it meant not to fire, they asked when do we, it turned out that it was about 25 yards from the ship. The order to fire came and all fired at once, the noise and black powder smoke thick in the air. Some sailors lost there hearing totally, some lost some of it for a while, like I did in the engine room I suspect, and some had blood running from their ears. The cannon balls were delivered to the gun by 8 year old boys, whom ran on watered down sand for better traction, to give the men the 24 pound cannon balls. After the Constitution fired all the masts of the ship were blown off and the US brought the survivors on board. That is when one sailor said ‘is it made of iron?’

Under this deck were the ships quarters. The 30 boys eight year olds slept on the deck, sailors in hammocks, amidships were the marines, aft of that was the officer quarters, private small doors to their bunks. The captain was on the second deck and had two living quarters, as he may have dignitaries on board. Big desk, large bed area and a chart desk.

We went back up to the main deck and the sailor said that the ship was going into dry dock. He also said they are not paid sea pay; they go out one to four times a year but not far from port. It turns out to be the oldest dry dock #1 where it has been before. A civilian told us that they were going to re-plate the copper underside; no one else had mentioned it but later saw a picture of that fact. The ship had in its heyday 500 or so hands, but I noticed only three small life boats, one by the captain’s deck, surprise.

This to me was an exciting tour. We also went through the neat museum. Again like Niagara Falls, the ship was big and powerful, we heard this morning that the river runs 25 miles per hour to the falls.

We decide to board the trolley to go and eat around Faneuil Hall area. As we walked to the front of the Hall we noticed many people coming from the second floor. All were well dressed and carrying a parchment and an American flag in their hand or pocket. I approached a young gal, turns out from Santo Domingo, turns out she has lived in America for 14 years, yes, this was her day to become an American and she couldn't say enough about how people should love this country, saying this with ters in her eyes. Her enthusiasm was catching and we looked at each other and said we take it for granted. The second floor of Faneuil Hall a historic Boston structure fondly called "The Cradle of Liberty," because of its association with American Revolutionary figures Samuel Adams and James Otis.

We ate at the oldest restaurant in America, ye olde UNION OYSTER HOUSE est. 1826. It was rustic and we were seated upstairs, even though we would have liked to sit at the oyster bar, no backs on the chairs. Shirleen ordered a Boston Scrod (a scrod is a young cod) and fries with a Hacienda cabernet, Jim fish cakes with Boston baked beans which we all thought were great with a tangy molasses taste. I had a tough time deciding, ended up ordering the fish platter, with a piece of haddock, shrimp, scallops, deep fried oysters, clams and a choice and tasty Colonial Ale.

We walked around this area and found a monument to the six million Jews whom were annihilated by Hitler. It, like other monuments like this, is inspiring but morbid. It is hard to think that someone could do this as the world looked on.

We took a walk through Quincy Market, many vendors of many types of foods. We boarded the trolley for a return trip and had another good guide. Back to square one, and we decided we wanted to sit and sip. We went to Legal Seafood on the wharf and ordered a drink and were told that we needed to order food, Shirleen quickly said, we will have coconut shrimp then. The gal was from Milwaukee and studying sports law. Our sips were Shirleen a Miller light, Jim a draft Sam Adams and I a real Budweiser. We then went back and decided the route back to home once we leave Cape Cod. Then my writing this up, again I have left many things out of here about the wonderful Boston experience, later perhaps.

Tomorrow I meet up with Sandy M. in Orleans, she will show me my Uncle Lew’s grave site. Then we turn west and are home bound. - jerr

Thursday July 26 Boston Day 13

2007-07-26T20:13:00.000-05:00

So what did we do today? Off to the MBTA – subway- via the van from the Comfort Inn. We take a round trip pass to the trolley. It costs 3.40$ for one. We board the red line at JFK/UofMass, the orange to state and finally the exit at the aquarium where the trolley homeports. We take it to stop 3 to view the ship.

We thought the best thing to do was go to the USS Constitution “Old Iron Sides” for a tour www.oldironsides.com. It is still an active Navy vessel built in 1797. It was built to defend the American shipping interests in the Mediterranean Sea.

A white hat gave the tour, a nice young man whom truly loves his duty. You look at the full three mast vessel. The sides were built with two layers of white oak and one layer from a live oak, the sides were two feet deep and pined every six inches or so. I learned during our southeast trip this winter that a live oak only grows to around South Carolina, the leaves fall during the year not all at once like ours. This growing pattern causes a density to this wood that approaches three to four times the strength of oak alone. The ship can run 13+ knots, highest mast 220 ft., displacement 2,200 tons and a length of 204 ft. I noticed it drew 21 feet of water below line. The masts have rolled canvas sheets that weigh 1,100 pounds and 25 people to roll but 4 to 5 to unroll. We walked around the deck admiring the well polished brass, well coiled rope and cannons. Everything you look at is just plain thick and big. There were two 24-pound “Bow Chasers”, 20 – 32-pounders called “Carronades” crew of 4 to 9 sailors.

We went below deck to the cannon deck. 32 – 24-pounder “Long Guns” each taking a crew of 6 to 14 sailors to man. The shell could travel about a mile, the recoil was about 9 feet; this allowed them to reload the cannon.

The sailor talked about the famous battle the Constitution was involved in. It involved the British frigate HMS Guerriere. The English were firing cannon balls at the Constitution but they we were said to bounce off or embed in the side. When it came alongside, the Captain said ‘hold aim’ it meant not to fire, they asked when do we, it turned out that it was about 25 yards from the ship. The order to fire came and all fired at once, the noise and black powder smoke thick in the air. Some sailors lost there hearing totally, some lost some of it for a while, like I did in the engine room I suspect, and some had blood running from their ears. The cannon balls were delivered to the gun by 8 year old boys, whom ran on watered down sand for better traction, to give the men the 24 pound cannon balls. After the Constitution fired all the masts of the ship were blown off and the US brought the survivors on board. That is when one sailor said ‘is it made of iron?’

Under this deck were the ships quarters. The 30 boys eight year olds slept on the deck, sailors in hammocks, amidships were the marines, aft of that was the officer quarters, private small doors to their bunks. The captain was on the second deck and had two living quarters, as he may have dignitaries on board. Big desk, large bed area and a chart desk.

We went back up to the main deck and the sailor said that the ship was going into dry dock. He also said they are not paid sea pay; they go out one to four times a year but not far from port. It turns out to be the oldest dry dock #1 where it has been before. A civilian told us that they were going to re-plate the copper underside; no one else had mentioned it but later saw a picture of that fact. The ship had in its heyday 500 or so hands, but I noticed only three small life boats, one by the captain’s deck, surprise.

This to me was an exciting tour. We also went through the neat museum. Again like Niagara Falls, the ship was big and powerful, we heard this morning that the river runs 25 miles per hour to the falls.

We decide to board the trolley to go and eat around Faneuil Hall area. We ate at the oldest restaurant in America, ye olde UNION OYSTER HOUSE est. 1826. It was rustic and we were seated upstairs, even though we would have liked to sit at the oyster bar, no backs on the chairs. Shirleen ordered a Boston Scrod (a scrod is a young cod) and fries with a Hacienda cabernet, Jim fish cakes with Boston baked beans which we all thought were great with a tangy molasses taste. I had a tough time deciding, ended up ordering the fish platter, with a piece of haddock, shrimp, scallops, deep fried oysters, clams and a choice and tasty Colonial Ale.

We walked around this area and found a monument to the six million Jews whom were annihilated by Hitler. It, like other monuments like this, is inspiring but morbid. It is hard to think that someone could do this as the world looked on.

We took a walk through Quincy Market, many vendors of many types of foods. We boarded the trolley for a return trip and had another good guide. Back to square one, and we decided we wanted to sit and sip. We went to Legal Seafood on the wharf and ordered a drink and were told that we needed to order food, Shirleen quickly said, we will have coconut shrimp then. The gal was from Milwaukee and studying sports law. Our sips were Shirleen a Miller light, Jim a draft Sam Adams and I a real Budweiser. We then went back and decided the route back to home once we leave Cape Cod. Then my writing this up, again I have left many things out of here about the wonderful Boston experience, later perhaps. jerr