Lousiana, and new orleans

 

We exited texas yesterday.  What a long state and most of it is barren, very barren.  The 1st pictures was taken while we were crossing about 40 miles of bayou on a single long bridge. I guess the bayou is so wet that they have to elevate the road.  For those who really know me, I must say that I am proud to say that I took this picture and I wasn't far from the tree.  There were about 5 of these big oaks and I took a picture of each one.  Pretty amazing for me, don't you think.  The third is of a man who entertains, kinda like Mallory square in Key West.  There are a couple of pictures of the dining room onboard the Natchez and the boat itself and a pretty balcony in the French Quarter.

Al is in love with the Gumbo, all kinds of gumbo, chicken, file, seafood. andouille and chicken.  He has tried them all.  The music is great, the drinks are great, especially the hurricanes.  There is so much to do here, so little time.  We are going to save some for our next trip here.

 

Hi guys,

We have been in Texas for two days and are still there.  The first picture is of an old car.  There must be thousands of them here and they all excite Al.  He made me take a picture of this one.  He would like it if I took a picture of all of them.  The 2nd picture is looking over the border into Juarez, Mexico.  The day we took this picture 50 people were murdered there because of the drug wars.  We didn't find this out until later.  If you look at the picture close, you can see the shacks across the border.  We were in El Paso, where we had lunch.

The 3rd picture is where they we were stopped by border patrol.  When the officer saw Al taking pictures, he knew we were just tourists.  He actually had to compose himself to keep from laughing.  After all, the back of the truck was full of luggage and bags and we were snapping pictures.  I guess we were obvious.  They did stop the truck behind us and another car and there were 5 officers with guns drawn and a lot of dogs barking. They were obvious illegals.

The next picture is of Houston, where we spent some time downtown shopping.  Al got boots, and a vest.

The last picture is of the Texas Steakhouse,  I got a Texas sirloin and it was delicious, Al got a Texas Filet and it wasn't even eatable. So much for Texas steakhouse.  We saw more beef cattle today than you can imagine, also an armadillo, a lot of dead skunks on the road, and an animal with bright golden orange fur that we don't know what it is, but there are a lot of them here.

Tomorrow, we head out for New Orleans

Hi everyone,  Sorry, didn't post last night.  It was a travel day.  We were in Tucson yesterday.  The 1st picture is a neat shot of the colorado river in the mountains 2nd shot - Al ordered a mexican shrimp cocktail at LaFuente rest. in Tucson.  It was huge with about 20 shrimp and very delicious.La Fuente was an excellent mexican restaurant and had a mexican group of musicians who would entertain the tables.  3rd shot Al, beside a sonora cactus.  Those things are huge.  4th dust storm in tucson. This dust is finer than the sand in Death Valley, it gets everywhere. 6th our waitress in tombstone. 
Tombstone is worth the trip if you like the west, about 50% of the people dress the part.  The town is huge and transports you back to the 1881 town including the Gunfight at the OK Corral.  The whole town is unbelieveable.  You walk block after block after block of saloons, restaurants, sheriff office, stores, courthouse, all depicting the Old West.  Also, there are many ghost towns within 30 miles.
My question is, why would all these towns pop up in this desolate part of the world.  It has to be the mining, as this is not good grazing land.  It is all scrub desert.  The wind was blowing hard and many times the dust was so bad you couldn't see down the road.  Also there is tumbleweed everywhere.  There are signs on the interstate stating that the dust gets so bad in areas that there is zero visibility.
All that said, this is a place I would definitely not mind visiting again. We left as the nightly entertainment was starting.  This town does not sleep.  A lot of border police here as we are not too far from Mexico.
On the road again, in a town called lordsburg.

Okay, we left Death Valley today,  So I am sharing some pictures of the rocks there.  The last picture is a little blurry, but it shows the sand dunes which the winds keep adding to, it is about 50' high. Pictures 3 and 5 are the same, but that is called the 20 mule team valley, that should stir up some of our memories.  Did you know that Death Valley was not a national Park until President Clinton made it a park.  Some land here is still owned by the borax corporation, including the furnace Creek inn.  Those rooms are $330. per night.  The winds were gone this morning which is normal, they will increase every afternoon.  The birds which I feed, because I felt sorry for them, made a sound like a raspy gurgle.  I gave them some cookies and there was finally a flock of about 30 which came very close, about a foot away when I was feeding them.  When I stopped feeding them, I walked back toward the room and they followed me.  I went in and 20 minutes later, when we came out, they were waiting at the door.  It was like the movie "The Birds", and they looked like those birds too.  Crows, I believe.
We needed fuel and went to the only station in Death Valley, Al was perturbed when he had to pay $5.09.9 for fuel.  Notice the phone booths, there is no cell phone service here either.
The kicker was when the waiter at breakfast told us that, many times, they have found rattlers in the building, especially the mojave rattler which is deadlier than the diamondback, you need to get help with in 40 minutes or you are toast.  Also they have a lot of scorpions, but they, most of the time only give you a bad sting.  There is a vinegar spider which doesn't kill you, but leaves you with a vinegar taste in your mouth for weeks.
We made over the mountains and out of death valley and the brakes worked, thank goodness.  We are now in Vegas, and will leave for tucson tomorrow.

death Valley

The first picture is of the oil well east of Bakersfield.  We high-tailed it out of there because they were expecting 8 inches of snow tonight.  That hasn't happened in 20 years.  We were heading east of the Sierras and didn't want to get caught in snow.  The rest of the pictures are from Death Valley.  We really didn't know what to expect.  The first time we got out of the car, we were regretting it.  The sandstorm got in your eyes, in your mouth and everywhere else.  It was almost unbearable.  We checked in at the first hotel, what a mistake, the bed was atrocious, the room was small and we both said,"Let's get outta here. We drove east, further into Death Valley and came across Stovepipe wells.  It was a small, almost tiny town, RV's to the left, hotel on the right with a cute "Saloon" and Restaurant.  What a gem in this desert!!  We liked it. We checked in and then, still fighting the blowing sand headed for bad water, that's Al, there in the picture.  The lowest spot in the U.S., 282 feet below sea level.  Bad Water is dried up salt as you see in the picture.   There was no blowing sand here.  The blowing sand was only in certain areas.  You could see it as you drove up to it, check out the picture.  The sunset over the mountains was beautiful.  The mountains here are unique, full of different colors, from brown to green, to blue and red.  I can't imagine what it feels like in the summer.  Today the high was 76.  We will go to Scotty's castle tomorrow.  Oh, the other picture shows the little bit of water that is here in the winter.
You kind of feel here, like you are transported back in time, to a place that was left behind.  It feels like the old west.  It's hard to explain, but it's surreal to stand 282 feet below sea level and look up and see so much snow on the mountains.  There's no cell phone here and you have to go to the lodge to get wi-fi.
Tomorrow, can't wait to see more of Death Valley.

Also, Al tried to burn up the brakes on the ride down the mountain into the valley.  Smoke, smoke and burning smell.  He was tailgating a truck camper towing a trailer.  Too much of a hurry and that's what happens.  Hopefully, they will be okay.

Today, we visited Hearst Castle.  It was a memorable experience.  Unfortunately flash cameras were not allowed, so pictures inside were a little dark.  I did post one picture of the dining room.  The outside "Neptune" pool is still gorgeous.  The picture of the indoor pool does not do it justice.  The tiles in the pool are inlaid with 23 carat gold.  All the decor inside is artifacts from as old as the 14th century, the ceilings are ornately carved black oak.  Some restoration was being done uncovering paintings on the ceiling, that had been blackened by smoke from the huge fireplaces.  The guest houses are as decorated as the Casa Grande.
They tell you stories of all the famous guests like Clark Gable, Heda Hopper, Bob Hope, and Amelia Earhart, and that is only a few of them.
We really enjoyed the nearby town of Paso Robles.  It is full of wineries, I posted one picture, we tasted and met the owners and had a wonderful time.  The other pictures show the ocean in the distance and the rocky coast.  It is an absolutely beautiful area, definitely the most picturesque we have seen.  We even liked the wineries better than those in Napa.  It almost seems to be a larger vineyard area and there seems to be a lot more wineries.
Tomorrow we head over to Bakerfield and towards Death Valley.