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New Orleans

The French Quarter: Narrow streets; old buildings with wrought iron balconies and dark, romantic courtyards; voodoo shops; street performers; bars and restaurants; jazz clubs; blues bars; and yes, young ladies flashing their chests to collect bead necklaces from male admirers lining the balconies–it was so atmospheric it was almost Disney-like. We had romantic dinners on balconies along Bourbon Street, went for a horse and carriage ride through the French Quarter at night, and drank in the music at a jazz club.

Nightlife in the "Vieux Carre"

Is is time for another hurricane yet?

Cool Jazz on a Hot Night

Intimate Dining on Balconies, in Courtyards, at Bistros

Dining in the French Quarter is an ever-changing experience, whether from a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street, in a garden courtyard, or in a small cafe on Royal Street. And the food choices are equally rich: Cajun, Creole, seafood, steaks, or just plain bar food. Yummm!

After a night of partying, a cafe au lait and beignets are in order at the Cafe du Monde, under the greeen and white awning, where the beignets (square doughnuts) come covered in a mound of powdered sugar and the steaming beverage is half coffee, half chicory. Gooood Morning, Neeew Orleannns!

And another day of sightseeing begins in the Quarter...
...starting with the St. Louis Cathedral facing Jackson Square

Walking through the quarter, building architecture and wrought ironwork dazzle the eyes, like this corn row fence (look closely for the ears of corn in the fence). On some streets, you feel like you're in Paris (the art shop below), and on others, you are back in the days of pirate Jean LeFitte, who's blacksmith shop (also below) is the nation's oldest bar.

As the day wears on, the temperatives climb, and the drinking begins again

Cherie wows the human hand grenade
(the hand grenades at the Tropical Isle are reputedly New Orlean's most powerful drink!)–
who "flips" over her.


Socializing in the Big Easy An American Society of Military Comptrollers convention in New Orleans provided an opportunity to reunite with our Syaracuse University alumni from 1990.
From left, Fran, Me, Jim, Billie, and Cal, classmates at the Army Comptrollership program	Here's demonstrable proof that this class was light-headed – and still is
	Fran, left, was the class brain. Cal, below, is an old friend from TACOM days, and was Cherie's "second husband" at Syracuse

The memories and the beer flowed as we dined on a Bourbon Street balcony (left) and swapped jokes at Jean (Stinky) LeFitte's bar to the accompaniment of the worst piano player and singer in New Orleans.

*The Garden District:* Ride the clanging St. Charles Street trolley to the Garden District and walk by old, stately mansions of Victorian, Georgian, Edwardian, neo-classical and many other styles. Anne Rice lives here in a gothic house with a gnarled old oak out front, symbolic, we're sure, of the twisted tales of horror she spins within. Like many a horror tale, the trip ends in the cemetery, in this case the Lafayette Cemetery with New Orleans’ style above-ground crypts. One can easily imagine a spooky cat-and-mouse chase scene where men with guns lurk behind the mausoleums. A fitting reminder for a party town: eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow...

More Nawlins

The Big Easy didn’t disappoint. We walked the soles off of our shoes, then stuffed our faces with shrimp po’boys, crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, and Muffulettas. Washed them down with hurricanes and cold beer. It was pure epicurean pleasure. And bacchanalian pleasure. In short, it was very pleasurable.

A paddlewheel riverboat steams up the Mississippi River

Joe, Belinda, Linda, and Cherie gather after an afternoon of antique shopping

The Fort Huachuca folks gets "tanked" at the New Orleans aquarium

A tropical paradise awaits the Big Easy visitor (also in the aquarium)

The award-winning Fort Huachuca contingent line up on the stage to accept their plaques

A view of the Mississippi River from our 12th floor hotel window

Is this a great town or what? A lighhouse in the middle of the city

A Night at Emiril's Restaurant

"Roll up...roll up for the mystery tour"

Cherie enjoys her lamb meal at the Big E

Maybe a little too much...


Johnson Space Center
On the way home, we stopped in Houston to visit the Johnson Space Center, home of astronaut training for the space shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) missions. The buildings are large enough to hold full-scale mockups of the shuttle and ISS, and the rubber floor pumps air out, like an air hockey table, so the astronauts get a feel for low gravity and lack of friction. We also visited the mission control center used for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and shuttle missions from about 1964 through 1995. It was neat to sit where presidents, astronauts, movie stars and other dignitaries sat as they observed the men who monitored and controlled the work of the space program, including moon landings and the ill-fated Apollo 13 flight (“Houston, we have a problem”).
Rocket Park at the Johnson Space Center holds a full-size Delta rocket which, when laying down, stretches the length of a football field

Mission Control was the nerve center for the nation's space program throughout the moon landings. The equipment was primitive by today's standard, including pneumatic tubes for passing information from the center on the third floor to other offices in the building. On the walls are plaques commemorating the flights it controlled. The plaques are designed by the mission astronauts and all have the astronauts' names on them, except for Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission, which the astonauts modestly decided was to be for all mankind (it also is the only one I saw that didn't use roman numerals). The observation room still has ashtrays on the backs of the seats, another marker of bygone days.


And we saw the studio from which all the moon landings were televised – just kidding...though some would believe it.

And lastly, we stopped in El Paso to visit my cousin Nancy (on the far right) and her family. Gary took us on a driving tour of El Paso, including a view by day and later by night from the side of the mountain overlooking the city and the Mexican side of the border. He took us through some beautiful, architecturally gem-like neighborhoods, across the UTEP campus, past the original buildings of Fort Bliss, along the Rio Grande to see the Border Patrol vehicles on our side and the shacks and swimmers on the other, and through the downtown area. And they were kind enough to treat us to dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant, where we were the only patrons at 9:30 at night when we pulled in and consequently got the staffs’, and cook’s, undivided attention. Really didn’t know El Paso could be so charming.

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