Mary Lynn and I spent the day in New Orleans with MLA's sister Debbie and Debbie's husband Richard.Richard and I headed off to the WW II D-Day Museum while the ladies went to see what shopping treasures might be found in the French Quarter.
It was the perfect solution really, to a problem that didn't exist but would have developed. Neither MLA or Debbie are really into the D-Day Museum, with it's numerous interviews and lots of displays, mainly composed of photo's and lots of written material.
Neither Richard and I are really into shopping, especially in the many small, crowded shops that populate New Orleans' French Quarter.
We agreed to meet late in the afternoon at Cafe Du Monde, New Orleans original French Coffee stand that is world famous for it's delicious french pastry, beignets and, of course, it's coffee.
The WW II D-Day Museum is truly amazing. Richard and I spent many hours exploring the exhibits, which start with the tensions and turmoil of the 1930's through the war years and finally detail the events of the war from D-Day to it's conclusion in Europe. A special focus of the D-Day Museum is on the Higgins Boat Company, which manufactured the landing invasion craft that made D-Day possible. And of course, the Higgins Boat Company was based in New Orleans.
They turned out thousands of landing craft, support ships, and PT boats. These well built boats made extensive use of plywood in the construction, which made the boats light, fast, and because they were less expensive to build, plentiful.
Later we found an additional wing for the D-Day events in the Pacific. Actually, with the many island invasions that characterized the Pacific WW II campaigns, the exhibits covered about a dozen D-Days, one for each island invasion as Allied forces worked their way towards an invasion of Japan. Finally it concluded with the events around the dropping of the nuclear bombs that ended the war, making the much feared invasion of Japan unnecessary.
Meanwhile the ladies were exploring the French Quarter and, so I'm told, had a great time shopping and admiring a wide variety of items for sale, including art exhibits.
MLA was particularly excited about her purchase of a Christmas Ornament.
You see, every year at the Abbott Family Christmas get together, my family holds a "Tacky Ornament Exchange". Young and old search throughout the year to locate and purchase the tackiest Christmas ornament. We only have two rules: 1) No shopping at the Dollar Store 2) Only one entry per person.
It's a lot of fun. Just when you think nothing could be tackier than the last ornament opened for all to see, an even tackier piece of hanging artwork is brought out to see the light of day (rather the light of Christmas bulbs).
Try it; you will not believe how tacky some of the items being sold as Christmas ornaments.
Mind you, just be careful not to disclose the true reason for purchasing the ornament. Some shop keepers and/or artists get downright offended if they find out your entering their 'baby' to win the 'Tackiest Ornament" prize.
After a great day in New Orleans we went back to Debbie and Richards for a late meal, spend some time playing Wii and other games with their grandson Chance, and then finally saying good-bye.
Tomorrow MLA & I start our trip west towards Arizona. According to Google maps we have about 24 hours of driving ahead of us, mostly following I-10 across Texas, the small southern tip of New Mexico and then across Arizona to Quartszite. Right now I'm thinking we'll stop in San Antonio and El Paso however we may not linger and explore unless the temperatures warm up. The forecast is for chilly weather across that part of the US, albeit much warmer than the northern sections of the US.
See Ya!
Later we found an additional wing for the D-Day events in the Pacific. Actually, with the many island invasions that characterized the Pacific WW II campaigns, the exhibits covered about a dozen D-Days, one for each island invasion as Allied forces worked their way towards an invasion of Japan. Finally it concluded with the events around the dropping of the nuclear bombs that ended the war, making the much feared invasion of Japan unnecessary.Meanwhile the ladies were exploring the French Quarter and, so I'm told, had a great time shopping and admiring a wide variety of items for sale, including art exhibits.
MLA was particularly excited about her purchase of a Christmas Ornament.
You see, every year at the Abbott Family Christmas get together, my family holds a "Tacky Ornament Exchange". Young and old search throughout the year to locate and purchase the tackiest Christmas ornament. We only have two rules: 1) No shopping at the Dollar Store 2) Only one entry per person.It's a lot of fun. Just when you think nothing could be tackier than the last ornament opened for all to see, an even tackier piece of hanging artwork is brought out to see the light of day (rather the light of Christmas bulbs).
Try it; you will not believe how tacky some of the items being sold as Christmas ornaments.
Mind you, just be careful not to disclose the true reason for purchasing the ornament. Some shop keepers and/or artists get downright offended if they find out your entering their 'baby' to win the 'Tackiest Ornament" prize.
After a great day in New Orleans we went back to Debbie and Richards for a late meal, spend some time playing Wii and other games with their grandson Chance, and then finally saying good-bye.Tomorrow MLA & I start our trip west towards Arizona. According to Google maps we have about 24 hours of driving ahead of us, mostly following I-10 across Texas, the small southern tip of New Mexico and then across Arizona to Quartszite. Right now I'm thinking we'll stop in San Antonio and El Paso however we may not linger and explore unless the temperatures warm up. The forecast is for chilly weather across that part of the US, albeit much warmer than the northern sections of the US.
See Ya!
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