AFPF Travelogue

Bette's Trip to New Orleans

         

Busy, busy, busy! Huge convention, Graduation at Tulane University.. 3 Cruise ships had reached the end of the line..dumped the folks ashore.
Grade school kids on week end visit, Seniors on senior trip! and the 5 of us!

We stayed at a lovely Hotel, friendly helpful personel.
We could walk to Canal Street, Bourbon Street, etc.. and we did.
We went to Emeril's for dinner and it was excellent. Many chefs very busy and oyster shuckers at it non stop.
We had the famous powdered sugar bignets.. and chicory coffee at breakfast..
My almost daughter in law was a fantastic tour guide, she had been there before and did not forget a street, resturant, or attraction, and led us to all the sights.
We took a swamp cruise, and had a ball.. many crocodiles, we stopped and fed, and petted, and one guy held one up so we could see how big he was.
A baby one on board got passed around for all to pet.
The trees were lovely and fancily dressed in soft moss.
We went to the French Market, listened to the Dixieland music coming from the Natchez boarding daily cruisers.
Rode the Streetcar Named Desire.. was dissapointed that many of the lovely old homes are being replaced by Apartments, businesses, etc.
Still a lot to oooh and ahhhh over.
We had delicious food the whole visit.. nice weather, a bit cool.
By the House of Blues, about 3 blocks had been roped off, tables and chairs were being set up,
ice sculpters were being placed, turn your frig. on its side, and visulize a steaming pot of something being stirred by a chef out along the street.
In a couple of hours it would have been impossible to get near the area.
Not sure who the expected guests were.
Preservation Hall was quiet the two times we went past.
Great visit, but getting home??? another chapter.

Beautiful flight into...

Donna's fair city. Left New Orleans ( finally, another story!) around 10 a.m. Within less than an hour we approached Houston..
Amazing! The colors of that fascinating patchwork quilt from above.
Many shades of green, purples, lavenders, beige, browns, of every shape, from circles, ovals, oblongs, squares, and triangles pieced together to form one of our cities proudest achievements.
Each inhabitant contributes , I wish each one could make that flight above to see the outstanding accomplishment.
The Cities skyline was in a soft cloak of grey and white.
We could see the airport as we approached from the right side of the plane, nice layout, long runways.
We passed it by, then made a steep right turn, with the wing of the left side way up in the air,
and slowly glided in a nose dive over highways, homes, businesses..
and settled down on the runway smoothly.


The final chapter......airports!



I saved the worst of the New Orleans trip for last.
We were flying Non Rev. ( stand by) since my Son and his bride to be work for Southwest.
We got there without too much going wrong. Going home day?
We arrived at the airport 2 hours early for the very first flight.
Lines fairly long checking in, and going thru the security check point.
We were to go- N.O. to Phoenix, to Burbank, Ca. Clark and Stacy N.O. to Vegas, to Reno..
Lines were the longest I've ever seen. Stacy talked to the gals at the desk. Our tickets showed Non Rev, positive space.. ( not sure of that meaning)
Well after a long long wait no space of any kind, positive or not! All day we went from one flight check in counter to another.. impossible, all flights overbooked..
They were giving ticketed people $200.00, a room, dinner, etc. to wait and let someone else go ( not us, tho)
We finally gave up and went to a close by motel.. our luggage had gone on the early moring flight
Luckily the Motel had a few goodies stashed for just such people as us. Toothbrushes, etc.
Up early , to the airport, lines, lines and more lines longer than on Sunday. No hope what so ever.
Janeen had to get back to work Tues. so we had to get home. She missed teaching a class at work on Monday. So we checked airlines headed our direction, and the only one with seats was Continental...
So we grabbed them at a horrendous price! Each one of us could have had a round trip to Europe with $$$ left over for what it cost to get those tickets--- seats.
They said we could try standby for two earlier flights, which we did, and we got on the 2nd one.
Thank goodness the beauty of Houston restored my sanity.
We got on an earlier flight to LAX, and yes, all three of us had to spread out our arms while a wand checked all areas.. take off shoes, while another dude was going thru our hand bags and carry on.
Did not take long. On a second entrance thru a check point, my purse had to be searched... ( went thru first time fine) something black showing on the screen!
Discovered it was a small mirror! all clear, go....
LAX really looked fine, but we still had to take a Prime Time van to Burbank airport to get our luggage and car!

I am re-thinking how I am going to fly to Phila. in June.
No one could have forseen the mobs that week end. But we had fun!

Posted 2nd June 2002