alligators and plantations New Orleans #3

Day 3 of our New Orleans trip sent us on an air boat ride in the bayou. We were in a smaller boat with 5 of us total on the boat and saw tons of alligators. Our guide said in a few weeks they would go into hibernation but for now he brought "swamp crack" for them to eat, we would know it as marshmallows. He didn't offer too many but played with one by putting it on his head and waited for another alligator to try to get it off his head. Funny. I felt like I was in the children's book "Liza Lou and the Yeller belly swamp" by Mercer Mayer.... I imagined Liza Lou right there. It is my favorite book to read aloud to children as it is written in a Louisiana accent. This by far topped our Florida air boat tour. It took us a little while to get used to our guide's accent but then we figured out he was driver to many movie stars when they filmed movies there and he collects alligator eggs to protect from predators (one of the dirty jobs from that dirty jobs TV show). Alligator trivia. Alligators lay 23-25 eggs and protect them like crazy until they are born and then eat most of them (carnivores.. hey, fresh meat!). The egg collectors take them and protect them, changing the temperature makes most of them females. If you take an egg out you must not turn it or the alligator will die.

We also went to two plantation houses... Laura and Oak Alley. Kay opted out of the latter and slept in the car while Janell and I toured. He was a good sport. We got into a huge Louisiana storm where lots of people stopped by the side of the road because they couldn't see. Not Kay, he plowed through. We saw a man hole that looked like it was a geyser, cars turned backwards and huge puddles. I can see how this place gets flooded. The weather turns in a few minutes. We enjoyed driving right into a storm. Really cool to watch. You need to be ready for anything.

Sunday in New Orleans #2

We went to church in the New Orleans branch and met Branch President Terry Seamons, Russell Seamons Cousin. They had fast and testimony meeting. It was a great meeting. One testimony was from a man that used to be a Black Panther and found the church. Very cool. Janell and his two Young Women aged daughters were the only Young women.

We talked to the missionaries about someones interest that worked in the french quarter. They are not allowed in the french quarter, they can send a member in.... A little while later we found out why.......

We went back to the condo and walked into the french quarter for dinner, the coupon was for a steak house on Bourbon street so we headed right to Bourbon and walked down that street. Lots of people, lots of music, lots of loud laughter and silliness. There were several girls in bikini's and high heels standing in the doorways. This was strange to me and Kay said "oh there's the prostitutes" oh my gosh Janell and I had our sheltered eyes open and we swore we would never walk down THAT street again. The other streets aren't nearly as bad.

Kay forgot his phone charger so we called the front desk who, being a new hotel, didn't have one that had been left. We walked to the hotel across the street and asked at their front desk and they had one that fit it, but someone had to untangle it. We took it, thanked them and went up their elevator.....and down and left the hotel. If you forget your charger.... ask at a car rental place or a hotel. We have left several at hotels so you give some and you take some.

New Orleans 1

Janell, Kay and I are in New Orleans Louisiana for fall break. Janell will miss 3 days of school. Janell and I arrived 24 hours before Kay as there was a 300 dollar difference in airfare prices. We used the day to go SHOPPING at the french market. there was a flea market with lots of hand made stuff from locals and other flea market stuff, we got some jewelery and Janell got a giraffe purse with some other odds and ends.

Our hotel/condo is on the edge of the French quarter. We signed up for a swamp tour on Monday, My entertainment coupon book arrived in the afternoon we used 3 coupons, 1 riverboat ride, 1 aquarium admission and dinner. I called Rachael from the aquarium to tell her that this aquarium wasn't lame but Omaha zoo aquarium is much better.

We arrived at 11pm so we paid for valet parking which is at the condo at 26 dollars a day with an exit time at 4PM, I begged them to let me keep it there till 6 PM so we could not have too much time to go to dinner and shop at the grocery store before picking up Kay at 9PM.

For lunch we ordered a muffeletta, a big round piece of bread with lots of meats and melted cheese with a olive spread. I just ordered it and Janell looked at it on her plate. Oops, I forgot she doesn't like sandwiches. We ordered 1/2 muffeletta that serves 2 and one cup of gumbo. She kept looking at it until I coaxed her to try it, and this would be the only thing she would eat until a late dinner and she needed to keep her energy up. She actually ate it and said it was "not bad". She ate the whole thing.

We had a nice Mormon conversation with a Park Service Ranger that kept us there with questions mostly about polygamy. He has a Book of Mormon, I tried to get missionaries to him but ended up telling him to get on Mormon.org. He shook our hands as we left and had nice things to say about us and thanked us for enlighening him. We talked a lot about the word of wisdom, families for ever and a modern prophet.

speaking of the word of wisdom, We drove next to a swerving car on our way into town, Janell saw a lady my age swerving walking and said she thought she was drunk and then we knew she was drunk when she walked into a street lamp. Her first drunk experience. This is a party town but there is lots to do without drinking. she also said she has never read so many nasty things on tee shirts for sale and being worn.

Cinnamon rolls and generation picutres

Frances came down for LDS General Conference. She helped Janell make cinnamon rolls.

Before my mom leaves for NYC Temple mission, we thought we'd take some generation pictures

Janell and Mary Alice Clark

4 generations: Janae, Frances Inman, Mary Alice Clark

Claire and Alice Inman (12 months 5 days)

3 generations: Mary Alice, Janae and Janell

A day at Hogle Zoo

Frances and I took Claire and Alice to the zoo.

Frances, Alice, Janae, Claire

The baby elephant was adorable.

Elk hunt in pictures

Hike to Stuart Falls

Kay and I decided to take a hike to Stuart Falls in the mountains near our home. Neither of us had been there before but all of our kids had. It was a 2 mile hike each way. We hiked up and saw the upper part of the waterfall Kay is a lot more daring than I but he MADE me scale the mountain to see the spring shooting out of the upper mountain. At times he was under me putting my feet on the safe rocks as I was on all fours afraid of sliding down the mountain. (sorry, no pictures of that site)

He decided we needed to take a picture under the waterfall. I thought there wouldn't be much water behind the waterfall.
I was wrong. It was SOOOOO COLD!!!

It took a while to dry off. We had fun.