buzzardnotes

You might recall that we had a great visit at the Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, LA. NOLA (New Orleans, LA) is only a little over two hours from St. Francisville, so we decided to go with the wind and see where it took us.

We visited the St. Francisville Cemetery in hope of seeing some very old headstones. It was a very pretty and peaceful place (I should hope it would be peaceful!) Our next stop was Fort Desperate at Port Hudson, scene of the final battle that gave the Union forces full control of the Mississippi River. An interesting site made even more engaginging by volunteers demonstrating medical care, food, naval strategy, artillery and other Civil War details to at least 100 home schoolers.  (Don’t forget to click on a photo if you want to enlarge it)

It was just like any other school demonstration…some paying rapt attention and some, obviously not.

I already told you about our visit to the LSU Rural Life Museum. We were disappointed in how the artifacts were cared for and the lack of explanation for many of the artifacts. It was after this visit that we decided to head for NOLA in earnest.

I had Googled driving instructions from the hotel site and we confidently zipped into the city. First, it was a Friday afternoon about 3:30 and, unbeknown to us, the beginning of a weekend when the New Orleans Saints were having a home game. Second, there are many insane drivers, some of whom were already drunk. Third, there are many one-way streets. Fourth, the Google instructions took us down a street that wouldn’t let us turn onto our hotel’s one-way street. So began our hour-long odyssey of trying to navigate our way back to where we could turn correctly onto our hotel street. Believe me, I was ecstatic to turn the car over to the valet for $30 day to not drive it until we departed for the airport!

The St. Christopher Hotel was in a super location, though. Everything we wanted to see was within walking, bus or trolley distance. We were happy with it even though we had a room without a window! I thought at first that we might be claustrophobic in it, but it was great. It was so quiet that we never heard any partiers or sirens that other rooms might have been plagued with.

You may think you see a window with drapes, but it’s really a mirror to give the illusion the room is larger than it is. I must admit that we both felt a little weird about running around in various states of undress.

The hotel manager directed us to the Oceana Grill for our first NOLA dinner. It was very delicious as was all the food we ate in NOLA. But all of our dishes had too much good food. We were STUFFED every night.

Upon leaving the Oceana we heard music and espied a wedding celebration coming down the street. It was so fun to see the band and all the dancing guests following the bride and groom. I was late getting the camera out and only got this blurry picture. You get the idea and you can also see that one can carry drinks in public in NOLA.

The next morning, we were out fairly early to walk to Jackson Square to take a carriage ride around the French Quarter and visit one of the famous cemeteries. Even by 9 AM, Jackson Square was a hoppin’ place

French Quarter buildings fascinated me and I could have taken pictures of them all day long. Iron lace balconies, sweeping fan-like windows and traces of French and Spanish influence comprise “Creole” architecture.

Our carriage driver took us to the St. Louis #1 Cemetery, the oldest and best known of the city’s above-ground cemeteries. He explained that the graves are above ground due to the high water table in NOLA and that the heat/humidity cause a body to deteriorate (in a sense, be cremated in its grave) within a year. This is why several people can be interred in one crypt. In fact, there is a wall of crypts where people rent a space for a year and then the ashes are removed after a year.  I thought this was a fascinating story.

Entire families are interred in one “apartment” in this large crypt.

Our carriage driver is pointing to the Glapion family tomb where the remains of voodoo queen Marie Laveau are said to rest. You can see in the background that there are many shapes and sizes of tombs in the cemetery.

We worked up an appetite during the carriage ride and decided that we must have a beignet at Café du Monde, a world famous place for those delectable treats. Well, the line was about a block long and we decided to try another place that had a much shorter line.

Jerri’s first taste of a beignet. It was tasty, but I’m sorry we didn’t get to try the Café du Monde.

We walked through the French Market and saw local treasures as well as cool things from other parts of the world. It was fun seeing all the tourists milling around and trying to figure out which was the best bargain.

We visited the Old U.S. Mint next door to the French Market. The 1835 structure was a federal mint 1838-61 and was the Confederacy’s only mint for a few months in 1861. It continued to be a U.S. mint until 1909. It’s now a Louisiana State Museum site and houses the Louisiana Historical Center as well as an internationally renowned jazz collection. The mint was of particular interest to us because our Nevada State Museum was originally a U.S. mint.  I liked this portion of the museum because it displays some of the same things we do as well as similar photos.

This press looks a lot like our Press #1, complete with the bronze plaque above the press part.

Adjusters – See the next picture for an explanation

Click on the photo to enlarge it

A cutting machine. The ore was rolled out to a prescribed thickness and then blanks (planchets) were cut out. Those planchets were then fed into the press where they would be pressed into coins.

Jolee had given me a NOLA walking tour book and we took several of those tours. It was fun walking at our leisure and seeing many French Quarter buildings and learning a bit about each.

It’s so humid in NOLA that ferns can grow right out of building walls. The weather is just right for a plethora of trees and plants.

St. Charles Trolley

We took the St. Charles trolley out to the Garden District, famous for its nineteenth century homes and gardens. The area was originally part of the Livaudais Plantation It became part of the City of Layfayette in 1833 and then annexed by New Orleans in 1852. Several celebrities have homes here and many films have been at been partially shot here. Many of the homes have too much foliage around them so as to prevent a good photo.

Archie Manning’s home (he was a New Orleans Saints quarterback for many years and is Peyton and Eli Manning’s father).

Right next to the Garden District is the Lafayette Cemetery #1 founded in 1833. Again, the crypts are above ground. Some appear to be well kept and others look to be in terrible shape.

I thought it interesting that one was for sale. Apparently it’s been in use for many years because the inscription on top has different names than the ones naming who is interred.

We had to take a ride on the Natchez, a sternwheeler, and experience a bit of what it was like to ride one in the old days. It takes on a two-hour tour down the Mississippi and back again. It was fun but too hot if one wasn’t in the shade.

We saw a portion of the 9^th Ward that was inundated when Katrina went through in 2006. The levees were too high to get any good pictures of the reconstructions. We also saw where the Battle of New Orleans was fought by Andrew Jackson against the British a few weeks after the War of 1812 was ended.

Ocean going vessels sail up and down the River quite often and we saw many tugs along with barges parked along the shore. Since we were there on a Sunday, maybe they weren’t working or didn’t have a load to move.

The sculpture facing the River honors immigrants as they land in the USA. I liked it and thought the sculpture was well deserved. Is it ironic or not that pigeons were on the sculpted immigrants?

Now for the Coups de Gras in museums! The World War II Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, was one of main attractions we wanted to see New Orleans. Wow! What a place, filled with artifacts, great depictions of causes, warfare tactics, the home front and the war’s lasting significance! We arrived when it opened at 9 AM and didn’t leave until closing at 5 PM. To our surprise, we didn’t take very many pictures because the exhibits were too big with sometimes moving parts and the fact that there were many visitors all trying to read the signs. One of the first things we did was to view the “Beyond All Boundaries,” a cinematic experience featuring 4-D special effects and narration by Tom Hanks. That was a perfect set up to go see all the other exhibits.

Jerri with the gunner’s portion of a B-24D
Liberator

A truck named Dorothy…after our mom, I’m sure!

Since this is a Smithsonian affiliate, I wondered why it was not located in Washington, D.C. New Orleans was chosen as the site to honor Andrew Higgins, a local boat builder, whose amphibious landing craft was credited by Dwight D. Eisenhower with winning the war.

Home Front Chick

Army uniforms like the one Dad wore

I do believe this is one of the best museums I have ever visited. It really had our attention throughout the day and we were surprised when the PA system announced it was closing time. The museum is massive, as you can well imagine, and utilizes the latest technology to help you understand and relate to what happened. The relationship begins almost as soon as you enter when you are issued a dog tag and that tag becomes encoded with a person whose war career you will follow throughout your time in the museum. It was just great! The museum behooves one to go back because the experience is rather overwhelming if one reads all the labels and sees all the exhibits. http://www.nationalww2museum.org/visit/exhibits/index.html

After being on our feet all day, we took it easy for a while the next morning. We walked to catch the St. Charles Trolley (the oldest continuously operating streetcar in the world—150 years!) and rode it to the end of the line and back. It rumbles and sways by the Garden District, through a tunnel of live oaks, past dozens of antebellum homes, by historic monuments and Tulane and Loyola Universities.

We loved traveling on the trolleys and the bus because we could get a Jazzy pass for only $3 and we could ride all day long.

Usually, a trolley is much more crowded than this. We hit it at a slack time.

Jerri loves to go on ghost tours and said we had to do one in New Orleans. After all, there should be many ghosts there with all its history and voodoo practices. So on the night before our departure, we joined a small group of ghost aficionados. We heard some stories about sightings in the French Quarter..one was rather gruesome. A lady built a very nice house with slave quarters out in back. After some time, people found that she was mistreating her slaves terribly with whipping, chaining them up and starving them. One slave girl jumped either off the building or out of a window to her death and she haunts the house along with other spirits. Nicholas Cage bought the house and was irritated after just one day of moving in, people were staring at the house and pointing. He thought it was about him but it was really people just hearing the ghost story. He didn’t believe the tour guide and was invited to take a private ghost tour of the city. Once he heard the story about his house, he moved out and sold the place. A person from Houston owns it now and isn’t there much, so he, apparently is not bothered by the ghosts.

A haunted house in the French Quarter

Our tour guide took a break by Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar, which may go back to the early 1800s but not owned by Lafitte(a privateer, smuggler, often in trouble with authorities and patriot(?) who fought with Andrew Jackson). It was quite a lively, rowdy place on Bourbon Street.   You can see more of the bar story and pictures at http://www.lafittesblacksmithshop.com/AboutUs.html  I asked the bartender for a margarita and got a purple looking daiquiri. He seemed to think that’s what I asked for. There were a lot of characters in and out of the bar. If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see at the left corner of the building, a guy with a Shetland pony! The poor horse seemed to be taking it all in stride, but I would have thought that all the noise would bother it.

Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar

Without the help of my friend RDS, I could not have posted this picture because it would not have been family friendly 🙂

Our guide took us to the back of the St. Louis Cathedral that was in the photo of Jackson Square.  He was talking about the figure in this photo. Most people feel that it is a shadow of Christ, but a little 5 year old boy told our guide that it was a giraffe. It’s all in your perspective!

Jerri and I horsing around in front of our mirrored “window.” You can see that the wall is very old and we assume it is one of the original walls of the building. I’m pretty sure someone told me that the building was constructed in the 1800s.

Sister Trip 7 was over way too soon, but then they all are. We loved our first three towns and wished that we’d spent more time in them. New Orleans was fun and we saw and did a lot. We enjoyed meeting the locals in every place we visited and felt they were/are extremely friendly and hospitable. This was true in NOLA, too.  But we’re from such a small, quiet town that we weren’t enchanted with it quite like we were in the other places. Bourbon Street was definitely not our cup of tea…with its own odor and culture. Too much booze, I think. However, we fell in love with the Southern food. They do know how to fry vittles down there. It’s a good thing we were only gone 10 days or we both would have gained waaaay too much weight!

We were so excited for this trip that we didn’t sleep much the night before in anticipation of taking off at 6:05 AM for a glorious trip to the Southeast. This anticipation was quickly replaced by anxiety when Southwest announced that our plane had a dead battery (Can you believe that?) and everyone had to be rerouted. Such a bummer. So instead of arriving in New Orleans at 1:30 their time, we arrived a bit after 4. This wouldn’t have been such a big deal but we had to rent a car and then drive about 4 hours to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Our luggage didn’t get rerouted with us and that was a disappointment.  Luckily we had our meds, cameras and a few essentials in our backpacks. We survived and our bags were FedExed to us in Vicksburg the next day.

Just click on a photo if you wish to enlarge it

We chose to visit Vicksburg because Jerri loves learning about the Civil War and visiting important sites of that era. Abraham Lincoln called Vicksburg “the key” for control of the Mississippi River, a major conduit for moving troops and supplies. In October 1862, Vicksburg was the focus of operations between Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant, ordered to clear the Mississippi of Confederate resistance, and Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton—with 50,000 widely scattered Confederate troops— expected to keep the river open. After many battles and skirmishes, Grant laid formal siege on Vicksburg. It lasted 46 days and on July 4, 1863, Vicksburg was officially surrendered.

So it is that we visited the Vicksburg National Military Park. After seeing a short movie explaining the campaign and siege of Vicksburg, we drove the very well marked 16 miles of roads through the park. There are red markers that pertain to Confederate lines or emplacements and blue markers refer to Union forces. With all the markers, artillery pieces, monuments and restored forts, rifle pits and battle positions, we had a great visual of who was where and how close the forces were when they battled each other.

Pointing the way

The Union Battery de Golyer that hammered the Confederate Great Redoubt across a ravine. (FYI- a Redoubt is a fort and in this case, a massive earthwork)

The Great Redoubt can be seen to the left of the white house.

The James & Adeline Shirley house that was caught in a crossfire. It eventually became the Federal Headquarters. It is the only original structure left in the park and has been restored to its 1863 appearance.

It seemed appropriate that we saw several buzzards flying over the ravine in front of the Shirley House. Many men died in the ravine in front of it.

The USS Cairo (pronounced Kay-ro) was sunk in the River and salvaged in the 1960s. The boat’s remains are partially reconstructed and many recovered artifacts are displayed in the nearby museum. You can get a feel of a sailor’s life when you see those artifacts. It certainly wasn’t an easy life for them aboard the Cairo.

We visited the Old Courthouse in Vicksburg that has been turned into a very nice museum. It has some nice displays of Civil War artifacts and even some Mercí Train artifacts. They had some artillery shell art that was very well done.

Our favorite place in Vicksburg was the McRaven House, the most haunted house in Mississippi.

Built in 1797, it contains the architecture of three different time periods: Frontier (1797), Empire (1839) and Greek Revival (1849). It served as a waystation at first and then was added to by the local sheriff. His wife died in childbirth there in 1836. The house was purchased by John H. Bobb in 1849, who built the rest of the house.  The house itself was set back among many trees and was not visible from the street. I thought it was sort of creepy around the grounds.

During the Civil War’s 1863 Siege of Vicksburg, McRaven was used as a Confederate field hospital and campsite. This might account for some of the “hauntings.”

Our tour was extremely well done and Larry the cat added to the fun. He loved Jerri.

Jerri couldn’t resist heading into the art portion of the tour

We drove next toward Natchez and joined the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Natchez Trace began as Native American footpath leading between the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, growing numbers of travelers tramped the rough trail into a clearly marked path.

Where the ground was relatively soft, walkers, riders and wagons wore down the “sunken” sections still seen today.

President Jefferson designated the Trace a national post road for mail delivery between Nashville and Natchez (444 miles). Today, the Parkway creates a beautiful highway from the southern Appalachian foothills of Tennessee to the bluffs of the lower Mississippi River.

Along the way we stopped at Mt. Locust Inn (a “stand” in the late 1700s). For 25¢, travelers could stop for a hot meal and a place to sleep on the porch. People lived in this building until 1944 and the National Park Service began restoration in 1954.

Resting her bones at Mt. Locust

This is what the Natchez Trace looks like today near Mt. Locust.

We loved Natchez! It’s beautiful with many friendly people, filled with history and seems to have an easy-going ambiance. At one time, more millionaires lived here than anywhere else in the country due to King Cotton and their magnificent homes reflected their prosperity. It wasn’t a huge Civil War military objective, so most of the antebellum mansions survived making them a huge tourist draw for the area. We visited a few and enjoyed each for their uniqueness.

Rosalie was a big hit with both of us for its beauty, its original 1850s furniture and story. Built in 1820 by the Little family, it was purchased in 1857 by Andrew Wilson whose descendents lived in it until 1958. During the Civil War, it was occupied by the Union commander who gave the order to not destroy homes in Natchez.

Rear entrance to Rosalie.

View of the Mississippi from Rosalie’s grounds. That’s a tug boat pushing barges

Our carriage that took us on a tour of Natchez. I find it ironic that the carriage driver is on his cell phone.

Stanton Hall is one of America’s largest antebellum mansions. It was built in 1857 and takes up an entire city block

Dusk looking toward the Mississippi River and Louisiana on the other side

A cannon ball is lodged in the parlor wall of the Cedar Grove Plantation.  Don’t touch!

Assuming a helm pose

From Natchez, we moved south to St. Francisville, Louisiana, where we visited two unique plantation homes. The Myrtles, a 1796 plantation home, now a B and B, had a most interesting tour.

The Myrtles, named for the Crepe Myrtles on the property, was built 1796. Its veranda is 125 feet long

The Myrtles is claimed to be Louisiana’s most haunted mansion. It is said that more than a dozen different spirits have appeared over the years to the home’s owners and guests. We didn’t see any spirits, but enjoyed the tour. We did get to see a photograph taken by a person not of the household that supposedly shows two spirit children by the house. Who knows for sure? I do know that I don’t think I’d like to sleep in that house. It seemed rather creepy to me.  Jerri loves this stuff and I’m too chicken.

We visited the Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site, a place that makes me think of Tara in all its grandeur. It’s a 16-room house approached by a live-oak allée. (planted in 1830 and used to funnel cool breezes from the Mississippi River) The couple was inspired by the gardens at Versailles and created a 28-acre formal garden that is still beautiful today.

Looking down oak allee from the mansion’s upper veranda

This hand painted French wall paper and a mahogany stairway were in Rosedown’s entry hall. this was the epitome of elegance during the heyday of plantations

Ceiling décor with pineapples that were a symbol of welcome. This was in several of the homes we visited.

A shoo fly over the dining room table.  It was like a fan that shooed the flies

An early indoor shower/bath

Keyhole covers were sometimes used shut out heat or cold and to ward off evil spirits.

The oldest live oak at Rosedown, 260 years old. Live oaks are native to Louisiana and stay green all year, hence the name live oak.

Spanish moss is rampant in MS and LA and lends a mysterious aura to the trees. The moss was often used to stuff pillows and mattresses but had to be cured first. If not, bugs would get into the beds. Yuck!

A giant bumblebee in the garden

You go, Girl!!!

We really enjoyed Rosedown as we could see the vastness of a plantation as well as the grandeur of an antebellum home. I was very pleased that it’s been well preserved so the people like us can get a taste of antebellum life (at least what the plantation owners’ lives were like).

Jerri and I headed toward Baton Rouge to see the LSU Rural Life Museum that is a recreation of an 1800s plantation with more than 15 relocated or re-created buildings on five acres. The cultures and lifestyles of pre-industrial Louisiana are shown through collections of tools, household utensils, furniture and farming implements. We did get to see some slave quarters as well as an overseer’s cabin that seemed authentic but we were not impressed with the preservation efforts for some of the carriages, furniture and other artifacts in barn-like buildings. There was neither climate control nor apparent effort to preserve the artifacts

. We thought future generations would not be able to enjoy them as they should be able to. (I guess I’ve learned extra awareness about these things since I’ve been volunteering at the Nevada State Museum.)

A funeral carriage

Men’s and women’s deluxe outhouse

This outhouse comes with its own corn cobs!

A Louisiana longhorn

This has become a very long document and I should have divided it into shorter segments.  But I didn’t, so I am going to close with our visit to the Rural Farm. The next Sister Trip installment will be about our adventure in New Orleans with our nerve wracking journey just trying to get to our hotel.  Until next time…

October 2016 was the month of three great adventures that were all different, exciting happenings. I’d like to tell you about the third one and then come back to Sister Trip 7.

Michael, one of my Dutch nephews, wrote and asked if I would like to meet him, Floor and Kate while they were on vacation in Orlando, Florida. Wow! How much fun this would be as I hadn’t seen them since 2012 when Michael played in the World Baseball Classic in the Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ area.  (Please remember to click on the photos you want to enlarge)

Kate was about 6 months old and she just liked my finger to gnaw on.

Floor and Kate waiting to greet me. I felt just like a celebrity

Our first Orlando dinner together at the Texas Roadhouse.

Michael and Floor had rented a really nice apartment in a resort outside of Orlando. That is where Kate and I became roommates. She was a bit shy at the beginning as she is learning English and I don’t speak much Dutch. Michael and Floor helped us out a bit (especially me) to understand each other. The next morning we created a bond. She was playing with her iPad being very quiet when I woke up. So I began to play with mine and soon she and I were playing some games together. Of course she knew more than me and had to explain what was going on. (It’s hard to be technically outdone by a 4 year old, but that’s life these days) Kate was speaking Dutch and I in English and somehow we understood each other. She told her dad that I knew how to speak Dutch and she was happy. I wish I had pictures of these episodes as I cherished those moments with her.

The next day found us heading to the Magic Kingdom (aka Disneyland for those of us who have been only to the Anaheim site). I was amazed at the land Disney owns in Orlando (43 square miles and employs 78,000 people). The parking lots are huge and are not multi-story. Obviously, they have a lot of land on which to expand. We had to ride a tram just to get to the ferry or monorail to get into the park.

We had tickets to attend Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, a special event from 4 PM to midnight. Kate had a very becoming witch’s costume that she wore throughout the party.

Upon entry, everyone was given a trick or treat bag and a handful of treats. Later, we lined up at various locations to get a ton of treats. We just walked by and they literally gave us handfuls of good stuff! Kate had never experienced this before but she caught on quickly.

Our first ride was The Barnstormer, a just right size (for me) roller coaster that Kate loved. We went on that twice in a row.

It turns out that Kate LOVES roller coasters or rides that take big drops…Splash Mountain for one. The kid goes nuts over them. They had gone to the Magic Kingdom before I got there and with our trip, Kate rode Splash Mountain 6 times and was begging for more! Amazing!!!

Taking a spin in the Mad Hatter’s tea cups

We had a terrific time at the Magic Kingdom riding all our favorite rides, eating chili dogs, watching the Halloween Parade and the fireworks. Kate only saw maybe a few of them and then conked out. That was a long day for her, but she can surely hang in there.

We took it easy the next day and went to the pool to play. Kate loves to be in the water and shoot her water pistol at us. I loved it too.

Later that afternoon that we went to play miniature golf at the Pirate’s Cove. It was a fun course as you can see by our picture. This was Kate’s first time and she did pretty well. It was threatening rain during the round and opened up just as we got back into the car. Nice timing, eh?

The next day, we drove about an hour and a half to the Blue Spring State Park that borders the St. Johns River, Florida’s longest river (310 miles). This river is one of the few U.S. rivers that flows north. We took a two-hour tour on the St. Johns and saw many birds, turtles, some alligators and some interesting flora.  Thanks to Floor for these St. Johns River photos.  My camera was on the fritz because I had dropped it that day.

Checking out the river that is a very dark tea color due to tannic acids from certain trees and other foliage

A little turtle catching some rays

A black ibis? Boats need to go slowly in the manatee zone becausee they like to sort of float near the surface and are easily hurt by propellers.

A big ‘gator resting by the side of the river

One of the cool things about Blue Spring is that manatees go to spend the winter there. More than 100 go there to escape the colder waters of the St. Johns for the safety and comfort of the 72-degree spring. The spring was very clear and we could see some very large fish where the manatee would have been had we not been too early to see them.

One thing I have not mentioned is the multitude of ponds/lakes in the Orlando area. It’s no wonder there are many bugs and mosquitoes in the area. All porches are screened in for that reason. Just outside our apartment was a small lake and signs were posted to be alert for ‘gators. Needless to say, people were swimming only in the pool.  Only brave birds walked in the water.

A great blue heron watching for fish

Ibis foraging for food near our apartment

All too soon, the day came to depart to our respective homes. Such a bummer because we were having a really good time enjoying the Florida sunshine. Since our planes didn’t leave until evening, we decided to go to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. This was really fun because Michael had played baseball there in 2006 during the inaugural World Baseball Classic. It’s another huge Disney-owned place with many fields and buildings that accommodate many, many teams and many sports. While we were touring the site, a 400-team softball tournament and an athletic conference cross-country championship were being held.Bob and I went to see Michael play in 2006 and royally enjoyed ourselves. It was our first time in Orlando. As I remember, it was fairly easy to find our way (no GPS for us), but it surely has grown and changed in 10 years.

Disney has so much influence in the area…as can well be expected. But I thought it was amazing to see some power lines in the shape of mouse ears!

Kate loved to raise her arms on roller coasters, so we did it going on an on-ramp. What a kick!

I feel particularly blessed to have good relations with all my nieces and nephews and so enjoy being together with them. For that reason, it was so awesome to be able to reconnect with Michael and Floor and get to know Kate a lot better. I hope to be able to continue this kind of relationship with all the nieces and nephews for many years to come.

Michael, Floor, Kate and I bid our adieus at the Orlando Airport and soon we each left the Disney magic and flew home to reality, i.e., regular routines

For me, I finally got home to my own bed about 1 AM Minden time and was up again early to go to help with the celebration of Nevada Day (our admission to the USA that is celebrated in style in northern Nevada). It is a huge celebration with a three to four hour parade, contests, free admission to the museum, open house at the Governor’s Mansion, a carnival and many other events. For many, it is a time to come home to reconnect with old friends and family.  It might be hokey to some, but most of us think it’s a ton of fun and look forward to Nevada Day weekend.

The Friends of the Nevada State Museum holds its annual bake sale during the parade to raise money for the museum.

After the bake sale, I made my way over to the Governor’s Mansion where Jerri and several other ladies dressed in vintage costumes and told people about each room in the mansion. Hundreds of people attended this open house, met the governor and his wife and partook of treats in the mansion back yard. I might note that all these people had their picture taken with Governor Sandoval and his wife.

Nevada Day with the Guv

Jolee, Darcy (in front), Mrs. Sandoval, Governor Sandoval, Scott and Jason. Scott had just won a blue ribbon in the Nevada Day beard contest.

Jolee, Jerri and Scott in the mansion formal dining room

Ride that purple dino! Never a dull moment with these two nephews!

I loved every minute of this adventure but I was glad to get home and sleep in my own bed.

Way back last year, noises were being made that my graduating class from Chapman College (now Chapman University) was going to celebrate a 50-year reunion. What? How can that be when I’m not even 50 years old yet? At least that’s how I feel most days. Fifty years is a long time and the thought of the reunion caused me to do some reminiscing, retrospection and just plain thinking about where did all those years go and how did the time pass so quickly.

I dallied with the idea of not attending because of cost, reverting back to my somewhat shy days of never being good enough and not measuring up to my buddies, and if the celebration would be worth all the hassle. BUT, curiosity about classmates and the ever changing campus prevailed and my long time buddy, Connie Gibson Raub, convinced me that it would be FUN, that we could room together, and we could attend the events together. So it is that we made arrangements and we went to celebrate.

The trip was quick and I apologize to my Orange County friends for not stopping by to see you and catch up. My duties at the Nevada State Museum and other obligations prevented me from spending more time down south. I will try to do better next time I’m down south.

I’ve only been in Minden for 3 ½ years but it seems that many things have changed or become worse (i.e. traffic) since I’ve been in Orange County. Or maybe I’ve become very used to almost nil traffic here in northern Nevada. Chapman has certainly grown and changed and it was fun to see the new buildings and tour many of them.

The neighbors from the old ‘hood knew I was coming down and arranged a very nice dinner party for me and we all had a good time talking about the changes in the neighborhood and finding out what each was doing. Thank you, Cerritos folks!

Don’t forget to double click the images if you would like to enlarge them

Connie had some old Disneyland passes that are true relics and we found some magic at the Magic Kingdom. DLand is a great place to feel young at heart.

We spent the next three days participating in the many events that had been planned for alumni and the community. It WAS a lot of fun.

Hangin’ with the newly inaugurated Chapman president Danielle Struppa

The Class of ’66 joining the 50 Year Club. Sadly, not many attended.

Judy Rostagno Boroskin was one of my roomies during our undergraduate work. We were at the chili cookoff prior to the football game that night. This was new for us since Chapman didn’t field a team when we were in school. Judy and I were on the Chapman basketball team together

Connie is showing off her school spirit.

Our regalia

Connie and I attended an interfaith service and had the privilege to hear Emma play her didgeridoo. I had never heard one played before and I found it to be melodious and very relaxing. She played while those who chose to do so, walked in a meditative labyrinth.

It’s supposed to be very relaxing but I didn’t find it so because I was too concerned about running into people on the narrow passageways. Given more practice I might find it very spiritual.

The last thing we did at Homecoming was to attend a Big Band Bubbly Brunch. It was fun and tasty with a nice buffet. The Chapman Swing Band played while some Chapman dancers strutted their stuff.

There were many more weekend activities in which we participated and I thought we were done when we went to the brunch. But there was one more big surprise! As we walked into our hotel lobby, we were met by our good friend and buddy, Dick Schmidt. He took us to a lovely dinner and we ended the evening watching the Disneyland fireworks. What a treat and awesome weekend!