My grandson George and I went on a 3 week cross country excursion this past summer. The following pages contain my journal entries along with many pictures taken along the way.

7/6/04
With my $2 off coupon, George & I ate at Bob Evans for supper. I brought home part of my pancakes, which George had for breakfast this morning. We came home to find a message from Janet wishing me a safe trip. The next message was from Carey wishing me essentially the same +. Yesterday after Ruth got my message not to e-mail while I’m gone, she also called to wish me a safe trip. Somebody knows something I don’t. Namely that it’s not safe for a youngster & an oldster to travel too far in these United States. What does that say for our country, I wonder. Anyway, it was endearing for people to offer their concern about me. It felt good to be cared for. Laurie seems paranoid in the extreme expecting to hear from us in one way or other other every day or two. Even Ken Jr. during our phone conversation told me to have a “safe” trip.
I got to my 10:30 beauty parlor appt. early & was taken right away. Afterwards, I went to Scoops for a large coffee waffle cone. That was my lunch. George made his lunch at my villa meanwhile.
We left for our vacation at 1:07, mileage recorded as 43,570. With bathroom and/or gas stops along the way including dinner at Firehouse Subs, we arrived at a LaQuinta in Pensacola a little after 7 (central time). We had a nice room with 2 double beds on the 3rd floor. Thank goodness there was an elevator.

7/7 George set the alarm for 6:15 & we had breakfast. By 8:35 we checked out. We had lots of traffic messes. In New Orleans we got a room at Drury Inn.
We ate at Mothers, which we were told was a good place to eat. We walked there, as it was only a few blocks away. We had baked spaghetti pie, rice & beans, potatoes/green beans/ ham mix. We walked to the Riverwalk & looked around a bit. Then we took a trolley to the French Quarter. I was very disappointed with the changes there from the last time I was there (around 20 years ago). Everything seemed rundown. Instead of live music, even on Bourbon Street, it was all canned. We walked back to the Riverwalk where we ate supper. I was tired by then so we took a taxi back to the hotel. While at the Riverwalk, we went over to Café Du Monde. I had remembered going to the original French Market coffee stand with Ben about 20 years ago. The coffee, made with chicory, was so tasty; I had bought some to hand around what we left & for ourselves. This time I bought a can for me & one for Laurie & Alan. The Beignets were just as heavenly as I remembered them to be. I still prefer the old place to the new but time change. We took the Riverfront Streetcar. It took us from this area to a few streets from the French Quarter. We didn’t see or do all we wanted to in either place, as we had to get ready to see our relatives. We ate at the Booster’s Diner with a coupon.	N E W O R L E A N S

After changing & freshening up a bit, we drove to visit with Frank & family. The 3 older children were away but we did see David & Shoshana. When Jan asked her who I was, she said, “grandma”. Jan corrected her saying I was grandma’s sister. David seemed shy as if he isn’t used to new people. He’s cuter than his pictures. Shoshana was talkative & very friendly to me. I had George take some pictures. Part of the time she sat on the loveseat with me. At least I was sitting. She was upside down with her head on the seat. Cute as a button. Onward Click HERE