Howe to Travel

We are back from our most recent adventure, a 3 part wrap around cruise trip. The first part was the visit to Jess and Erin and children in Atlanta, GA. The 2nd part was THE CRUISE. And the 3rd part was the visit to John and JoAnn in Tennessee. 18 days of traveling! Throw Mardi Gras into the middle of it and you can only imagine how many different kinds of fun we had. Family fun, Parade fun, Exotic sightseeing fun, more Parade fun, and catching up with friends fun.

What I learned is: take more stuff. Take more gifts for the children, more clothing for the cruise, more money for the exotic sightseeing, and more pictures to share with old friends.

I did one thing right though, I took more cameras on this trip than ever before. I think I had a total of 5 with me. Let's see, I had the digital, I had the SLR--the 35mm that you take the film to the store to develop--the underwater camera, for the snorkeling, and the disposable camera for places I was nervous about, and hmmmm, I took Grover and his major digital camera set up, lenses, etc.

Oh, and I tried new foods. We had catfish and hushpuppies, red beans and rice, po'boy sandwiches in New Orleans. We had gourmet food on the cruise, like eggs benedict and beef wellington. In Tennessee we went to a Japanese "beni'hana" style restaurant where the chef pretends to singe your eyebrows at the table and builds volcanoes out of onion rings, with smoke and fire, which is very fun, and I tasted JoAnn's octopus sushi order. Surprisingly mild.

And I learned to sleep on the plane. Oh, I never liked to do this, especially since I snore, but you know what? People snore. More than you think. You might even snore. It's ok. Sleep is more important, and plane trips are BORING. Not that I'm complaining about flying...driving is MORE BORING. But you know, there is nothing to really see out of that little tiny window, but clouds, and dark depending on the time of day. So sightseeing is out. That leaves reading, crossword puzzles, and sudoku. All of which I do, and will eventually put me to sleep....thank goodness. And before you know it, you are there, where you wanted to be all along, ready for part 2 or 3. Hooray.

So...that's enough of a start. I am sure I learned much more, and when I get the pics downloaded, I will be back.