Okay blog readers.
I have been away for awhile. I have been checking my email regularly. I had Eric Lim at the office as my appointed alternate back up.
I am back from a whirlwind three week tour of the Mississippi River area. You see it was my Mother and Father's 50th wedding anniversary. My Mother had planned this trip for the entire family as her anniversary celebration. Attendance was mandatory, however my youngest brother was given a pass.
Mom had planned for us for us to sail up the Mississippi River about the paddle wheel river boat the "AMERICAN QUEEN". The actual departure date of June 7th was to be mom and dad's anniversary date. The cruise would go from New Orleans to Memphis and take a grand total of seven days to travel that distance.
Dad passed away on January 27th of this year. Mom still wanted for us to take the cruise. Mother asked her cousin Carolann to come along and be her cabinmate for this trip. My older brother Bill and his wife Donna came along. Donna invited her mother Gail along for some mother daughter bonding of their own.
I arranged for use my timeshare in New Orleans (Avenue Plaza Resort. on St. Charles Avenue) I arranged for two 1 bedroom condo units. Each unit had a bedroom and then a sofa sleeper in the living room for a max sleeping capacity of four per unit.
We arrived in New Orleans on May 31st and stayed until the 7th of June. We had a great time exploring the city. We took an excellent guided city tour seeing the highlights of the city. The Garden District is where I would want to live if I ever moved to New Orleans. Bourbon Street and the French Quarter was certainly one of the most incredible places. I am a huge fan of architecture, and to see all the wonderful New Orleans architecture was just awesome. At night, Bourbon Street takes on a whole new atmosphere of partying, dining and music.
We made a couple of side trips up near Baton Rouge to tour some plantation houses. The first one was Houmas House, which was restored to perfection. The second was Nottaway Plantation, which is a magnificent building and over 50,000 square feet in size.
***** REAL ESTATE TIE IN ******
While I was in New Orleans I walked over to Prudential Gardner Realty on St. Charles avenue and made contact with the floor agent at the time. If I ever need to refer to anyone in New Orleans, I now have a name and a face associated of a person I could work with. Mosella Sanders-Newman. Hopefully, Mosella will remember me when she comes across anyone looking to relocate to Oakland or the San Francisco Bay Area.
***** REAL ESTATE TIE IN ******
We boarded the AMERICAN QUEEN on the 7th of June and off we went chugging up the Mississippi. Gail and I (469/471) each had the small 1 person inside cabins. Bill and Donna, Mother and Carolann had the larger 2 person stateroom cabins (309 Arizona/311 North Carolina).
Oh the food served aboard was so very good. I enjoyed every single meal served. I think that I enjoyed the raspberry iced tea on the "front porch of America" each evening the most.
We had stops in Baton Rouge we toured the Myrtles Plantion and it's neighboring planation Rosewood. In Vicksburg we toured the National Battlefield memorial toured in the "Battlefield and Seige Tour".
In Natchez we toured three historic homes. Calling the homes in Natchez would be in error since these homes were the city homes for the plantation owners. The heights of the bluffs of Natchez was not where the plantations would have been. The flat land of Louisiana across the river was where all the cotton plantations were located.
The tour ended with the Longwood Plantation home. Longwood built for the family of Haller Nutt was still under construction when the Civil War broke out. The Northern craftsmen being used to build the mansion, dropped their tools where they were when the news of the war broke out and abandoned the job site. The home's exterior was completed and sealed off from the environment, allowing it to survive to this day. The home's basement was finished off by local builders. The Nutts were never able to finish the remaining five floors above, they remain unfinished to this day. (That's correct a six story plantaion mansion)
Longwood
After the cruise we spent two days in Memphis Tn. We just had to visit Graceland, Elvis Presley's estate. We also enjoyed some BBQ on Beale Street. Beale Street was very much like Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Mother, Carolann and Gail were able to experience Beale street. They were affraid of Bourbon Street. They enjoyed the whole experience very much.
In Memphis we also stopped off at the PEABODY HOTEL and saw the show of the ducks leaving the fountian promptly at 5pm. I had to stop off at that gift shop and get something duck related. I ended up with the boxer shorts with the works "BUTT QUACK" across the back side. My sick sense of humor.
**** REAL ESTATE TIE IN AGAIN *****
After that we went to Las Vegas Nevada for a few days to visit my uncle Richard and aunt Debbie. I got to see all the construction that is going on in that town. I was blown away by the construction of the City Center. Uncle Richard is looking at possiblty purchasing one of the units there as an investment.
**** REAL ESTATE TIE IN AGAIN *****
I gambled a whopping twenty one dollars while I was there. It was a Megabucks machine at Santa Fe Station. I wasn't too lucky.
well so long for now.
