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This morning, after dropping Kimberlie off at the hospital for class, we headed off to City Park to visit Storyland. Basically it’s a playground made out of oversized storybook characters.  This evening, we headed back to the French Quarter, where we sampled beignets at Cafe Du Monde, then we took a ferry ride across the Mississippi River and back, and then we strolled through the streets (and got an eye-ful on Bourbon Street).

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll leave you will 21 of them to ponder . . .

When we found out we were going to Las Vegas, I thought I was going to hate it.  I loved it!

When we found out we were going to Baltimore, I thought I was going to hate it.  I loved it!

When we found out we were going to Boulder, I thought I was going to hate it.  But, I loved it, too!

So naturally, when Kimberlie’s class was scheduled for New Orleans, I knew I would hate it.  My vision of this place was people who eat weird food, drunks wondering between bars checking out strippers and ignorant people that don’t pay attention to hurricane evacuation warnings.

Of course, I LOVE IT HERE!

Yesterday on the way, I added two new states to the list of state that I’ve been to: Mississippi and Louisiana.  Today, after checking out the local mall (which is fabulous — better than any Atlanta mall), I took the kids and drove down to the French Quarter to take a steamboat ride up and down the Mississippi River.  The French Quarter was awesome . . . tons of history, interesting people, and beautiful architecture.  Parts of it remind me of Savannah but also reminds me of Nassau.  We didn’t have much time because we had to pick Kimberlie up not long after our boat returned, but I can’t wait to go back tomorrow.

After picking Kimberlie up, we went back to the mall so that the kids could get stuff from the Disney store and make an overpriced bear at the Build-A-Bear factory.  Then we hit Acme Oyster House.  I got the New Orleans sampler: jambalaya, red beans & rice, sausage, mojo potatos and gumbo.  I hadn’t tried any of it before and I’m usually funny about trying new things but all of it was delicious.  These people really know how to eat here!  Before I ordered, I asked the waiter to describe each item.  This would be the equivalent of him going to Georgia and asking what barbebue and bruswick stew is.  He even brought me some free oysters since I had never tasted them either.  They were great as well!

Tomorrow we hit up Storyland, which is a giant playground, and then chill for a while until Kimberlie gets out of class. Then its back to the French Quarter for some more culture!

Monday we plan to tour a cemetery before heading back to boring Macon.  My Day Two post may have to wait until I return home because I’m too frugal to pay this hotel another $13.00 for another day of internet.  I guess I can’t complain since I got the (really nice) hotel for $60 a night.

The past few weeks have been so busy!

We enjoyed our trip to Colorado. While we were gone, temperatures in Macon reached 102 but in Boulder the high was only 75 on the same day. Boulder is the healthiest city in the country and bike and pedestrian trails were everywhere! If only Macon could do something similar.

We travelled to Rocky Mountain National Park — perhaps the most beautiful place that I’ve ever been to. We drove up Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest paved road in the country — 12,000 feet above sea-level. At that altitude — even in June — there was six feet of snow remaining on the ground. The wind was blowing 40 mph and the high temperature for that day and location was 48 — much better than the 102 that Macon was experiencing! Of course, none of us had ever seen six feet of snow, so we stopped for a while to play around in it. As usual I had sandals on and couldn’t really feel my toes after a few seconds but it was a blast!

We also visited Columbine High School and Jon Benet Ramsey’s final home. Morbid? Perhaps, but I won’t digress into the “American history or pop-culture” argument that I had with a co-worker.

When I returned to work the following week, we basically were given a blank check to purchase whatever technology we wanted. You just have to love that end-of-the-year spending! The kids had a week of vacation bible school and then two weeks of swimming lessons. Mackenzie celebrated her third birthday. And I neglected to blog about any of it. I’ll add some photos over the next few days of Colorado, swimming, the birthday, etc.

I’ve also had two freelance web projects in the past few weeks, one of which I’m wrapping up today. After doing web stuff all day for pay, blogging hasn’t really appealed to me.

I’ve also come up with an ingenious hustle. I’ve been making about $100 bucks a month for doing pretty much nothing! This isn’t a work-at-home pyramid scheme, but more of a “Jonathan is outsmarting the system” scheme. Nothing illegal of course, but it certainly falls into the “It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission” category. I may blog more details soon, but I think that if too many people get in on it than there is less reward for me (not that anyone is reading this blog anymore anyway).

Tomorrow we head out again . . . this time to New Orleans, Louisiana. Kimberlie has NDT training at a hospital there and I plan to tag along and explore the city with the kids. That should be interesting considering that New Orleans is not exactly the most kid-friendly place around. I’m sure I’ll have some blogging time while I’m there.

 More later . . .